Releasing apps at a precise time

1.) One is an option before approval, based on when the app is eventually approved and one says leave it alone after it's approved and I'll get back to it.

2.) See 1

3.) I don't think you can get there from here.

You may be overthinking this.

It's a simple decision between letting the process work without your having to take other steps, or staging the app, once approved, so you can decide when you want it to go live in the store.

The issue for new devs comes from having a date in mind (manual release) that expires while the app is still in review. The schedule is blown, they get distracted, the app once approved sits waiting for release and the dev is left dealing with nothing in the store, forgetting the process is waiting on them.

You can set the release date to whatever date you want the app released. After your app is approved, it can go "Ready for Sale" at this date you choose.

Or you can do what you describe in #3, and manually release the version when you want. It really doesn't matter, so long as you don't forget to release your app if you go the manual route.

Be aware of the fact that setting a date doesn't guarantee that your app will actually be available on that date. It can take up to 24 hours from when your app goes "Ready for Sale" for the app to actually be available in the store. So to answer your question, you can't precisely set a time. You can make your app available on a certain day. Sometimes it'll get on the store quickly, sometimes it won't get on the store for several hours or until day later.

I let a new app go Ready for Sale earlier today but it looks like it won't actually hit the store until tomorrow. This is not unusual.