Unusually long “Waiting for Review” times this week (App Store + TestFlight delays?)

App Store Distribution & Marketing App Review

Created Feb ’26

Replies 54

Boosts 39

Views 16k

Participants 57

Hi everyone,

I’m currently experiencing unusually long review waiting times and wanted to ask if others see the same behavior this week.

My situation:

• App Store update has been in “Waiting for Review” significantly longer than usual • A newly submitted build also seems stuck • TestFlight processing is slower than I normally see • Expedited review request and contact attempts didn’t change the status so far

What confuses me is that I still see other apps receiving updates, so I’m unsure whether this is a broader review delay or something submission-specific.

I’m not trying to escalate anything — just looking to understand if this is currently affecting more developers.

Would really appreciate hearing about your recent experiences.

Thanks and good luck to everyone waiting 🙂

diffent OP

Mar ’26

Same here, unusually long in the waiting for review queue, new app, macOS. 7 days so far. Usually this goes through much faster. March 22 2026.

a_popa OP

Apr ’26

Both my app release and test flight are waiting for review since Saturday at 5:42 PM - I understand there are larger volumes than usual, but still, 3 days with no update..

menesu OP

May ’26

I got my app released with 48 hours of waiting but for the first update we have been waiting for 2 months. We didn't get any rejections before at all, and I tried all of the ways to contact them (Support Ticket, email, forum, expedited review). Do you now any ways to solve this? We cannot publish the game because the first version had lots of changes and the game looks completely different in iOS and Android (which got approved so fast).

mikerczx OP

I pulled 60 days of my App Store submissions (~29 approvals) from the status emails and found a consistent per-platform split I can't explain.

I submit the iOS and tvOS builds of the same app within the same minute. Over that window:

tvOS: clears the "Waiting for Review" queue in ~24h (median), approved same day.
iOS: sits in the queue ~46h (median) — about 2× longer.
The actual "In Review" time is identical on both (~1h median). The entire difference is the pre-review QUEUE, not the review itself.

Latest example: both submitted within one minute. tvOS went In Review → Ready the same evening (~17h). iOS was still "Waiting for Review" over a day later — not even started.

Two things I'm trying to figure out:

Is iOS just a structurally deeper queue than tvOS (far more submissions), so this gap is expected for everyone?
Or does app type affect queue position? This app is an AI assistant with auto-renewable subscriptions. My other apps (no AI, no IAP) clear the iOS queue in a few HOURS, not days — which makes me wonder if the AI/subscription iOS binary gets deprioritized. But since the in-review time is the same, it looks more like scheduling than harder scrutiny.

For anyone shipping the same app to multiple platforms: do you see tvOS/macOS clear faster than iOS at the same submission time? And does anyone with an AI or subscription app notice a longer iOS queue than their simpler apps? Numbers appreciated.

(To be clear — review time once it actually starts has been great. This is purely about how long it waits before a reviewer picks it up.)