App onboarding. What Apple advises and what the rules forbid

What onboarding is

Onboarding is the screens that introduce a person to an app after its first launch. In the Human Interface Guidelines Apple keeps it separate from launching. Launching ends when the first screen is ready, and only then can onboarding begin.

The launch screen is not part of onboarding. The HIG page on launching says it should look almost exactly like the app's first screen, with no text or logos. A splash screen, if you need one, belongs briefly at the start of onboarding.

What Apple advises

The core idea of the HIG onboarding page is simple. Ideally an app explains itself through use, and if teaching is needed it should be fast, enjoyable and optional. The page was last revised on June 10, 2024.

• Teach by doing. People remember more when they try a gesture or feature themselves than when they flip through pictures.
• Tips in context. Instead of one long walkthrough, Apple suggests short tips next to the part of the screen they describe. The TipKit framework handles them on iOS 17 and later.
• Keep it short. Teaching too much at once tires people out and nothing sticks.
• About your app. There is no need to explain how to use an iPhone.
• No legal text or long downloads. The App Store shows agreements before download, and the content needed to get started belongs in the build.
• Settings later. Sensible defaults let people start right away.

Permissions at the moment of need

The HIG privacy page asks you to request access to the camera, location, contacts and other data when the person opens the feature that needs it. Asking at launch only makes sense when the app can't work without that access, like a navigation app without location. If access is needed before the first action, the request can sit inside onboarding along with an explanation.

You may show your own explanation screen before the system alert. It should have a single button such as Continue that opens the alert, no Allow button and no way to dismiss the screen without seeing the request. For tracking under App Tracking Transparency the system alert must appear before any data is collected, and custom screens that reward consent or show a picture of the alert are not allowed. In France, Germany, Italy, Poland and Romania the system shows this request as a full-page sheet (Apple documentation).

What App Store rules say about the first screens

Guideline	What it says
5.1.1(iv)	don't pressure people into unnecessary data access, offer an alternative where possible, such as typing an address
5.1.1(v)	without significant account-based features, the app must work without a login
5.1.1(x)	name and email may be requested only as an optional step
5.1.2(i)	notifications, location or tracking can't be required to use the app
4.5.4	the app must work without push notifications
3.2.2(x)	a rating or review can't be required to unlock features
StoreKit rating request	shown no more than 3 times in 365 days

Per the App Store Review Guidelines as updated June 8, 2026 and StoreKit documentation, checked October 16, 2026.

How many steps people actually finish

Apple doesn't name a number of screens. Product tour data gives a reference point. Produktly measured median completion across 256 tours at 464 companies from January to June 2026. Tours of 1–2 steps are finished 73% of the time, tours of 9 steps or more 8% of the time. A tour the person opened on their own was finished 69% of the time, one that started automatically 23%.

These numbers come from web products rather than iPhone apps, and from a single vendor's sample. The direction still matches Apple's advice to keep teaching short and optional.

How to build onboarding, step by step

1. Decide what the person should get in the first minute and cut any screen that doesn't lead there.
2. Build 3–5 screens where the person does something, picks a goal, tries a gesture or gets a first result.
3. Move permission requests to the features that need them and explain the benefit in one sentence before each.
4. Let people skip the walkthrough and keep it reachable from settings or help.
5. Don't require a login unless the account is needed for the main feature.
6. Decide where the purchase screen goes, see the paywall page.
7. Count how many people get through each screen and shorten the one where they drop off.

Appto builds onboarding and the purchase screen in several variants and counts how many people get through each variant to the end (onboarding and paywalls in Appto).

Common mistakes

• Three system alerts in a row on the first screen. Notifications, location and tracking with no context look suspicious, and guideline 5.1.2(i) doesn't allow requiring them for access.
• Mandatory sign-up. If an account isn't needed for the main feature, guideline 5.1.1(v) says people must get in without one.
• Asking for a rating during onboarding. The person hasn't tried anything yet, and the system rating request is wasted since it appears no more than 3 times a year.
• A look-alike of the system alert. The HIG calls an Allow button on your own pre-alert screen a form of manipulation.
• Teaching iOS gestures. People came for your app, they already know how the system works.