Appstro
Apple’s rules, quoted — re-read 2 September 2026

App Store badge

Build the badge markup and store link, checked against the rules Apple actually publishes.
Not legal advice, and Appstro never serves Apple’s artwork — you download it from Apple under their licence.

1Your app

Paste your App Store URL, or the numeric id on its own. Nothing is looked up — this page makes no network requests of any kind, so the id is taken at face value.

2Which badge

Apple

Apple ships two styles and two modifiers, and names one style preferred. There is no third option, and no “pick whichever suits your brand” — the alternative badge has conditions attached to it.

Style

Modifier

The style you pick decides which file you download from Apple, not what this page emits — the snippet below points at whatever path you serve your copy from. Apple publishes no colour values for either badge, because you are meant to use the file rather than rebuild it, and no preview is drawn here for the same reason.

3Size and clear space

Apple

Both numbers are Apple’s: minimum 40 px onscreen or 10 mm in print, and clear space of one quarter of the badge height — one tenth in a very limited layout such as a mobile banner.

Layout

Minimum clear space

10 px on every side

Apple documents no badge width and no aspect ratio, so the snippet sets height only and lets the artwork scale — setting both is how a badge silently ends up distorted. There is no documented maximum size either; the only ceiling Apple states is that the badge must not be the dominant artwork in the layout.

4Where the badge points

Two links, and it matters which one you paste where. The plain link reports as unattributed traffic. The tagged one carries a campaign token, so App Analytics can tell your press kit apart from your website — the rules for that token are the campaign link builder’s, reused here rather than restated.

Shared with the campaign link builder — type it once.

Suggest:

Add your App Store id in step 1 and both links appear here.

A campaign needs first-time downloads from at least 5 separate users, and roughly a day, before it appears in App Analytics — the morning-after empty dashboard is usually that rather than a broken link. Nothing here can read your analytics.

5The markup

An anchor wrapping your copy of Apple’s badge file. The image path is a placeholder until you point it at wherever you serve the download from.

Do not have the file yet? Both official downloads are below, with the licence you accept to get it.

Add your App Store id in step 1 and the markup appears here.

The alt text is “Download on the App Store” — our suggestion, not Apple’s rule.Ours

Apple documents no alt-text or accessibility requirement for the badge at all. What is Apple’s rule is that “App Store” stays in English, so it stays in English in the alt text even when you swap in a localized badge file.

The margin holds the clear space in the common case. It will not stop an absolutely-positioned element overlapping the badge — Apple’s requirement is that nothing sits in that space at all, which only looking at the rendered page can confirm.

6Trademark credit line

Apple

Using the badge obliges you to credit Apple and the Apple logo. Pick the marks your communication actually contains — the sentence below is Apple’s own template with those marks slotted in, not a rewrite of it.

Apple marks in your communication

Apple, the Apple logo, and App Store are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries.

Apple’s template: “______ and ______ are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries.”

Place it once, wherever you put legal notices, and keep the clear space if it sits under the badge. Symbols (™, ℠, ®) belong in body copy in US-only communications, on the first mention of each mark — never in headline copy, never on the badge artwork, and not at all outside the US.

Apple is not entirely consistent about App Store. On the Trademark List it is filed under “Apple’s Service Marks” while every other mark here sits under “Apple’s Trademarks” — and the credit-line template Apple supplies calls whatever you slot into it a trademark. Both are Apple’s wording. Neither is corrected here; check the Trademark List for each mark you use.

7The words around the badge

Apple’s guidelines constrain the copy as much as the artwork, and several of those rules are literal enough to check. Paste your headline, landing-page copy or press-kit paragraph. Nothing is sent anywhere, and it is never written into the link above.

Apple allows its trademarks in a URL only after your own company or product name, and never as the second-level domain. Its examples: www.company.com/app/iphone is fine, www.iphoneapp.com is not.

8What only you can check

0 of 11 confirmed. That is a count, not a score — every item is something this page cannot see, so a percentage over it would be confidence manufactured out of self-assessment. Ticks are stored in this browser only.

  • The artwork came from Apple, this month

    Downloaded from Apple’s guidelines page or the App Store Marketing Tools, not copied from another site, another app’s page, or an icon pack.

    Apple: “Use only the badge artwork provided in these guidelines. Don’t use icons, logos, graphics, or images from www.apple.com to promote your app.”

