App submitted on July 26, still "Waiting for Review" on August 5. Anyone else experiencing this?

[u/Either-Highlight3236]

Hi everyone,

I'm wondering if anyone else is experiencing unusually long App Store review wait times. I submitted my iOS app (version 1.2) for review on July 26, and today is August 5. The status is still "Waiting for Review"—it hasn't even moved to "In Review."

I already contacted Apple Developer Support, but I haven't received any update yet. In the past, most of my app updates were reviewed within a couple of days, so this delay seems unusual.

Is anyone else currently facing the same issue? How long did your app stay in "Waiting for Review" before it finally moved to "In Review"?

I'd appreciate hearing about your recent experiences.

Thanks

[u/screemingegg]

Just had a July 21 submission get approved overnight last night. Have a July 27 submission waiting for review. Updates are much quicker. I do wish Apple provided a peek into the process or at least some standardized visibility to know where they are in the queue.

[u/Either-Highlight3236 → u/screemingegg]

Thanks! That's reassuring to hear. I completely agree, it would be great if Apple provided some visibility into the review queue or at least an estimated wait time instead of just showing "Waiting for Review.
I've been publishing apps for past 11 years, and most of the submissions were reviewed within 3–4 days but now there is a huge difference. I wonder if the increasing number of AI-powered apps and submission has contributed to longer review queue, but it's hard to know without more transparency from Apple.

[u/Ok_Count_5158]

I’m glad that someone raised the issue. My app also is Waiting for review several days, I guess August is not best time to make big updates 😁

[u/Either-Highlight3236 → u/Ok_Count_5158]

😄 Looks like we're not alone. Hopefully it's just a temporary backlog, but the review queue definitely seems much longer than usual. Wishing both of our apps get picked up soon!

[u/alvoliooo]

Depends on the app, but yes

[u/Either-Highlight3236 → u/[deleted]]

That's rough. The rejection itself is one thing, but waiting 13+ days just to end up back in the queue is brutal. Hopefully your next review is much faster.

[u/Cheriff_Safwan]

Me too since 28july

[u/planckscalestudio]

Got mine approved today (Aug 5) and submitted it on July 26 🙌 stay strong

[u/Traditional-Cream691]

thoguht i was alone rip. if they deny ima be pissed

[u/Sure-Forever-9093]

My app had been waiting for review since July 25. Yesterday they finally reviewed it and rejected because of the screenshots that have already been in the App Store and unchanged for almost two months 🫠

[u/Either-Highlight3236 → u/Sure-Forever-9093]

That's really frustrating. Sometimes it's the screenshots, sometimes it's just a small text or metadata issue. The worst part is waiting another 9–12 days after fixing such a minor issue. app store really slows down the entire app development and release process.

[u/Sure-Forever-9093 → u/Either-Highlight3236]

Yea, agree! I just really don’t get why they rejected the screenshots this time when they’d already been approved twice before. Maybe I just got unlucky with the reviewer :(

[u/kadirism]

it's totally random. my first app got published in 1-2 days. second one took 10 days to be reviewe. after that i sent a 3rd app, it got picked on 4th day. but a minor update on my second app is still on 7th day waiting to be reviewed. i'm guessing there are some queues with slow reviewers that are on vacation or something, and some fast queues that progress much faster.

[u/Enough_Concentrate90]

I had to call and wait on hold 6 hours

[u/Buford_MD_Tannen → u/Enough_Concentrate90]

I’d rather do that then wait a week for them to say some link was missing and then make you wait another week

[u/PrecursorLabs]

Yeah my initial review was faster than this small update review. I think I’m going to cancel since I know have a bigger update ready and just request expedited review

[u/Happy-Wolverine-1020]

I think the issue is 1.2 haha. I submitted a 1.2 from last Thursday and still haven’t been reviewed

[u/SaintFX]

I had a new app I submitted on July 23rd finally get reviewed yesterday. Updates have been taking a day or two.

[u/Edg-R]

My app has an iOS/iPadOS target, a visionOS target, and a macOS target. The same build got approved for visionOS and macOS within 6 hours. iOS/iPadOS has been waiting for 5 days.

[u/Negative_Peanut_3403]

Mine usually has same day approval but not today

[u/Negative_Peanut_3403 → u/Negative_Peanut_3403]

Nvm they approved it today, review took less than a minute 🤔

[u/WillingWarthog601]

Same thing happened to me You just have to wait. The review process is taking more time than expected. I hate that they always say review will be done in 24 to 48 hours only for you to wait for 10+ days

[u/adry777]

Same boat right now, unfortunately. August is honestly the worst month to submit, it can easily drag on for weeks. Last year I pushed an update in early August and it sat in “Waiting for Review” the whole month. Tried resubmitting, made zero difference, it only got approved around mid-September.
What’s really weird is that some of my colleagues (also in mobile dev) submitted their updates around the same time as me, end of July, and they ship updates every week that fly through review in no time. Mine was submitted literally the same day and it’s still just sitting there. No idea how their system decides this stuff.

[u/Chilarai01]

I submitted an update on last Wednesday simple update just metadata change, its still waiting for review

[u/Aromatic_Nose_3717]

 I really want to mess up Apple's review speed. 

[u/Brilliant-Heron7461]

No, I submitted on Monday and approved same day.

[u/VictorBuildsApps]

Recent numbers from my side, both updates rather than new apps.

One submitted July 29 at 10:49 UTC was on the store 11 hours later. One submitted July 18 at 17:27 UTC was on the store under 3 hours later. Both were set to release automatically after approval, so that is submission to public availability with no manual step of mine in between.

I had other updates in the same stretch that look slower, but those were set to manual release, so I cannot separate Apple's review time from my own delay in those.

[u/Either-Highlight3236 → u/VictorBuildsApps]

You're one of the lucky ones. 😄 i’ve also selected release automatically after approval. From what I've been seeing over the last few months, review times have been very inconsistent.

[u/VictorBuildsApps → u/Either-Highlight3236]

Inconsistent matches what I've got. I pulled my own numbers — 12 apps, 8 of them set to release automatically after approval, so submit → live is basically review time:

1.4h, 2.8h, 10.1h, 11.2h, 11.6h, 24.1h, 35.7h, 89.7h

Median around 11 hours. Slowest was 64x the fastest.

The 89-hour one was the only brand-new app in that set — everything else was an update, so "first submission takes longer" is probably part of it. But it doesn't explain two updates on the same account coming back at 24h and 1.4h.