Apple did update the App Review phone field

Did Apple change the App Review contact phone number requirement

Yes. Apple kept the App Review contact phone number required, but changed the entry rule so the number must be in international format with a plus sign, not digits-only.

In App Store Connect, the App Review information section still lists contact name, email, and phone number as required information for App Review. Apple’s current help text says to enter the phone number in international format, including a plus sign and country code, and says the field does not accept numbers-only entry.

The part people get wrong is simple: they treat the phone field like a local number field. Apple does not describe it that way. If you enter something like a domestic-only string without the country code, the submission can be blocked by formatting validation before review even starts. The safer pattern is to use the full international form your team can answer reliably.

Apple’s release notes confirm the change in plain language. On August 19, 2026, Apple added a requirement that the App Review contact phone number must be entered in international format, for example "+852", and not digits-only. That is a format change, not a removal of the requirement itself.

The inconvenient part is that the phone number still matters even when the reviewer never calls it. Apple says the App Review contact is there in case the App Review team needs additional information. In other words, the field is not decoration, and it is not a backup for the support URL. It is contact data for review.

If your app needs login access, the phone number is only one piece of the review package. Apple also expects demo account details and review notes when they are relevant, including any app-specific settings or test access information. That means a correct phone format will not rescue a submission that is missing the other required review inputs.

A practical example helps. If your team is in the United States, the review contact should be written with the country code, not as a plain ten-digit local number. If your support phone is routed through a switchboard or a shared inbox, use the number Apple can actually dial and make sure someone on your side can recognize and answer it. Apple’s requirement is about reachable contact, not a decorative line in metadata.

The change also matters for older submission habits. Some teams used to rely on whatever phone format their CRM or internal template produced. That can be a problem now, because Apple’s help page says the field rejects numbers-only entry. If your release process auto-fills metadata, this is a field worth checking in the final preflight step, not after a rejection.

For teams building and shipping with outside testers, keep the App Store submission details separate from testing workflows. Apple’s review contact is for App Review, not for end users, and it is not the same thing as your public support page. If you also need a place to organize testers for other platforms, keep that process on your own property or in a system you control, such as https://devconnectplatform.com, rather than mixing review metadata with outreach.

The clean answer is that Apple did not drop the phone requirement. Apple tightened the format. Keep the contact phone number in international form, include the plus sign and country code, and treat the field as required review contact information, not a free-text note.

If you are checking an older checklist, update only this part: the number is still required, but the accepted format is now stricter. That is the change reviewers and release managers need to know, and it is the one that will save a submission from avoidable validation trouble.