Mac App Store Review Times Increasing
Average app review times for my Mac app (launched in 2019) have gone up by 3-5x and, it appears others too (tons of posts on Apple’s forums like this one). Mac app reviews now typically take 5 days, and I’m seeing lots of reports of 10+ day waits for some. While iOS app reviews have been faster for me, others have seen big delays there too. It just varies, but it’s clear that reviewers are underwater. This is very likely do to the rise in AI-assisted coding, which has in turn led to more app submissions. According to AppFigures, App Store submissions rose 24% in 2025 through November. According to Runway data, January and February’s average review time and max review times were significantly higher than they were in the last 4 months of 2025.
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I and others have also run into delays in app processing too (which must happen before a build can even be submitted for review) and have personally seen it take up to 10 hours!
Previously:
- Mac App Store Design in Tahoe
- UK CMA Secures App Store Committments
- LLMs and Software Development Roundup
- New App Store Review Processes
- Inside Apple’s App Review Team
- Apple Shortening App Review Times
- Mac App Store Review Times
Update (2026-03-03): David Deller:
It’s so bad.
I think this varies quite a bit.
On February 15 and 16, I had two Mac App Store updates reviewed and approved within hours.
However, Mac and iOS updates submitted on February 10 both took 2 days.
we had a Mac app take 10 days, after which we developer rejected. The next submission took 20 minutes
Octavo seems to be taking 3-4 days each time. Got a 1.0.1 that’s been in progress since Friday…
Update (2026-03-26): Jeff Johnson:
Mac App Store waiting for review 4 days and counting
I don’t recall ever waiting as long for the MAS
My recent EagleFiler update went into review right away but stayed there for a whole week. This is my worst review time in years, though better than the time they took two months.
Review times seem pretty long right now. Is it all the vibe coded apps hogging the queue?
While my situation was a mere false alarm, discussions in the community about Apple’s app review process slowing down have indeed been increasing recently. Many speculate that this might be related to the recent rise of Vibe Coding. Although there is no official confirmation, Vibe Coding has undeniably lowered the barrier to entry for development. In doing so, it has simultaneously amplified the volume of app submissions and the frequency of iterations in a short period, thereby passing the pressure down to the review team.
Previously:
Update (2026-03-30): Michael Burkhardt:
Lots of developers have started shipping fully vibe coded apps on the App Store. At the same time, loads of established developers are reporting longer wait times when submitting updates for app review.
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Numerous developers, including indie developers and companies like Twitter, are reporting that app review is taking significantly longer, with some people being stuck in review for 3+ days, and some reporting even a week of waiting for review. Traditionally, this process would take less than a day, sometimes a day or two in rare cases.
Update (2026-04-09): Marcus Mendes (Hacker News):
The Information reports that while new app submissions to the App Store fell 46% between 2016 and 2024, “the number of new apps that showed up in the App Store globally suddenly exploded” last year, “growing 30% to nearly 600,000 compared to 2024.”
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An Apple spokesperson denied that review times are getting longer. Apple said the app review team processes 90% of submissions within 48 hours. And over the last 12 weeks, the team has processed more than 200,000 app submissions a week, with an average review time of 1.5 days.
I don’t believe that there’s been no change in review times. Even going by Apple’s own previously reported metric:
On average, 90% of submissions are reviewed in less than 24 hours.
48 hours is a lot different from 24 hours. Plus, Mac submissions are a small percentage of the total, so I’m sure there’s a way to present numbers that make the overall average review time look shorter even as Mac review times have tripled or worse.
Update (2026-04-16): Matt Sephton:
App Store Connect’s App Review is such a car crash. I’ve had apps that have been finished for weeks, all issues addressed, still “waiting for review”
After waiting a week for review of a simple bug fix for HomeCam on Mac. I get this bullshit rejection. Can’t show a demo video for pairing as the Mac cannot do that.
And this app has been out on the Mac for years… why the sudden demo request.
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Can confirm that I'm seeing similar "Waiting for Review' delays for my apps.
It seems to vary by OS as well. In 2026, the general time spent for a submission to be "Waiting for Review" before a reviewer even starts reviewing has been:
- tvOS: 1 day
- iOS: 2-3 days
- macOS: 5-7 days
This is significantly longer than the average in 2025, which I would have guessed would have been an average 1-2 days, irrespective of the OS.
Also puzzling why there is always a variation in responsiveness by OS; despite pushing similar updates, at the same time, to all supported OS's.
It looks like App reviewers may only review a particular OS submissions and aren't re-allocated to other OS platform reviews when there is a high load and/or Apple prioritises reviewing one OS's platform submissions above another. Both of these approaches would be inefficient and puzzling if it is indeed the approach. It looks like this may be the case though, as I can't think of any other explanation to why certain OS submissions are always reviewed quicker than others.
This is unacceptable, Apple.
How are we supposed to run a business and take proper care of our users when App Review times have deteriorated to this extent?
If an influx of low-effort, AI-generated apps is overwhelming the review process, then perhaps it’s time to introduce a higher-tier “Pro” developer membership — one that ensures established, legitimate businesses can continue operating without being penalized by systemic delays.
Timeline of my iOS/iPadOS submissions:
-- Apple instituted a new Age Restriction section in the iOS/iPadOS AppStore due by 1/30. It was confusing, as some of the documentation suggested I didn't need a new build in my submission. I contacted Apple Support on Monday 1/26 mid-afternoon EST and was informed that yes, a new build was needed. So I (1) moved where some images were to correct a CoreUI warning and (2) walked through the 7-8 steps to (re)configure my 4+ year old apps - all 5 of them. Submitted all 5 the morning of 1/27. All 5 were approved in under 12 hours.
I'm certainly not arguing with issues related to Mac App Store submission, nor anyone having specific issues with any app submissions anywhere. Just saying that I'm not seeing any problems here.
Add another reason to the pile of why there shouldn’t be app review or probably even an App Store controlled by Apple. It’s degraded the experience for *everyone*
I’ve been seeing around 5 days for Mac, and 3 or 4 days for iOS since the start of this year. This gets really frustrating if your app is rejected, and those times are then doubled.
Interestingly, as part of Apple’s proposed commitments to the UK Competition and Markets Authority, due to come into effect from 1 April, they “will seek to provide a rejection or approval decision for 90% of app submissions within 24 hours,” which I’m not sure they’ve ever quite managed for iOS in my experience: https://www.gov.uk/government/calls-for-evidence/proposed-commitments-from-apple-and-google-app-certainty-and-interoperable-access