    Source

  • The file is unmodified

    Not recoloured, not re-drawn, not rotated, not animated, no drop shadow, no rounded corners, no cropping. The grey border on the black badge stays.

    Apple: “Don’t modify, angle, or animate the App Store badge. The gray border surrounding the black badge is part of the badge artwork and should not be modified.”

    Source

  • It renders at 40 px or more onscreen, 10 mm or more in print

    Check the rendered size, not the file size — a 400 px SVG in a 24 px slot is a 24 px badge.

    Apple: “Minimum badge height is 10 mm for use in printed materials and 40 px for use onscreen.”

    Source

  • Nothing sits inside the clear space

    One quarter of the badge height on every side, or one tenth in a very limited layout such as a mobile banner. A CSS margin is the usual way to hold it; an overlapping absolutely-positioned element ignores margins.

    Apple: “Minimum clear space is equal to one-quarter the height of the badge. Don’t place photos, typography, or other graphic elements inside the minimum clear space.”

    Source

  • The localized artwork matches the page language

    Apple ships translated badges. A German page gets Apple’s German badge file — with “App Store” still in English, because that part is the service mark.

    Apple: “The service mark App Store always appears in English. Never translate App Store or create your own localized badge.”

    Source

  • One App Store badge in this layout, and it is not the hero

    If badges for other platforms appear beside it, the App Store badge is the black one and it comes first.

    Apple: “Use one App Store badge per layout or video. Place the badge in a subordinate position to the image or main message so that it isn’t the dominant artwork.”

    Source

  • Credit lines are on the page, once, where legal notices go

    Using the badge means crediting Apple and the Apple logo. Generate the line below and put it wherever your footer or legal page lives.

    Apple: “Include the credit lines only once in your communication or website, and place the credit lines wherever you provide legal notification. When the App Store badge is used, credit both Apple and the Apple Logo.”

    Source

  • Trademark symbols are in body copy only, and only for the US

    In US-only communications each Apple trademark carries its symbol the first time it appears in body copy. Not in headlines, never on the badge, and not at all outside the US.

    Apple: “In communications distributed only in the United States, the appropriate symbol (™, ℠, or ®) must follow each Apple trademark the first time it is mentioned in body copy. Do not use trademark symbols on products, product documentation, or other product communications that will be distributed outside the United States. … Don’t add symbols to headline copy or to the App Store badge artwork provided by Apple.”

    Source

  • Any device image beside it is Apple’s bezel, at 200 px / 25 mm or more

    Apple product images have their own rules: unmodified, no competing devices in the same image, correct relative scale.

    Apple: “Use Apple product images “as is” and without modification. … Ensure that the minimum device size is no smaller than 25 mm in height for printed materials and 200 px onscreen.”

    Source

  • The badge modifier matches the app’s actual state

    Pre-order badge before release; swapped for the download badge everywhere on launch day.

    Apple: “Once the app is released for download, be sure to replace the pre-order badge with the download badge in all of your marketing materials.”

    Source

  • You are a current Apple Developer Program member

    Apple’s licence for this artwork is granted only while membership lasts, and only for apps that are on the App Store.

    Apple: “Apple grants You a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, royalty-free, worldwide license to use the App Store badge … only in connection with Your applications that are available for download on the App Store … and only while You are a member of the Apple Developer Program.”

    Source

Any Apple device image beside the badge has its own minimum — 200 px onscreen, 25 mm in print — and must be Apple’s own bezel, unmodified.

Get the artwork from Apple — and why not from here

Two official sources, both requiring you to accept Apple’s App Store Marketing Artwork License Agreement before the download starts.

Badge artwork & guidelines App Store Marketing Tools

Appstro does not host the badge. Nothing here serves, hotlinks or inlines Apple’s artwork, and no preview of it is drawn. Apple licenses that file to you personally, behind a click-through agreement, and only while your Developer Program membership lasts — so a copy served from this site would be Apple’s trademarked artwork redistributed by someone holding no such licence, to people who have never seen the agreement.

This is not legal advice. It is a worksheet built from Apple’s published guidelines, not a determination — it cannot see your layout, your artwork file, your print stock or your legal page. Where Apple’s wording matters it is quoted rather than paraphrased, and linked.

