Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

App Store Approval Time

B

bridgeyman

macrumors member
Original poster
Mar 16, 2008
42
0
I submitted my game to the App Store on the 13th. Do any developers have an estimate on how long it will take for it to appear on the App Store? I realize they are probably going to be flooded with new application because they let everyone into the iPhone Developer Program last Friday, but even a rough estimate will help me with my over-anxiousness.

TTFN
Bridger
 
If anyone is wondering the same thing, my app just got approved. That makes it about two business days. However, the contracts have not been approved yet, so I can't say two business days is all it takes to get your app on the store if you are charging money.
 
Two weeks and counting for an UPDATE =(

We have one of the top apps in the app store, with thousands of downloads each week. We have updated our app multiple times. We have noticed a definite trend in Apple taking longer. It use to take around one week to approve an app, then it went to two weeks, and our latest update has been submitted for OVER TWO WEEKS with Apple and no word. We have even tried calling.

Are other developers seeing this slowing down trend? The approval time is starting to be a BIG problem and is going to hurt Apple and the iPhone. We use to be one of their biggest supporters, but are becoming more and more disillusioned with Apple because of the ever-increasing approval times. If you have a bug, and they take over two weeks to even look at your app, then suppose they don't approve it and you have to try again, it could take OVER A MONTH to get your bug fix to your customers.

Apple needs to address this issue or we're going to stop developing for the iPhone.

=(
 
We're in the same boat with our BillMinder 1.6 update. We submitted it on the 29th (or 28th? Can't recall exactly) and haven't heard much. We think Apple is slammed with folks trying to get 3.0 compatible updates out so we're just trying to hang tight and be patient with them.:)
 
We submitted our app at the start of April, it was rejected 2 weeks later due to a disagreement with our business model.

Resubmitted with more explanation and no changes on the last week of April, and approved the last week of June.

The approval time is definitely a pain pont.
 
Suggestions for Apple

We're trying to be patient too, but this is going to be a BIG problem for Apple and the iPhone moving forward if not addressed. Could you imagine if Netscape or one company had tried to say "OK, we're going to approve every website before it can go live to the Internet." I understand (and even support) why Apple wants to approve every app, but if they want to have 200 million iPhones out there one day, they need to be prepared for hundreds of thousands of apps.

Here are two suggestions for Apple:

1. Premium Approval Fee.

When you submit your app for approval, they should give the developer the option of paying $20 or $50 or whatever if they would like "premium" approval. Apps that are selling thousands every day would gladly pay this premium, and the guy who is just tossing up some small app for a small audience will wait. This would benefit everyone because Apple could use that fee to hire ADDITIONAL QA reps for the premium approval buyers. This cuts the line down for the free approvals, since some are going to premium, but provides that quick turn around for those who need it. What if you have a serious bug? You may not want to wait a month for approval (in case it gets rejected one time and it takes them two weeks for each approval).

2. Trusted Developers/Apps

Does anyone here really believe the Facebook app gets put in the queue with the rest? If Facebook, with millions of users of their app, has a serious bug, is it really in Facebook, Apple, or the iPhone user's best interest to have it take two to four weeks for that bug to be fixed? Apps which meet certain criteria (have been out for at least two months, get at least 100 downloads per day, have been through at least three prior approvals, have a star rating of at least 2.5, etc.) would automatically be classified as a "trusted app" and either approved immediately or put in a special queue.

Apple is going to fall victim to their own success if they're not careful. I just think they need to start getting creative with ways of getting apps approved more quickly. Users (and developers) are accustom to the Internet where things can be fixed INSTANTLY. Waiting for a month to push out a fix just doesn't scale for a serious device.
 
The prob for devs submitting updates is no more apparent than with Camera Zoom, an app that got best app in the NYT but does NOT function at all on the new iphones (and I believe not for 3.0 in general). So what were glowing reviews of this app have now turned completely sour. There should be some advertised time frame; it would be easier to find patience knowing when we might see an update. I've not put a neg review on the app, though I've yet to use it (bought it shortly after purchased my first [3Gs] iphone), but many others have.
 
My app www.itunes.com/apps/jetmanjack (help support a poor college student trying to make it in the app store!) got approved in about 12 business days I'd say. I know that in one of the last keynotes they bragged about how all of the recent apps had been "...approved in only ONE WEEK OR LESS!" Shortly after that I was talking to someone I know who works at an app company (one of the big big big names with 1 million + users) that said when they talked to their friends at Apple last, they said that with all the new apps they were getting backed up and the time was getting pushed to an average of 14 business days. This was probably 2 months ago. I am sure it is even longer by now...
I also think it really all depends on the app too. Some simple apps (I'm thinking as simple as Light) could take a couple days to go through whereas more complicated ones have a lot more to check and go through and would obviously take a lot longer.

By the way, does anyone know how to get a customized app page in the app store. All the hot shot apps have them, I want one too! I am guessing you have to be doing big business in the app store and Apple hooks it up?
 
My first app took over 4 weeks to get approved around March. My second app is now going into its 3rd week. I've written to Apple 5 times so far and got one reply to say sorry for the delays without any explanation and a second reply to say that my contracts were now approved (which they already were according to iTunes Connect) and that I should contact iTunes Connect because it was no longer their department.

I have since sent two emails to iTunes Connect department and have yet to hear back

From Apple I would have expected a lot more. Since the 3rd party developers are working their ass off to make the iPhone so popular with the many awesome apps out there, the least they can do is keep us posted as to where in the process the approval is.

I mean even an email saying we have a huge amount of apps to get through is better then no communication at all.

If they are so busy, they need to hire more staff, or at least modify the approval process to give us developers a little more information.

Personally I'm very disappointed with Apple. I'm a beginning developer and although I love the platform, I find the support to developers far from acceptable. I've developed for other platforms where the support was exceptional. Its a shame really.
 
Seven Weeks And Counting!!!

We have one of the top apps in the app store. It's a commercial app that sells very well every day. We submitted an update to add Push Notifications to our app OVER SEVEN WEEKS AGO! Still waiting.

Apple needs to get control of this. It's getting out of hand.
 
kevcarm said:
We have one of the top apps in the app store. It's a commercial app that sells very well every day. We submitted an update to add Push Notifications to our app OVER SEVEN WEEKS AGO! Still waiting.

Apple needs to get control of this. It's getting out of hand.
Click to expand...

you keep saying this, what app if i may ask.
 
kevcarm said:
We have one of the top apps in the app store. It's a commercial app that sells very well every day. We submitted an update to add Push Notifications to our app OVER SEVEN WEEKS AGO! Still waiting.

Apple needs to get control of this. It's getting out of hand.
Click to expand...
I'll say. My app was originally approved in under two weeks, but my first bugfix is still waiting over 6 weeks later... Most frustrating.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back