If you have the same product on both platforms, it feels natural to mention the Android version inside your iOS app. Apple does not allow it. Guideline 2.3.10 says your app and its metadata should not include the names, icons, or imagery of other mobile platforms, so a "Get it on Google Play" button or a reference to your Android app is a rejection waiting to happen. The reasoning is that an App Store listing should be focused on the Apple experience. Here is what is off-limits, what is fine, and where your cross-platform messaging belongs instead.
Short answer
No, you should not link to your Android app or Google Play from your iOS app or its metadata. Guideline 2.3.10 states that apps should not include names, icons, or imagery of other mobile platforms or alternative marketplaces in the app or metadata unless there is specific, approved interactive functionality. Per Apple's metadata guidance, that makes a link or button pointing users to your Android version a violation. Your own marketing website can mention every platform freely; the restriction is specifically about the iOS app and its App Store listing. So keep the cross-platform messaging off the iOS app and on channels you control outside it.
What you should know
- Other-platform references are restricted: 2.3.10 covers names, icons, and imagery.
- A Google Play link is a violation: pointing users to Android from iOS is not allowed.
- It applies to app and metadata: the screen, the description, and screenshots.
- Your website is fine: mention all platforms on channels outside the app.
- Anti-steering is separate: links to external purchases have their own stricter rules.
Why is linking to your Android app a problem?
Because Apple wants an App Store listing to be about the app on Apple's platforms, not a signpost to a competitor's store. Guideline 2.3.10 asks you to focus your app and metadata on the Apple platforms it supports and to leave out the names, icons, and imagery of other mobile platforms or alternative app marketplaces, unless your app has a specific, approved interactive reason to reference them. A "also on Android" line, a Google Play badge, or a button that opens your Android listing all fall under that restriction. The point is not that cross-platform products are discouraged, but that the iOS surface should present the iOS experience, and the place to talk about every platform is somewhere other than the App Store listing.
What is allowed versus not?
The line is between the iOS surface and your own channels. The table maps it.
| Where | Mention or link to Android? |
|---|---|
| Inside the iOS app UI | No, not allowed under 2.3.10 |
| App Store description, screenshots, metadata | No, other-platform references restricted |
| Your own marketing website | Yes, mention every platform freely |
| Your email or social channels | Yes, fully your choice |
So anything that is the iOS app or its App Store listing should stay focused on iOS, while anything you own outside that, your website, emails, and social posts, can promote the Android version however you like. The restriction is scoped to Apple's surface, not to your business as a whole.
How should you handle a cross-platform presence?
Point everything through your own website. Instead of linking to Google Play from the app, link to your website, which can then present whichever platform a visitor needs, and keep the iOS app and its listing focused on the iOS experience. If you want users to know the product exists elsewhere, do that in onboarding emails, your support site, or social channels rather than inside the app. Be careful with a generic "download our other apps" element too, since other-platform references are the issue regardless of phrasing. The net effect is that your marketing still reaches users about Android, just not from a place Apple controls, which keeps the listing compliant while losing none of your cross-platform reach.
What to watch out for
The first trap is a shared codebase that renders a Google Play badge on both platforms, which sails through on Android and fails 2.3.10 on iOS, so gate that element off for the iOS build. The second is screenshots reused from a cross-platform press kit that show Android imagery, which counts as metadata. The third is conflating this with anti-steering: linking to external purchases is a separate, stricter rule, while this is about platform references. App naming and metadata sit apart from your app's security, so a pre-submission scan such as PTKD.com (https://ptkd.com), which reads the binary against OWASP MASVS, addresses a different concern; the platform-reference fix happens in your UI and App Store Connect.
What to take away
- Do not link to your Android app or Google Play from your iOS app or its metadata; Guideline 2.3.10 restricts other-platform references.
- The restriction covers the app UI, description, and screenshots, but not your own website or channels, where you can mention every platform.
- Route cross-platform messaging through your website and keep the iOS surface focused on the iOS experience.
- Gate any Google Play badges off the iOS build, watch reused cross-platform screenshots, and remember anti-steering is a separate, stricter rule.