“Apple grants You a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, royalty-free, worldwide license to use the App Store badge, the App Store icon, and certain product images provided to You by Apple under this Marketing Agreement … only in connection with Your applications that are available for download on the App Store … and only while You are a member of the Apple Developer Program.”

“Apple shall remain the exclusive owner of all rights in the Artwork. Your use of the Artwork shall exclusively inure to the benefit of Apple.”

“Use only the badge artwork provided in these guidelines. Don’t use icons, logos, graphics, or images from www.apple.com to promote your app.”

Apple’s badge rules

Quoted, not paraphrased, and nothing added. If a rule is not on Apple’s guidelines page it is not in this list.

  • One badge per layout or video, in a subordinate position

    “Use one App Store badge per layout or video. Place the badge in a subordinate position to the image or main message so that it isn’t the dominant artwork.”

  • Never modify, angle or animate the badge

    “Don’t modify, angle, or animate the App Store badge.”

  • The grey border around the black badge is part of the artwork

    “The gray border surrounding the black badge is part of the badge artwork and should not be modified.”

  • Use only the badge artwork Apple provides

    “Use only the badge artwork provided in these guidelines. Don’t use icons, logos, graphics, or images from www.apple.com to promote your app. Never use the Apple logo in place of the word Apple. Don’t use the standalone Apple logo.”

  • Never translate “App Store” or build your own localized badge

    “Apple provides badge artwork with the modifiers Download on the and Pre-order on the translated into regional languages. The service mark App Store always appears in English. Never translate App Store or create your own localized badge.”

  • With badges for other platforms, App Store goes first — and black

    “Whenever one or more badges for other app platforms appear in the layout, use the preferred black badge. Place the App Store badge first in the lineup of badges.”

  • Keep the clear space empty

    “Minimum clear space is equal to one-quarter the height of the badge. Don’t place photos, typography, or other graphic elements inside the minimum clear space.”

  • Minimum height: 40 px onscreen, 10 mm in print

    “Minimum badge height is 10 mm for use in printed materials and 40 px for use onscreen. Select a size that is clearly legible but not dominant in the layout.”

  • One-colour printing is allowed, with conditions

    “For printed materials, the badge can be printed in one color if black and white inks are not used on the layout. The line art portion of the badge (Apple logo, type, and outline rule) can be printed in the ink color used on the layout as long as it provides sufficient contrast for clear legibility.”

  • Swap the pre-order badge for the download badge at release

    “Once the app is released for download, be sure to replace the pre-order badge with the download badge in all of your marketing materials.”

  • Never add a trademark symbol to the badge artwork

    “Don’t add symbols to headline copy or to the App Store badge artwork provided by Apple.”

  • Using the badge means crediting Apple and the Apple logo

    “Use the appropriate credit lines in all communications worldwide, listing all the Apple trademarks and products included in your communication and advertising. … When the App Store badge is used, credit both Apple and the Apple Logo.”

  • Credit lines below a badge still have to respect the clear space

    “Maintain clear-space requirements when credit lines follow the badge.”

  • No disposable food packaging, no vehicle decals

    “Food industry disposable packaging or promotions that use an Apple product or App Store badge … Decals, bumper stickers, or magnets placed on the outside of any vehicle that use an Apple product or App Store badge”

  • Nothing may suggest Apple endorses you

    “Your app screen images, Mac, Apple Watch, iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, and Apple TV product images, or photographs thereof cannot be used in any manner that falsely suggests an association with Apple or is likely to reduce, diminish, or damage the goodwill, value, or reputation associated with the App Store, the Mac App Store, iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Apple Watch, Apple TV, or Apple itself.”

  • Include the badge, and a call to action, in every marketing piece

    “Include App Store badges in all digital and printed marketing materials as a clear call to action to get your app.”

Your name, your logo, your domain

The badge licence binds you to Apple’s trademark guidelines for third parties by URL, as well as to the marketing guidelines. These are the clauses that constrain what you may call yourself.

  • An Apple trademark can never be part of your company, product or service name

    “You may not use or register, in whole or in part, Apple, iPod, iTunes, Macintosh, iMac, or any other Apple trademark, including Apple-owned graphic symbols, logos, icons, or an alteration thereof, as or as part of a company name, trade name, product name, or service name except as specifically noted in these guidelines.”

