{"id":51116,"date":"2026-03-02T14:43:58","date_gmt":"2026-03-02T19:43:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/?p=51116"},"modified":"2026-04-16T15:44:27","modified_gmt":"2026-04-16T19:44:27","slug":"mac-app-store-review-times-increasing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/2026\/03\/02\/mac-app-store-review-times-increasing\/","title":{"rendered":"Mac App Store Review Times Increasing"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/keydiscussions.com\/2026\/02\/26\/from-tahoe-bugs-to-long-app-review-wait-times-even-app-processing-delays-the-apple-app-developer-experience-is-fraying\/\">Spencer Dailey<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote cite=\"https:\/\/keydiscussions.com\/2026\/02\/26\/from-tahoe-bugs-to-long-app-review-wait-times-even-app-processing-delays-the-apple-app-developer-experience-is-fraying\/\">\n<p>Average app review times for my Mac <a href=\"https:\/\/currentkey.com\">app<\/a> (launched in 2019) have gone up by 3-5x and, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reddit.com\/r\/iOSProgramming\/comments\/1qzc5tz\/anyone_elses_app_store_reviews_taking_ages\/\">it appears others too<\/a> (<a href=\"https:\/\/developer.apple.com\/forums\/tags\/app-review\">tons<\/a> of posts on Apple&rsquo;s forums like <a href=\"https:\/\/developer.apple.com\/forums\/thread\/815408\">this one<\/a>). Mac app reviews now typically take 5 days, and I&rsquo;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&rsquo;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, <a href=\"https:\/\/appfigures.com\/resources\/insights\/20251205?f=2\">App Store submissions rose 24% in 2025<\/a> through November. According to Runway <a href=\"https:\/\/www.runway.team\/appreviewtimes\">data<\/a>, January and February&rsquo;s average review time <em>and<\/em> max review times were significantly higher than they were in the last 4 months of 2025.<\/p>\n<p>[&#8230;]<\/p>\n<p>I and others have also run into delays in <strong><em>app processing<\/em><\/strong> too (which must happen before a build can even be submitted for review) and have personally seen it take up to 10 hours!<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<p>Previously:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/2026\/02\/25\/mac-app-store-design-in-tahoe\/\">Mac App Store Design in Tahoe<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/2026\/02\/16\/uk-cma-secures-app-store-committments\/\">UK CMA Secures App Store Committments<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/2026\/02\/06\/llms-and-software-development-roundup\/\">LLMs and Software Development Roundup<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/2020\/06\/24\/new-app-store-review-processes\/\">New App Store Review Processes<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/2019\/07\/29\/inside-apples-app-review-team\/\">Inside Apple&rsquo;s App Review Team<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/2016\/05\/13\/apple-shortening-app-review-times\/\">Apple Shortening App Review Times<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/2012\/10\/09\/mac-app-store-review-times\/\">Mac App Store Review Times<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p id=\"mac-app-store-review-times-increasing-update-2026-03-03\">Update (<a href=\"#mac-app-store-review-times-increasing-update-2026-03-03\">2026-03-03<\/a>): <a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.social\/@dmd\/116161310067392519\">David Deller<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote cite=\"https:\/\/mastodon.social\/@dmd\/116161310067392519\">\n<p>It&rsquo;s so bad.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.social\/@lapcatsoftware\/116161344131097681\">Jeff Johnson<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote cite=\"https:\/\/mastodon.social\/@lapcatsoftware\/116161344131097681\">\n<p>I think this varies quite a bit.<\/p>\n<p>On February 15 and 16, I had two Mac App Store updates reviewed and approved within hours.<\/p>\n<p>However, Mac and iOS updates submitted on February 10 both took 2 days.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.social\/@calicoding\/116161579294438885\">calicoding<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote cite=\"https:\/\/mastodon.social\/@calicoding\/116161579294438885\">\n<p>we had a Mac app take 10 days, after which we developer rejected. The next submission took 20 minutes<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.social\/@amyworrall\/116164244219363127\">Amy Worrall<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote cite=\"https:\/\/mastodon.social\/@amyworrall\/116164244219363127\">\n<p>Octavo seems to be taking 3-4 days each time. Got a 1.0.1 that&rsquo;s been in progress since Friday&#8230;<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<p id=\"mac-app-store-review-times-increasing-update-2026-03-26\">Update (<a href=\"#mac-app-store-review-times-increasing-update-2026-03-26\">2026-03-26<\/a>): <a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.social\/@lapcatsoftware\/116229487181393099\">Jeff Johnson<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote cite=\"https:\/\/mastodon.social\/@lapcatsoftware\/116229487181393099\">\n<p>Mac App Store waiting for review 4 days and counting<\/p>\n<p>I don&rsquo;t recall ever waiting as long for the MAS<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<p>My recent <a href=\"https:\/\/c-command.com\/blog\/2026\/03\/16\/eaglefiler-1-9-20\/\">EagleFiler update<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.social\/@simonbs\/116243856622502968\">Simon B. St&oslash;vring<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote cite=\"https:\/\/mastodon.social\/@simonbs\/116243856622502968\">\n<p>Review times seem pretty long right now. Is it all the vibe coded apps hogging the queue?