Apple has added an App Replacement Entitlement to its Apple Developer Program License Agreement, giving developers a system-level way to move users from an old app to a new one. According to Apple’s agreement, the entitlement shows a system sheet on the first launch of the replacement app that lets you move data and settings from the original app and delete the original.
The term arrived in the agreement update Apple published on October 13, 2026, which lists “Definitions, Section 3.3.8(k): Specified terms for use of the App Replacement Entitlement” among its changes. Developers have to sign in to their account and accept the updated terms.
What the App Replacement Entitlement does
Apple’s definition is a single sentence, and it is worth reading in full. The agreement defines the App Replacement Entitlement as “the documented entitlement that shows, upon first launch of Your replacement Application, a system sheet that gives the end user a choice to move data and settings from Your original Application that they installed previously, and to delete that original Application.”
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Three points stand out in that wording:
- It is a system sheet, so the prompt comes from Apple’s software rather than from a screen the developer designs.
- It appears on the first launch of the replacement app, the new app the developer wants you to use.
- It gives you a choice. The sheet offers to move your data and settings, and offers to delete the original app. The definition does not describe either step as automatic.
The two conditions developers must meet
Section 3.3.8(K) of the agreement sets the rules. In full: “Your replacement Application may use the App Replacement Entitlement only if both it and Your original Application are under Your Developer Program membership, and have substantively the same primary purpose and functionality.”
That gives two tests:
| Condition | What the agreement says | What it means in practice |
|---|---|---|
| Same developer | Both apps must be “under Your Developer Program membership” | A developer can only move users between its own apps |
| Same purpose | Both apps must “have substantively the same primary purpose and functionality” | The new app has to do what the old app did |
The first condition means one company cannot use the entitlement to pull your data out of another company’s app. The second means a developer cannot use it to steer users of, say, a note-taking app into an unrelated product. The replacement has to be a genuine successor.
What it changes for app users
The entitlement covers one specific situation: a developer publishing a new app to take over from one you already have installed. In that case, the experience Apple’s definition describes is short. You open the new app for the first time, a system sheet asks whether to bring over your data and settings from the app you installed earlier, and it also offers to delete the old app. You decide on both.
That saves you from setting the new app up from scratch and from hunting down the old one to delete it, provided the developer adopts the entitlement.
For users, the main thing to know is that this sheet is a legitimate Apple prompt, tied by the agreement to apps from the same developer that serve the same purpose. The agreement text does not spell out which data types move or which Apple platforms support the sheet.
The rest of the October 13 agreement update
The App Replacement Entitlement was one of several changes in the same revision. Apple’s summary lists:
- Updated security and related requirements for using Apple’s software and services, in Section 3.2.
- Terms for the Live Assistance API, which the agreement says an app may use at a user’s invitation “solely for the purpose of enabling an accessibility service provider to join the end user’s FaceTime call to provide accessibility services (e.g. captioning, translation, etc).”
- Terms for iOS app widgets on Apple HomeView and iOS apps for CarPlay on Apple HomeView.
- Terms for selling multiple subscription seats through Group Purchases.
- Terms for offering subscriptions to Apple Business and Apple School Manager organizations through Volume Purchasing.
- A note that Apple will report legally required information such as tax, sales and contact details to tax authorities, and limits on how developers may use customer tax information Apple shares.
Apple says translations of the updated agreement will be available on the Apple Developer website within one month. The full announcement is on Apple’s updated Apple Developer Program License Agreement news post.
We covered two other parts of this update in detail: the HomeView widgets and CarPlay apps terms and the Volume Purchasing subscription terms.