  • Name the Apple product only in a referential phrase, and less prominently than yours

    “a. The Apple word mark is not part of the product name. b. The Apple word mark is used in a referential phrase such as “runs on,” “for use with,” “for,” or “compatible with.” c. The Apple word mark appears less prominent than the product name. d. The product is in fact compatible with, or otherwise works with, the referenced Apple product.”

  • The Apple logo on its own is off limits — the badge is the exception, not a licence

    “You may not use the Apple Logo or any other Apple-owned graphic symbol, logo, or icon on or in connection with web sites, products, packaging, manuals, promotional/advertising materials, or for any other purpose except pursuant to an express written trademark license from Apple, such as a reseller agreement.”

  • Nothing may imply Apple’s affiliation, endorsement, sponsorship or support

    “You may not use Apple, Macintosh, iMac, or any other Apple trademark, including Apple-owned graphic symbols/logos, or icons, in a manner that would imply Apple’s affiliation with or endorsement, sponsorship, or support of a third party product or service.”

  • Don’t imitate Apple’s packaging, site design, logos or typefaces

    “You may not imitate the distinctive Apple packaging, web site design, logos, or typefaces.”

  • No T-shirts, mugs or giveaways carrying an Apple mark

    “You may not manufacture, sell or give-away merchandise items, such as T-shirts and mugs, bearing Apple, Macintosh, iMac or any other Apple trademark, including symbols, logos, or icons, except pursuant to an express written trademark license from Apple.”

  • Apple trademarks stay in English, in any language

    “Always set Apple trademarks in English, even when they appear within text in a language other than English. Terms that should not be translated or transliterated include: App Store, Apple Pay, Apple Pencil, Apple TV, Apple Vision Pro, Apple Watch, iMac, iPad, iPhone, iPod touch, MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, Siri”

Localized badges

Apple translates the modifier — “Download on the” and “Pre-order on the” — and never the service mark. Download the matching file rather than setting the words yourself.

Azərbaycan dili · Bahasa Indonesia · Bahasa Melayu · Catalan · Čeština · Dansk · Deutsch · Eesti Keel · English · Español · Français · Hrvatski · Italiano · Latviski · Lietuviškai · Magyar · Malti · Nederlands · Norsk · Polski · Português · Português Brasil · Pусский · Română · Slovenčina · Slovenski · Slovenščina · Suomi · Svenska · Tagalog · Tiếng Việt · Türkçe · Ελληνικά · Україна · български · עברית · اردو · العربية · हिंदी · मराठी · বাংলা · ਪੰਜਾਬੀ · ગુજરાતી · ଓଡିଆ · தமிழ் · తెలుగు · ಕನ್ನಡ · മലയാളം · ภาษาไทย · 한국어 · 日本語 · 简体中文 · 繁體中文

Apple’s own two figures disagree: the page says badges are available in 50 localizations, and the list it prints immediately underneath names 53. Both are reported; neither is corrected. Check the download itself for the language you need. Writing the listing in that language too? The localized metadata writer is the tool for that half.

What Apple does not publish

Named rather than quietly omitted, because these are exactly the numbers a badge generator is tempted to invent. Every one was searched for on Apple’s guidelines during the 2 September 2026 read and is absent.

  • A badge width, or an aspect ratio. Apple constrains height and clear space, and says the badge must be "clearly legible but not dominant". Scale the supplied artwork proportionally rather than working to a width someone made up.
  • A maximum badge size. The only ceiling Apple states is qualitative — the badge must not be the dominant artwork in the layout.
  • Hex or Pantone values for the black badge, its grey border, or the white badge. There is no colour specification on the page, because you are meant to use the file rather than rebuild it.
  • A typeface. The badge is artwork, not type you set.
  • Any alt-text or accessibility requirement. Apple documents none, so the alt text this page generates is our suggestion and not Apple’s rule.
  • Any effect on installs, conversion or App Store ranking. Apple publishes no such factor, and no page here will claim one.
  • Rules for badges on other companies’ platforms. If you also ship a Google Play badge, its rules are Google’s and are not reproduced here.
Where every rule on this page comes from

Every rule, quote and number on this page was read from Apple’s Marketing Resources and Identity Guidelines, its Legal Requirements section, the Apple Trademark List and Apple’s guidelines for third parties, last fetched on 2 September 2026. Apple amends these pages without notice — read them at the source before you print anything.

This page makes no network requests of any kind. Your id, tokens, copy and ticks stay in this browser, and the badge artwork is never served from here.