<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/fatbobman.com\/en\/weekly\/issue-128\/\">Fatbobman<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote cite=\"https:\/\/fatbobman.com\/en\/weekly\/issue-128\/\">\n<p>While my situation was a mere false alarm, discussions in the community about Apple&rsquo;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.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<p>Previously:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/2026\/03\/20\/updates-to-vibe-coding-apps-rejected-from-the-app-store\/\">Updates to Vibe Coding Apps Rejected From the App Store<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p id=\"mac-app-store-review-times-increasing-update-2026-03-30\">Update (<a href=\"#mac-app-store-review-times-increasing-update-2026-03-30\">2026-03-30<\/a>): <a href=\"https:\/\/9to5mac.com\/2026\/03\/29\/vibe-coding-developers-report-long-app-store-review-queues\/\">Michael Burkhardt<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote cite=\"https:\/\/9to5mac.com\/2026\/03\/29\/vibe-coding-developers-report-long-app-store-review-queues\/\">\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>[&#8230;]<\/p>\n<p>Numerous developers, including <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/jazzychad\/status\/2032851848005140744?s=20\">indie developers<\/a> and companies <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/nikitabier\/status\/2033931821260648659\">like Twitter<\/a>, 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.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<p id=\"mac-app-store-review-times-increasing-update-2026-04-09\">Update (<a href=\"#mac-app-store-review-times-increasing-update-2026-04-09\">2026-04-09<\/a>): <a href=\"https:\/\/9to5mac.com\/2026\/04\/06\/app-store-sees-84-surge-in-new-apps-as-ai-coding-tools-take-off\/\">Marcus Mendes<\/a> (<a href=\"https:\/\/news.ycombinator.com\/item?id=47699086\">Hacker News<\/a>):<\/p>\n<blockquote cite=\"https:\/\/9to5mac.com\/2026\/04\/06\/app-store-sees-84-surge-in-new-apps-as-ai-coding-tools-take-off\/\">\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theinformation.com\/articles\/vibe-coding-effect-apples-app-store-saw-84-jump-new-apps-quarter\"><em>The Information<\/em> reports<\/a> that while new app submissions to the App Store fell 46% between 2016 and 2024, &ldquo;the number of new apps that showed up in the App Store globally suddenly exploded&rdquo; last year, &ldquo;growing 30% to nearly 600,000 compared to 2024.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>[&#8230;]<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>I don&rsquo;t believe that there&rsquo;s been no change in review times. Even going by Apple&rsquo;s own <a href=\"https:\/\/developer.apple.com\/distribute\/app-review\/\">previously reported metric<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote cite=\"https:\/\/developer.apple.com\/distribute\/app-review\/\">\n<p>On average, 90% of submissions are reviewed in less than 24&nbsp;hours.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<p>48 hours is a lot different from 24 hours. Plus, Mac submissions are a small percentage of the total, so I&rsquo;m sure there&rsquo;s a way to present numbers that make the overall average review time look shorter even as Mac review times have tripled or worse.<\/p>\n\n<p id=\"mac-app-store-review-times-increasing-update-2026-04-16\">Update (<a href=\"#mac-app-store-review-times-increasing-update-2026-04-16\">2026-04-16<\/a>): <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/gingerbeardman\/status\/2044745522561368566\">Matt Sephton<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote cite=\"https:\/\/x.com\/gingerbeardman\/status\/2044745522561368566\">\n<p>App Store Connect&rsquo;s App Review is such a car crash. I&rsquo;ve had apps that have been finished for weeks, all issues addressed, still &ldquo;waiting for review&rdquo;<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.social\/@aaron_pearce\/116415874910381526\">Aaron Pearce<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote cite=\"https:\/\/mastodon.social\/@aaron_pearce\/116415874910381526\">\n<p>After waiting a week for review of a simple bug fix for HomeCam on Mac. I get this bullshit rejection. Can&rsquo;t show a demo video for pairing as the Mac cannot do that.<\/p>\n<p>And this app has been out on the Mac for years&#8230; why the sudden demo request.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Spencer Dailey: 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&rsquo;s forums like this one). Mac app reviews now typically take 5 days, and I&rsquo;m seeing lots of reports of 10+ day waits for some. While iOS app [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"apple_news_api_created_at":"2026-03-02T19:44:03Z","apple_news_api_id":"81dfc820-f275-457c-a96b-d2e58a13fc12","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2026-04-16T19:44:22Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAABg==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/Agd_IIPJ1RXypa9LlihP8Eg","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1846,130,1351,30,39,2742],"class_list":["post-51116","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-technology","tag-app-review","tag-rejection","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-mac","tag-macappstore","tag-macos-tahoe-26"],"apple_news_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51116","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51116"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51116\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":51608,"href":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51116\/revisions\/51608"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51116"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51116"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51116"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}