∞ Apple finally gives iPhone devs estimated app approval time

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It’s not much, but it’s something. iPhone app developers on Saturday got a little gift from Apple when they logged into their accounts — estimated approval times.

appstore2The approval times are based on the number of apps currently in the queue waiting for submission. While not exact, it does let the developers know if they should expect to wait two weeks or six weeks to have their apps approved.

The developer note published on Saturday says that “based on the current app submission, 96 percent of applications are being approved within 14 days.”

The developer note also gives them tips for submitting apps; tips on keyword search, implemented earlier this week; assigning a rating to an app; and editing the app name and changing the rating.


  • http://tewha.net Steven Fisher

    In the days prior to the popularity of the Internet, we would mail out disks with software updates. It took less than two weeks.

    • http://www.van-garde.com Daniel Swanson

      That past is long gone and a different order of magnitude, which makes it irrelevant to the current new paradigm of the App Store.

      Not even Apple could have predicted the success of the App Store, and I’m sure it’s no easy task to augment its infrastructure to accommodate the flow and demand. But this is a good thing, and this incremental improvement is at least a good sign.

  • Jim Dalrymple

    I remember all too well.

  • http://Energy7 Erica

    Where do we find this info? In iTunes Connect?

  • Jim Dalrymple

    Yes, It should be in your developer account.

  • http://www.hypnosage.com/iphone/ Jason

    Where in the “developer account”? What area in iTunesConnect?

    This page has a box that says 97% of apps are approved in 15 days. (Updated Oct 15, 2009)

    https://developer.apple.com/iphone/appstore/approval.html

    The best way I’ve found to guess is look at the ID of a new apps (from any app review site e.g. appshopper.com) and then see how far it is from your new app id. (This doesn’t work for app updates.)

  • http://airbreak.yolasite.com Phosphorus

    BULLSHIT
    It's been 18 days, 10 hours and 44 minutes since Opera for the iPhone was submitted.

  • Eigo

    We wrote an article on this end of last year that profiled the apps we had released and how long each one took to get approved, refused, and approval after initially being refused.
    Take a look here: http://www.eigo.co.uk/App-Store-Approval-Time.aspx