About this tool

Use the App Store badge the way Apple’s guidelines require

The “Download on the App Store” badge is trademarked artwork licensed to you under a click-through agreement, not a free graphic. Apple publishes binding rules about its minimum size, the clear space around it, whether it may be recoloured, which localized file to use, and the credit line that has to appear alongside it. Getting those wrong is a trademark problem rather than a taste one.

This builds the markup — an anchor wrapping your own copy of Apple’s file — plus the plain and campaign-tagged store links, the trademark credit line, and a checklist of the rules only you can verify. Every rule is quoted from Apple’s own pages and linked, and nothing is invented to fill a gap.

How it works
  1. 1Paste your App Store URL or numeric id. Nothing is looked up — nothing on this page leaves your browser.
  2. 2Pick the badge style and modifier. Apple ships two styles, names black the preferred one, and attaches conditions to the white alternative.
  3. 3Set the rendered height. Apple’s documented minimum is 40 px onscreen and 10 mm in print, and the clear space is one quarter of the badge height — one tenth in a very limited layout such as a mobile banner.
  4. 4Choose where the badge points. The plain link reports as unattributed; the tagged one carries a campaign token, validated by the same rules the campaign link builder uses so the two can never disagree.
  5. 5Generate the credit line. Using the badge obliges you to credit both Apple and the Apple logo, in Apple’s own sentence template for US-only or international distribution.
  6. 6Paste your headline or landing copy to check it against the naming and capitalisation rules Apple states literally, and work through the checklist for everything a form field cannot see.
What it cannot tell you
  • Nothing here hosts, hotlinks or inlines Apple’s artwork. Apple licenses it to you personally, only while your Developer Program membership lasts, so you download it from Apple and serve your own copy. A path pointing at an Apple domain is flagged as an error.
  • This is not legal advice. It is a worksheet built from Apple’s published guidelines — it cannot see your layout, your artwork file, your print stock or your legal page.
  • Apple documents no badge width, no aspect ratio, no maximum size, no colour values, no typeface and no alt-text requirement. None of those are stated here, and a generator that supplies them is guessing.
  • There is no score. The checklist is a count of what you have confirmed yourself; a pass mark on a trademark checklist would only be an invitation to stop reading.
  • No claim that a badge affects installs, conversion or ranking. Apple publishes no such factor.
  • The copy check reads a string against rules Apple words literally. Most of Apple’s copy guidance is judgement, and a clean result is not a pass.
Questions

Can I change the colour of the App Store badge to match my site?

No. Apple’s guidelines say “Don’t modify, angle, or animate the App Store badge,” and the grey border around the black badge is part of the artwork. There are two supplied styles — the preferred black and the alternative white — and one-colour printing is allowed only for printed materials where black and white inks are not used on the layout.

How small can the App Store badge be?

Apple documents a minimum height of 40 px onscreen and 10 mm in print. It publishes no maximum and no width: the only upper limit Apple states is that the badge must not be the dominant artwork in the layout, so scale the supplied file proportionally rather than setting a width.

How much space has to be left around the badge?

One quarter of the badge height on every side, with nothing — no photos, typography or graphic elements — inside it. In a very limited layout such as a mobile banner, Apple reduces that to one tenth of the badge height.

Do I have to add a trademark notice when I use the badge?

Apple says that when the App Store badge is used you must credit both Apple and the Apple logo. The credit line goes once into wherever you provide legal notification, and Apple gives separate sentence templates for US-only and international distribution. Trademark symbols belong in body copy in US-only communications, never in headlines and never on the badge artwork.

Can I translate the badge into my app’s language?

You use Apple’s translated file rather than making one. Apple localizes the modifier — “Download on the” and “Pre-order on the” — and states that the service mark App Store always appears in English: “Never translate App Store or create your own localized badge.”

Can I put “iPhone” or “App Store” in my app or company name?

No. Apple’s trademark guidelines say you may not use an Apple trademark as, or as part of, a company name, trade name, product name or service name. The mark can appear in a referential phrase after your own name — “App name for iPhone”, never “iPhone App name” — and it must be less prominent than your product name.

Why does this page not just show me the badge image?

Because serving it would be redistributing Apple’s trademarked artwork. Apple’s licence is granted to you, behind an agreement you accept yourself, and only while you are a member of the Apple Developer Program. The page links to Apple’s download and generates markup pointing at your own copy.

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