Dear App Review Team, Our app – Apple ID 6754872058 has been stuck in the “In Review” status for over 7 days (since Jan, 15 at 10:44 PM). Normally, reviews begin within a few days, but in our case, it seems unusually delayed. Could you please clarify: • Is there a specific reason for this hold? • Is any action required from our side? • When can we expect the review to finish? Thank you very much for your time and assistance.

Apple’s documentation indicates that iOS now supports A/B testing for app icons, but I haven’t been able to get it working. My app already includes alternate icons within the same binary, yet when I try to set up an A/B test in App Store Connect, there’s no option to change the icon-only screenshots can be updated in a new treatment.

I am using Product Page Optimization for the first time and after updating a new app version the test stopped automatically. The status shows developer has stopped with no option to restart the test even though I did not stop it.

Hello Apple Developer Community, It's been almost a week since I submitted an update to an existing In-App Purchase and specifically a text change to the "Display Name" field. All my new localized strings are stuck in "Waiting for Review" status, and the IAP itself shows "Updates Pending Review" (although its status is "Approved"). Do I need to submit a new app version for these metadata changes to be reviewed, even though the IAP was previously approved? Thanks in advance for any insight.

Once, the App Store empowered indie creators - small teams could launch great apps and find users easily. But in 2025, that era feels long gone, with algorithms, big players, and pay-to-win discoverability reshaping everything. Is there still a real chance for indie iOS developers today, or has Apple’s evolving ecosystem made independent success nearly impossible?

I want a programmatic way to monitor my app search ranking on the Apple App Store. Is there any API or external website available besides checking directly in the App Store app on iPhone?

Hello, I’m posting here in hopes of getting some help or advice regarding our app submission, which has now been stuck in “Waiting for Review” status for 45 days. We submitted our iOS app on Dec 12, 2025, and since then there has been no movement in the review process. This app is important for our business. The delay is now starting to affect our plans significantly. We called Developer Support, hoping to get some clarity or assistance. Unfortunately, the responses we received were generic and didn’t provide any concrete solutions or timelines. We understand the review process can take time, but 45 days with no progress or transparency feels excessive—especially considering the app was submitted under a developer account that has had previous successful submissions without issue. Here’s a quick summary: • Initial submission: Dec 12, 2025 • Current status: “Waiting for Review” If anyone from the App Review team happens to see this, or if any fellow developers have deal with a similar issue recently and have advice, we would greatly appreciate your insights. This delay is putting real pressure on our timeline, and we’re doing everything we can to resolve it. Thank you for your time and support.

Hi team, I wanted to share some friendly feedback based on my experience as a relatively new developer submitting apps to the App Store. The documentation states that 90% of submissions are reviewed within 24 hours. However, across my submissions, I've found the average review time to be closer to five days. I completely understand that review volumes are likely substantial, and there may well be differences between iOS and macOS review queues. This isn't a complaint - just a suggestion that adjusting the stated timeframes might help set more realistic expectations for new developers. When I first started submitting apps, the longer wait times left me wondering whether I'd done something wrong. Thanks

I’ve been building iOS apps since 2011 and have worked on hundreds along the way. Recently, I started a series on App Store Optimization (ASO) to share tips, strategies, and lessons learned. In this first post, I dive into how responding to customer reviews can directly influence ASO performance and App Store ranking - covering timing, response style, and best practices to turn negative reviews into positive ones.

Even the best apps struggle to get noticed—over 5 million apps compete in stores, and most never hit 1,000 downloads. Visibility, not quality, is the real challenge. App Store Optimization (ASO) is the key to breaking through. Optimizing your app’s title, keywords, visuals, and description, combined with ongoing testing and competitor analysis, can drastically improve discoverability and downloads in 2025.

Hello everyone, I’m a developer working for a client company, and I’m trying to publish an iOS app from their Apple Developer account. The app is 100% original and fully developed by me and my team (no templates, no third-party source code reuse, no republished app). During development, I previously uploaded internal test builds of the same project to my personal Apple Developer account for testing purposes, using a different Bundle ID. Now that we are ready to release, we submitted the app from the client's account, and the submission appears to be blocked/rejected due to similarity/duplicate detection (Design Spam: 4.3.0). My questions: What is the recommended Apple process in this situation? Is App Transfer required/expected even if the previous builds on my account were only for internal testing and never publicly released? If App Transfer is not applicable, what is the best way to document that this is the same original app, now being published under the client’s account (authorization/ownership)? Does removing/deleting the test app/builds from my personal account help at all, or is it better to leave history as-is and only provide an explanation to App Review? Any guidance from developers who faced a similar issue (or from Apple engineers) would be really appreciated. Thank you.

