Apple Says App Review Averages 1.5 Days. Developers Report New Apps Waiting Weeks. Plan Your Launch Around the Second Number.
Apple told MobileGamer.biz that over the last 12 weeks App Review processed an average of 378,000 submissions a week, with an average review time of 1.5 days overall and 14 hours for minor updates. At the same time, developers in that article and on forums describe new apps waiting several weeks. Both can be true, and if you are about to launch something small, the gap between them is your schedule.
What Apple said and what developers say
Apple's statement, reported October 20, says some new apps take longer when they need extra scrutiny. It describes prioritizing updates to existing apps, expanding automation, strengthening abuse detection and adding safeguards against repeated submissions with unresolved issues. It also points to an App Review Help portal, expedited review requests and a bug fix submission process.
Developers quoted anonymously said approvals stretched from the usual 24 to 48 hours to several weeks in some cases. One studio had five apps waiting over a week on Apple while all were approved on Google Play within 24 hours. A mid-sized studio with a five-year-old game saw no change in update review times. That detail matters most: the slowdown looks concentrated in new submissions, while routine updates to established apps still move.
The backdrop is volume. In April, The Information reported an 84% year-on-year jump in App Store submissions, attributed to AI-made apps and games. Treat that as a secondhand figure, since it is not an Apple metric.
Why an average hides this
A 1.5-day average across 378,000 submissions a week is dominated by updates, which are the bulk of volume and the fast case. A first submission from a developer with no history is a different queue in practice, and a resubmission after a rejection starts a new review. If Apple fast-tracks updates and screens new apps harder, the average can look healthy while new-app waits grow. I cannot prove that split from the public numbers, and Apple has not published a breakdown. But developers' reports fit it.
One developer blog post I read, which is a personal write-up of Apple's documentation and not an official source, lists the practical points. Classify your submission as new, update or resubmission, because the delays are mostly in the first and third. Do not resubmit to jump the queue, since that starts a fresh review. Request expedited review only for a critical fix or a dated event. Reply in App Store Connect before resubmitting after a rejection, with specifics, and appeal once.
What this means for a solo launch
A big team can absorb a week of uncertainty. You cannot, because your launch plan is probably a post, a thread and a few emails scheduled for one morning. If review lands three weeks later, that momentum is gone, and you will be tempted to re-announce.
Three changes help. Submit earlier than feels necessary, and treat the first submission as a test, not a launch. Prepare a review packet in advance, with a demo account, exact paths to any feature a reviewer might question and a short screen recording. That will not speed the queue, but it reduces rejection loops, which are the other way to lose a week. And ship the web version first, so your audience has something to use while the app waits.
Where this could be wrong
Some of the reports are anonymous and anecdotal, and delays come in waves. By the time you read this the queue may have cleared. Apple also has an interest in saying the system works, but its numbers are specific and it described actual measures, so I would not call the statement spin. The honest reading is that I do not know the median wait for a new app today, and neither does anyone outside Apple.
What I'd actually do
If I had a mobile app ready, I would submit it now, a month before any public date, and set the public launch to the web version. I would write review notes as if the reviewer had never heard of my category. I would not resubmit an unchanged build while waiting, and I would not announce a date I cannot control. When the app clears, the launch becomes a second announcement, which is a bonus rather than a dependency.
Author
Lukas
@lukcombinator