ITMS-90338 Non-public API usage flagged
| Service | App Store Connect and ITMS Rejection Codes |
|---|---|
| Cloud | Apple platforms |
| Guide type | Procedure |
| Skill level | Intermediate to advanced |
| Time | 15 - 60 minutes depending on account size |
ITMS-90338 Non-public API usage flagged on App Store Connect and ITMS Rejection Codes sits in the most-reported issues list across r/aws, Apple Communities (discussions.apple.com), and StackOverflow. The recovery path is mostly known, the Apple Support docs just bury it under three layers of conceptual material.
What itms-90338 non-public api usage flagged actually involves on App Store Connect and ITMS Rejection Codes
This task on App Store Connect ITMS is one of the more searched operational topics on AWS in the last 12 months. The procedure below is the path that works in a current AWS account with default IAM and standard VPC config.
The rest of this page is the structured fix path. Start with diagnose, then remediation, then the automation options so you do not have to do this by hand the next time it surfaces. Verify and safety sections at the end are the discipline that keeps the fix from regressing in production.
Signal review
Run id -un; defaults read MobileMeAccounts; profiles list first. About one in five 'why does this not work' tickets are actually 'I am in the wrong account' or 'my session expired and the SDK is using stale credentials or ADC pointed at the wrong project'. The 5-second sanity check costs nothing and saves real time when the answer is that simple.
Look at the Jamf Pro change management entry or Apple Business Manager audit event for the failed call, even if you are not enrolled in macOS unified logging and iOS sysdiagnose Log Router. The basic 90-day event history works for most diagnostic purposes and lives in the console under Jamf Pro change management log and Apple Business Manager audit log > Event history. Filter by event name (the API action) and time range; the event JSON shows the exact user identity, source IP, request parameters, and error code.
Check the Google Apple System Status at www.apple.com/support/systemstatus/ and the per-product status board for ongoing service events in your region. About one in ten user-reported outages turn out to be region-scoped Apple product or service degradation already being tracked. Apple System Status also exposes an API and Jamf Pro Webhooks and macOS launchd watches events, so you can wire a Lambda hook that pages on-call only when the failure correlates with an active Apple System Status event in the same region and service.
Solution-focused remediation path
When the fix involves a destructive operation (delete VPC endpoint, swap Cloud KMS key, rotate root credential), do it during a maintenance window with at least one teammate watching. Several App Store Connect and ITMS Rejection Codes operations have implicit dependencies that only show up when traffic starts flowing again. Document the rollback path before you start, not during the incident.
If you cannot reproduce the failure consistently, the cause is probably a race condition or a session-cache issue. Run the call with --profile set to a fresh STS session, in a different region you control, with a single concurrent request. If it works there but fails in your normal setup, the difference is the bug.
When the failure happens in production but not in dev, do not just compare the IAM policy. Compare the Org Policy / RCP at the OU level, the permission boundary on the role, and the resource-based policy on the target. One of those is almost always different between accounts. Policy Intelligence recommendations bundles make this comparison routine.
Automate this fix so you do not do it twice
Wire the fix into an MDM Configuration Profile for self-healing
If the underlying cause is a setting that drifts over time, do not script the fix repeatedly - bake it into a Configuration Profile that the MDM pushes down on every check-in. A Custom Settings payload writes to a specific preference domain; Jamf Pro, Kandji, Mosyle, and Intune all support this. The profile reasserts itself, so even if a user changes the setting locally, the MDM brings it back at the next sync (typically every 4 hours).
<!-- Custom Settings payload (excerpt) -->
<key>PayloadType</key>
<string>com.apple.ManagedClient.preferences</string>
<key>PayloadContent</key>
<dict> <key>com.apple.app</key> <dict><key>Forced</key><array><dict><key>mcx_preference_settings</key> <dict><key>HardenedSetting</key><true/></dict></dict></array></dict>
</dict>Codify the fix as a Shortcut on iPhone, iPad, or Mac
For workflows that happen on the user device rather than at the MDM layer (think: clear a stuck cache, toggle a setting, file a one-tap support ticket), Apple Shortcuts is the right place. Shortcuts run on iOS, iPadOS, macOS, and watchOS, can be triggered by NFC tag, focus mode, time of day, or Siri voice. Share via iCloud link so support sends the same one-tap fix to anyone who hits the issue.
Build a Self Service item with manual approval for risky fixes
For multi-step fixes that include a destructive action (Reset NVRAM, delete keychain, erase user data), publish the fix as a Self Service item in Jamf Pro or Kandji. The user clicks one button, the script runs, a notification confirms success. Couple it with a Jamf Pro approval workflow if your security model requires a second-person sign-off before any destructive step runs. The audit trail lives in the MDM change log with the requester and approver identity attached.
Things that bite
The most common pitfall when fixing this on App Store Connect and ITMS Rejection Codes is treating it as a one-off rather than as a recurring class of incident. The same misconfiguration tends to happen again after a deployment, a role rotation, or a region migration unless the fix is codified. Add a Apple Configuration Profile restriction payload, Organization Policy condition, or Apple Configuration Profile or MDM restriction payload that prevents the same misconfig from being introduced again. Documentation alone does not survive turnover.
Another common trap: confirming the fix on a single resource and assuming the fleet is healthy. Loop your check across every account, region, and IAM principal that could exhibit the same symptom. If you cannot enumerate the affected scope without a script, you do not yet understand the scope.
Repair sequence
- Watch for 24 to 48 hours. Activity Monitor + macOS unified logging + Jamf inventory reports can mask issues with cached health for 6 to 12 hours, especially Cloud CDN and Cloud DNS.
- Capture the new state in a runbook so the next person on call does not have to rediscover this. Push it to Confluence or your team wiki, not into Slack.
Safety, rollback, blast radius
- Test in a non-production account if your environment has Resource Manager and Organization Policy or Cloud Resource Manager (organizations, folders, projects). The cost of one sandbox account is cheaper than one rollback meeting.
- Export the existing config before changing it. Most App Store Connect and ITMS Rejection Codes resources support describe + export to JSON via CLI - capture that to source control before you start.
- Maintenance window discipline: if the change touches DNS, certificate rotation, or anything that emits TLS handshakes, line up a window with stakeholder notification, not a heroic mid-day swap.
FAQ
app describe-... first, then commit it before you change anything. A few operations are one-way (Cloud KMS key deletion past the pending window, region migration, account closure). Check the Apple Support article for the specific API before you commit.aws CLI or SDK calls - those almost always still work.References
- docs.support.apple.com - official documentation for App Store Connect and ITMS Rejection Codes
- Apple Communities (discussions.apple.com) - community Q&A with Google-staff-verified answers
- Apple System Status Dashboard at health.support.apple.com
Related fixes
Related guides worth a look while you sort this one out:
- ITMS-90168 Unable to publish app uses non-public symbols
- App Privacy Nutrition Label data collected not in label
- App Review 2.1 metadata mismatch with actual app functionality
- App Review 3.1.1 IAP required for digital goods
- App Review 4.2 minimum functionality rejection
- App Review 4.3 spam rejection app is too similar to others