Urgent: Existing app update has not been reviewed after rejection and resubmission

For the context, here is the detail of the app:

Name: Stranger Soccer

Description:

Playing the world’s most popular sport: Now as easy as going for a jog.

Born in Singapore, Stranger Soccer is now open in 10+ cities around the world, with over 100,000 games run. We continue to grow and are accepting applications from license partners who want to bring Stranger Soccer to their city. Check out the full list of open locations and learn more at www(dot)strangersoccer(dot)com.

Football is the world's most popular sport, followed by 3.5 billion people in over 200 countries across the world. But why don't more people PLAY it? It can be a real hassle: finding enough players, committing to a fixed schedule, and so forth. The acclaimed Stranger Soccer App makes it as easy as going to the gym or for a jog.

1. Browse. Hundreds of games are available at multiple timings and locations.
2. Book a slot. Pay in seconds.
3. Show up and play. Now wasn't that easy?

There are many other great features! Follow people you enjoy playing with. Join games they'll be playing in, and invite one another to play. With a Stranger Soccer Membership, enjoy guaranteed savings every month.

Get your first game FREE with promo code WELCOME.

As of today, 30 August, the app is still stuck and hasn’t received any review. This is very frustrating, especially with the launch date getting so close.

Is there anything I can do to get the current submission reviewed, given that the previous submission was rejected and the appeal has not received a response?

The last resort action seems to be posting in the developer forums, and you've done that.

Could the previous Guideline 1.1 rejection be causing the subsequent submissions to remain pending?

I suppose anything is possible. Apple has publicly acknowledged using AI for app reviews now. Nobody ever knew Apple's internal App Review processes in the first place, and now there's an AI component too.

Should I continue waiting for the current submission, or is there another recommended process for escalating this situation?

That would be my recommendation. You are still well in the "days" range of waiting. While I do often see people who still complain about wait times measured in hours, there are many people who are experiencing wait times measured in weeks.

Guideline 1.1 - Safety - Objectionable Content The app’s marketing includes terms or images that reference objectionable content or services. These references can be found in the app’s metadata, including, but not limited to, the following metadata field(s): description and name.

I’m not sure what triggered this rejection because the app name and description have not been changed for years. The app has been live and regularly reviewed during that time without this issue.

That's a serious category and atypical of the 4.3 spam rejections that people more commonly complain about here in the forums.

I don't know what changes you made to the description and name. But it seems pretty obvious what caused it. While your app may not be changing, the rest of the world is rapidly changing. Judging from the many complaints I see here in the forums, spam dating apps are extremely common and Apple is getting very good at detecting them.

My guess is the AI has been trained to detect dating apps from all this new data. Then your older app partially tripped that. You didn't match spam so the rejection is based on safety.

Hopefully your change to the description, and appeal submission will be enough to get the update approved. Good luck!

Thank you for answering my questions, @Etresoft

Yes, I’m still waiting for the current update to be reviewed by the App Review team.

I completely understand your point about Apple potentially using AI as part of the review process. However, I want to clarify that my app is not a dating or spam app. It is a football/soccer game booking platform that has been established and operating long before the current AI era. Even when I ask an AI to explain what the app is about, it can accurately identify it as a football/soccer booking platform.

I also double-checked the rejection reason and reviewed both the app name and description with AI. Nothing in the description was identified as objectionable or related to dating or spam services. This makes me believe that the description itself is clear and consistent with Guideline 1.1.

If Apple’s review process is indeed using AI, I’m concerned that the system may be interpreting the word “Stranger” in our app name as a signal for dating or other objectionable content. However, “Stranger” is part of our established brand name, Stranger Soccer, and changing or removing it is not really an option.

If this were a normal maintenance update or a new feature release, I would be completely fine with waiting for the review process. However, this particular submission is tied to an actual business operation launch in a new country. The launch is scheduled for September 1, so getting the update reviewed and approved on time is extremely important. A significant delay could directly affect our planned business operations and user experience.

That’s why I’m hoping there may be another way to escalate or expedite the review of the current submission, especially since the previous rejection appears to have been a misunderstanding rather than an actual violation of the guideline.

I’ll continue waiting for the current submission for now, but I’m concerned that simply waiting may not be enough given the business launch timeline.

I want to clarify that my app is not a dating or spam app. It is a football/soccer game booking platform that has been established and operating long before the current AI era.

Yes. I get it. I looked you up. I wouldn't have given you that reply if I thought you were just another dating app.

But I don't work for Apple and I'm not on the clock. To be honest, a quick, superficial review of your app marketing did initially give me a little bit of a "meeting people" dating app vibe. Maybe now that dating apps are such the "go to" fraud app, you might need some adjustment there.

I understand this is a challenge. But I think that established developers are often focused on their own app and don't see the scale of global fraud. That's Apple's primary focus. There are legitimate dating apps. But most new dating apps are likely fronts for less legitimate activities. The same process has happened in many different types of apps.

The launch is scheduled for September 1

I'm sorry, but Apple isn't on deadline. Apple imposes its schedule on us developers, not the other way around.

Yes, thank you for sharing your thoughts on this matter @Etresoft . I’ll definitely take note of your feedback and bring it back to the team so we can review the situation and make improvements to prevent similar issues from happening again.

And yes, I completely understand that Apple isn’t working against our launch deadline. From our side, we’re simply trying to plan and submit the update early enough to meet our business timeline. That’s why we submitted the update on August 25.

The unusual review delay has only started happening over the past two weeks. Before that, our app updates were consistently reviewed and went live within 24 hours, so this situation is quite unexpected for us.

At this point, it seems there isn’t much else we can do besides wait for the app to move into review. Thank you again for sharing your perspective and taking the time to explain it.

That’s why we submitted the update on August 25.

Six days? Including a weekend? Apple provides a service where you can get an app reviewed and approved ahead of time, and then release on your schedule. But you'll need to start the process weeks ahead of time.

The unusual review delay has only started happening over the past two weeks.

I regularly review this forum. This started several months ago, in early 2026. It sounds like you may have been one of the lucky ones until now. Obviously those people don't complain.

But now that you are stuck in the queue, it might be a good idea to review some previous posts. There are thousands of them.

As of today, the app has been reviewed and approved. It took approximately 20 days from the initial submission to review and final approval.

For context, the initial submission was rejected under Guideline 1.1. I then submitted an appeal to the App Review Board, which required additional time for the board to review the rejection and confirm the app rejection was invalid. This appears to have been the main reason for the extended review timeline.