Live App Review wait times
How long does App Store review take?
Two thirds of the posts in Apple's App Review forum are people asking whether their wait is normal. Nobody answers them, and the number Apple publishes has not matched what developers are experiencing. This page is our attempt at a real answer.
What developers are reporting
Developers are currently reporting waits of two to three weeks, far longer than the figure Apple publishes. Apple has not updated that figure.
Apple's own page still says the opposite: on average, 90% of submissions are reviewed in less than 24 hours. We quote it because you will have read it and because it is the only official figure there is, not because it describes this month. Our reading of current conditions was last checked on 2026-08-14.
Apple's published figure
for 90% of submissions
24 hours
What developers are reporting
last checked 2026-08-14
20 days
Day 1: you press Submit for Review
Day 20: a typical decision
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- Apple's figure
- Typical wait right now
- After a decision
A rejection sends you back to day 1. Two rejections means three trips through the queue: about 9 weeks of waiting at the current rate, for something that was usually visible before the first submission.
The numbers
What we can say so far
Apple's published figure
24 hours
For 90% of submissions, per developer.apple.com
Typical wait, as reported
20 days
Developer reports, last checked 2026-08-14
Submissions we track
0
We publish our own percentiles once at least 5 sit behind each figure
We publish our own percentiles only once enough submissions sit behind them to mean anything. Until then, every range on this page comes from what developers are reporting, dated, rather than from a number we made up.
Is my wait normal?
What your wait probably means
Find how long you have been waiting on the scale, then read the band it falls in.
Band edges reflect what developers are reporting, last checked 2026-08-14.
Under 12 days
EarlyEarly days. Nothing to read into yet.
You are well inside what other developers are currently waiting. There is nothing to do and nothing to infer. The most common mistake at this stage is withdrawing and resubmitting to 'restart' the queue, which does the opposite: it puts you at the back of it and discards the review already done.
12 days – 26 days
Normal right nowA normal wait in current conditions.
This is where most submissions sit right now. It is not a signal that anything is wrong with your app, and there is no way to see your position in the queue. Waiting is genuinely the only available action.
26 days – 35 days
At the long endAt the long end of what people are seeing.
Most submissions have been decided by this point, so it is worth making sure a reviewer is not stuck on something. Check that your demo account still works and your backend is switched on; a reviewer who cannot get in often waits rather than writing to you. Beyond that, the usual causes are a guideline 4.3 similarity review in a crowded category, or an in-app purchase they are trying to buy and cannot.
Over 35 days
Worth acting onLonger than the queue explains.
At this length, waiting alone rarely helps. Use Contact Us in App Store Connect and ask for a status update in two sentences, naming your app, version and submission date. If the release is genuinely time-critical, an expedited review request is the other lever, and it works best used once, with a real reason. Still do not withdraw and resubmit.
FAQ
Common questions
Apple states that on average 90% of submissions are reviewed in less than 24 hours, but that has not matched developer experience for some time; waits of two to three weeks are currently common, for updates as well as new apps. Apple has not revised its published figure. If you are several days in, you are in the ordinary case, not an outlier.
"Waiting for Review" means your submission is queued and nobody has opened it yet. It is not a signal that anything is wrong with your app, and there is no way to see your position in the queue. The state changes to "In Review" when a reviewer actually starts. Long stretches in "Waiting for Review" reflect queue length, not your submission.
A first review establishes things a reviewer does not have to re-check later (your category, your age rating, how your purchases work) so it has historically taken longer. When the queue itself is backed up, though, that difference is swamped by the wait to be picked up at all, and updates take just as long.
Almost never. Withdrawing puts you at the back of the queue and discards whatever review has already happened. The only reason to withdraw is that you need to change the build or metadata anyway.
It can, and Apple grants it sparingly. It is designed for critical bug fixes and genuinely time-sensitive releases. Requesting it without a real reason, or repeatedly, makes future requests less likely to be granted.
Historically submissions slow around major OS releases, and Apple observes a holiday shutdown in late December that it announces each year on its developer news page. Plan releases around both.
Waiting is the good outcome
Don't go through the queue twice.
The wait ends one of two ways, and a rejection sends you back to the end of the queue for the whole of it again. What it ends on is usually something that was visible before you ever submitted: a dead privacy policy link, a purchase the reviewer cannot buy, a demo account that does not work. Our free check reads your App Store Connect account and lists those before Apple does.