The App Store Connect copyright field is the copyright notice shown on your app's App Store product page, and it should contain the year the rights were obtained followed by the name of the person or entity that owns the app. A typical value looks like "2026 Company Name" without the copyright symbol, which Apple adds for you. The field is metadata, so on its own it does not affect whether your app passes review, but the information must be accurate, because a misleading copyright that suggests you are not the rightful owner could raise an intellectual-property concern. Keep it simple, truthful, and current.
Short answer
The copyright field holds the copyright notice for your app, formatted as the year the rights were obtained followed by the owner's name, such as "2026 Company Name." Per Apple's app information reference, you provide the year and the name of the rights holder, and you should not include the copyright symbol, which Apple displays automatically, or a URL. It is a metadata field, so it does not by itself affect review, but it must be accurate, because a copyright implying you are not the true owner can raise an intellectual-property flag under the App Store Review Guidelines. Enter the correct year and owner, and keep it current.
What the copyright field is
The copyright field is where you declare who owns the rights to your app, and it appears in the information section of your app's page on the App Store. When someone views your app, the copyright notice you entered is shown, typically near the developer details, as a short statement of ownership. It is a standard part of the store listing rather than anything technical about the app itself.
Its purpose is simple: to attribute the app's rights to a person or company. Because it is displayed publicly, it should read as a normal copyright notice, giving the year and the name of the owner. It is not a place for marketing text, a description, or a link, and treating it as a plain ownership statement is the right way to think about it.
What format to use
The expected format is the year the rights were obtained, followed by the name of the person or entity that owns the app. For a company, that looks like "2026 Company Name Inc." and for an individual developer, "2026 Jane Developer." The year generally reflects when the app was first published or when the rights were established, and the name should be the actual rights holder.
Keep it to those two elements. A single year and the owner's name is the standard form, and you do not need to add anything else. If your app was first published in an earlier year, you can use that year to reflect when the rights were obtained, though many developers simply use the current year of publication. The key is that both the year and the name are correct and correspond to the real owner of the app.
What not to put in it
A few things do not belong in the copyright field. Do not include the copyright symbol yourself, because Apple adds it when displaying the notice, so typing it can produce a doubled symbol. Do not add a URL, an email address, or promotional text, since the field is a copyright notice and not a marketing or contact field. Keep it free of extra punctuation or slogans.
Also avoid naming an owner that is not the actual rights holder. Putting a well-known company's name, or anything that implies rights you do not hold, is both inaccurate and potentially a problem, since it misrepresents ownership. The safest content is exactly what the field is for: the year and the true owner's name, with nothing added.
Does it affect App Store review?
On its own, no. The copyright field is metadata, and entering a correct, ordinary copyright notice does not influence whether your app is approved. Reviewers are evaluating the app against the guidelines, and a properly filled copyright field is simply expected information rather than a factor that helps or hurts.
The exception is accuracy. If the copyright names an owner you are not, or otherwise suggests you do not hold the rights to the app, that can raise an intellectual-property or impersonation concern, which the guidelines do care about. So while the field does not affect review when it is correct, a misleading entry can contribute to a problem. The practical rule is that an accurate copyright is a non-issue, and only a false or misleading one creates risk.
Keeping it accurate over time
Because the copyright field reflects ownership, it should stay correct as things change. If your app is transferred to a different company, or your business is renamed, update the copyright to match the current rights holder, so the notice on your product page remains truthful. It is easy to forget a metadata field like this after a corporate change, but keeping it current avoids an inaccurate public statement of ownership.
The year is more flexible. Many developers leave the original year that reflects when the rights were obtained, while others update it. Either approach is fine as long as it is honest about when the rights were established. What matters most is the owner name being right, since that is the part that carries legal meaning and that a review concern would hinge on.
Format examples
Seeing correct values makes the format clear. The table below shows examples for common situations and what to avoid.
| Situation | Correct value |
|---|---|
| Company owns the app | 2026 Company Name Inc. |
| Individual developer | 2026 Jane Developer |
| Rights obtained in an earlier year | 2024 Company Name |
| Do not include | The copyright symbol, a URL, or extra text |
Use the table as a template. Match your situation to a row, and enter the year with the true owner's name, leaving out the symbol and any additional content, and your copyright field will be correctly formatted.
Copyright field checklist
A quick check confirms the field is right before you submit. The checklist below covers it.
| Check | Action | Done? |
|---|---|---|
| Year | Use the year the rights were obtained or published | [ ] |
| Owner name | Name the true person or entity that owns the app | [ ] |
| No symbol | Omit the copyright symbol, which Apple adds | [ ] |
| No extras | Leave out URLs, contact details, and slogans | [ ] |
| Keep it current | Update it if ownership or the name changes | [ ] |
The two that matter most are naming the correct owner and leaving out the copyright symbol, since the first keeps the notice truthful and the second keeps it from displaying oddly. Everything else follows from treating the field as a plain, accurate ownership statement.
What the copyright field does not cover
The copyright field is about ownership metadata, and it has nothing to do with whether your app is secure. It is easy to give attention to store-listing details and assume the app is in good shape, but a correct copyright notice says nothing about permissions, network security, or secrets in the build. Those are a separate concern from anything in your app information.
A scanner like PTKD.com analyzes your app build and reports findings ordered by severity and mapped to OWASP MASVS, so you catch issues like unjustified permissions, cleartext traffic, or embedded secrets before submission. To be clear about the boundary: PTKD has nothing to do with your copyright field or store metadata. It covers the security side of getting your app cleanly through review, which the copyright notice does not touch.
What to take away
- The copyright field is the ownership notice shown on your App Store product page, formatted as the year followed by the owner's name.
- Use a simple value like "2026 Company Name," and do not include the copyright symbol, which Apple adds automatically.
- Leave out URLs, contact details, and marketing text; the field is a copyright notice, not a description.
- An accurate copyright field does not affect review, but a misleading one that implies you are not the owner can raise an intellectual-property concern.
- Keep the owner name current if ownership changes, and handle the separate matter of app security by scanning with PTKD.com.