Hello App Review Team, I am writing to seek clarification regarding repeated review feedback received via App Store Connect (Resolution Center) for my app: App Name: Animal Sounds & Insects 90+ App ID: 6741077718 Team ID: 24MTF8NJ6Q Over the past two weeks, this app update has remained in review with multiple rejections referencing similar concerns, despite detailed responses and clarifications already provided in the Resolution Center. Unfortunately, I have not received follow-up responses or specific guidance there, which has prevented me from releasing even a minor update. To ensure clarity and avoid further delays, I am summarizing the key points below. Parental Gate (Guideline 1.3 – Kids Category) The review feedback indicates that the app may include links, commerce, or ad interactions without parental permission. I would like to clarify that the app implements a mandatory, non-dismissible parental gate, which is required before: Opening any external links Engaging in any form of commerce, including in-app purchases Interacting with any advertisements This parental gate cannot be bypassed or disabled and is triggered consistently across all applicable user flows. No child user can access links, purchases, or ad interactions without successfully completing the parental gate. If there is a specific screen, flow, or scenario where this behavior was interpreted differently during review, I would greatly appreciate precise details so I can verify and address it immediately. Advertising Experience (Guideline 4.0 – Design) The review also notes that users are required to view advertisements prior to using the app. I would like to clarify that the app does not require users to view advertisements before accessing its core functionality. Specifically: There are no forced ads No launch or entry interstitials No ads that block or gate access to the app’s main features Advertising within the app is passive and non-intrusive. This setup has been live for over one year, and no recent changes were introduced that would alter this behavior. Request for Guidance I fully respect and support the App Review Guidelines and am committed to complying with them. Given the repeated rejections and lack of actionable feedback so far, I kindly request: Clear and specific guidance on the exact screen, flow, or behavior being flagged Confirmation on whether the current parental gate implementation is being detected correctly during review My goal is to resolve any remaining concerns as quickly and accurately as possible so the review process can move forward. Thank you very much for your time and support. I appreciate the work of the App Review team and look forward to your guidance. Kind regards, Jiyan Aslan Developer, Animal Sounds & Insects 90+

I've been rejected by Apple many times for design spam. I'm confused whether this is because I'm reusing codebase or because my app is similar to other apps on the store. However, very few other apps on the App Store are similar to mine, so I don't think I'm spamming. Could you please tell me how to fix this? Should I refect the codebase or completely redesign the app's features? Thank you for reading!

Hello My first submission attempt rejected by Apple review and I resolved issues then sent a new review. Now when I open the dashboard submission appears rejected but when I clicked the details it looks like in review. What should I do now? Thanks in advance

I want to know if App Store Connect provides daily breakdowns of new 1–5 star ratings rather than just cumulative totals. This would help me track the impact of remotely enabling a feature, but I haven’t found such an option.

Our VPN app on the Apple App Store has seen a slowdown in installs lately. I’d appreciate any suggestions on effective strategies or new tactics to drive growth

I'm extremely frustrated with Apple's unfair app review process. To make a long story short, for every app I've ever submitted, Apple has made false accusations about problems with my apps. Some of their feedback has absolutely been legitimate and correct, which I appreciate, but I would say about 50% of all "feedback" I've ever received has turned out to be objectively wrong. In some cases, the App Review team's gaslighting has been so strong that I have had to submit screenshots of code as proof that their accusations were completely wrong, after which they have had to accept the app. In one instance, they have claimed that one of my apps would not be allowed on the App Store at all, and when I link to multiple other apps that works EXACTLY the same way, the App Review team love to point out that you are not allowed to compare yourself to other apps. To be clear, I'm an indie developer and I'm not even comparing myself to apps from large corporations or any popular apps at all (since it's well known they get the VIP treatment), all apps I have compared myself to are from small, unknown indie developers such as myself - so I'm only comparing myself to developers in the same category as me. Telling developers that they are not allowed to compare themselves to other developers is VERY ethically problematic, imagine doing that to minorities in real life. I'm a minority in multiple ways, and I'm very worried about the ethics and moral at the App Review team. When I ask why they reject my app, but approve many apps that were recently released that works EXACTLY the same way as my app, I either get no reply at all or they tell me that I can't compare myself to others. Submitting appeals to the App Review Board doesn't help either. To be completely transparent with you, it has been very hard and draining on my mental health to have this invisible wall consisting of gaslighting that the App Review team has set up for me. It just doesn't make sense... The app review process is unfair, inconsistent and problematic, and it should be a serious eyebrow-raiser when Apple's App Review team can't explain why some small indie developers get approved easily while others get rejected. Especially since it seems like the pattern is that those who get rejected are humans in various kinds of minorities, as evidences by some other threads on this topic.

Hey All, Last week, I submitted a build of my app with the ability for users to subscribe & receive some extra content in exchange. I wasn't super sold on that being the right path for my app, and when I rightfully received a rejection for missing in app EULA, I decided that I'd postpone monetizing the app and I'd give away that content instead. So, I went ahead and disabled any paths of entry to the subscribe modal & marked the subscriptions as "Remove from Sale" in AppStoreConnect. Additionally, I updated the subscription review notes to be "This is not accessible in app at this time" Sadly, I still got rejected due to missing EULA and the tester being unable to find where IAP's are offered. I'd like to avoid cutting a new build, and instead just remove the subscriptions from being associated with this submission. But, I cannot for the life of me figure out how to remove them! Please help! TLDR: How do you disassociate an IAP or Subscription from an app submission?

Hi, Anyone else hitting this App Store Connect issue? I have now submitted two app versions. Both get accepted and I can release them, but the subscriptions are never included. What is happening: App versions get approved normally No “In-App Purchases” section appears on the app version review page Subscriptions page shows subscriptions stuck on “In Review” for 10 days Subscription localization is “Rejected” and completely locked I cannot edit, recreate, or resubmit anything related to subscriptions.. Tried submitting a new app version again, same result. App approved, subscriptions still stuck. So I keep releasing without subscriptions every time 🤦‍♂️ Anyone experienced this or found a way to unblock subscriptions when localization is rejected and locked? Thanks!

Did any one face this issue "Note that users expect apps they download to function on all the devices where they are available. Since your app may be downloaded onto iPad devices, it is important that it also function as expected for iPad users" even though we already done the following Target → General → Deployment Info Devices: ☑ iPhone ☐ iPad ← MUST be unchecked UIDeviceFamily = 1 Mac Catalyst is set to NO