What’s the most frustrating part of launching an iOS app? It’s a question I get all the time, and as a surprise to some, my answer has nothing to do with app development, testing or even user adoption. Instead, it’s the lengthy and tedious iOS App Store approval process. Developers, stop me if you’ve heard this before. But I have good news and bad news for iOS developers who might be struggling with this process. The bad news is that Apple’s standards are as strict as ever. The good news is that, with the right understanding of the process, it doesn’t have to be a frustrating experience. According to crowd-sourced data collected by Shiny Development the average review takes approximately 8 days, with most responses falling between 5-10 days. Apple does review apps over the weekend, meaning the days are calendar days, not business days. It is important to note that this is not official Apple data and that this does not include the “expedited review” process. In case 8 days sounds more like 8 years to you, Apple does allow an “expedited review” process, to learn more about that check out our blog titled, “Requesting an Expedited iOS App Store Review
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Why Did My App Get Rejected by the Apple Store?
If your app was unfortunately rejected, don’t worry you can always try again, but be aware of the common reasons apps are rejected. An app is reviewed on a series of 27 categories that determine its technical competence, content appropriateness, and design efficiency. Here are the 10 most common violations resulting in rejection according to Apple:
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Guideline 2.2: Apps that exhibit bugs will be rejected
Guideline 10.6: Apple and our customers place a high value on simple, refined, creative, well thought through interfaces. They take more work but are worth it. Apple sets a high bar. If your user interface is complex or less than very good, it may be rejected
Guideline 2.1: Apps that crash will be rejected
Guideline 3.4: App names in iTunes Connect and as displayed on a device should be similar, so as not to cause confusion
Guideline 3.1: Apps or metadata that mentions the name of any other mobile platform will be rejected
Did not comply with terms in the iOS Developer Program License Agreement
Guideline 3.8: Developers are responsible for assigning appropriate ratings to their Apps. Inappropriate ratings may be changed/deleted by Apple
Guideline 22.2: Apps that contain false, fraudulent or misleading representations or use names or icons similar to other Apps will be rejected
Guideline 3.3: Apps with names, descriptions, screenshots, or previews not relevant to the content and functionality of the App will be rejected
If your app was rejected, check to see if any of these reasons could be holding you back and work to resolve them. If your app was accepted – you did it!