App Store review times: how long review takes and how to expedite it

How long does App Store review take? Apple says it reviews at least half of all submissions within a day and nine in ten within two days. Most of that time a version sits in Waiting for Review. When you can't wait, Apple lets you request an expedited review, but only for a critical bug or an event with a date.

This guide covers Apple's figures, what every App Store Connect status means, how to expedite a review, what developers report when it takes longer, and what to do while you wait. Every rule is quoted from Apple's own pages, read on October 5, 2026.

The short answer

Apple reviews at least 50% of submissions in less than 24 hours and 90% in less than 48 hours. If yours has waited longer, check App Store Connect for a message from App Review first. For a critical bug fix or a dated event, request an expedited review after you submit, with the steps to reproduce or the event details in the Notes field.

What Apple says about review times

"App Review works around the clock with the goal of reviewing at least 50% of submissions in less than 24 hours and 90% in less than 48 hours."

Read the numbers the other way round: one submission in ten takes longer than two days, and Apple doesn't say how much longer. Two things are known to push a review out. The first is an incomplete submission. In Apple's words: "If your submission is incomplete, review times may be delayed or your submission may not pass." The second is the holidays. In its last holiday notice, from December 2024, Apple kept accepting submissions but said "reviews may take longer to complete from December 20-26".

Every App Store Connect status, in order

App Store Connect shows where a version stands with a colored status. Yellow means a process run by you or Apple is still going, red means you have to act, and green means the version is ready for distribution. These are the statuses a normal submission passes through, in Apple's names, from its status reference:

When something goes wrong, you see one of these instead:

• Rejected: App Review didn't accept the version. Read the message in App Store Connect, fix the issue and resubmit, or reply if you think it was a misunderstanding.
• Metadata Rejected: only the store information failed, not the build. Edit the metadata and reply to the message. No new build needed.
• Developer Rejected: you removed the version from review yourself. Submit again when you're ready.
• Invalid Binary: the build doesn't meet Apple's current binary requirements. Upload a new one.
• Pending Apple Release: Apple holds the version until the operating system it targets is public.

How to request an expedited review

"You can request the review of your app to be expedited if you face extenuating circumstances, such as fixing a critical bug in your app or releasing your app to coincide with an event you’re directly associated with."

So two cases qualify: a critical bug in the version that's live now, and an event your app is directly tied to. A launch date you picked yourself is not an event in Apple's sense. For events, Apple's advice is to plan ahead and schedule the release in App Store Connect.

1. Submit the build for review first. Apple's help page is explicit: "Only submissions that have already been sent to App Review can be expedited."
2. Put the reason in the Notes field. For a bug fix, the steps to reproduce the bug on the version that is live now. For an event, the event, its date and how your app is connected to it. Apple wants this in the Notes field when you submit.
3. Send the request. Open Request an Expedited App Review (it needs your Apple Account sign-in), pick the app and platform, and submit.
4. Wait for the email. Apple expedites "as allowed by availability and demand", so a yes means sooner, not right now.

Apple adds one more line on its help page: "Expedite requests should be reserved for matters of genuine urgency." It doesn't publish a limit on how many you can send.

What developers report right now

Apple's numbers describe most submissions. The ones that miss them show up in the Apple Developer Forums. On October 5, 2026, 15 of the 21 newest threads under the App Review tag were about waiting. A few of them:

• A new app in Waiting for Review since September 27, after Developer Support confirmed on October 1 that no action was needed.
• A game waiting since September 21. Apple approved its expedite request on September 28, and a week later it still hadn't entered review.
• An app that replied to a Guideline 2.1 information request on September 28, heard nothing for a week, and was granted an expedite on October 4 that hadn't moved it a day later.
• The tvOS version of an app still In Review after fifteen days, while the iOS version submitted the same day was approved in two.

Read these with care. People post when a review is slow, not when it took six hours, so the forums show the bad cases rather than the typical one. Two lessons still hold. An approved expedite moves you up, but it doesn't come with a time. And a reply to an information request can leave a submission quiet for days.

What to do when a review takes days

1. Look for a message first. If App Review asked for information, answer it in App Store Connect with Reply to App Review. Apple's contact page calls this "the best way to receive assistance with an ongoing submission".
2. Give it 48 hours. That's where Apple's 90% mark sits.
3. Then ask about the status. Use Apple's Contact Us form, which needs your Apple Account sign-in. Apple's help asks you not to use Reply to App Review for expedite requests or appeals.
4. Expedite only if you qualify. A critical bug or a dated event, as above.
5. Think twice before pulling the build. Nothing in Apple's documentation says that removing a version from review and submitting it again speeds anything up, and several of the stuck threads in the forums began with a resubmission.

Plan so review never blocks a launch

• Submit early and release manually. Choose manual release when you submit. Once approved, the version waits in Pending Developer Release until you press the button, so the review and your launch day stop depending on each other.
• Schedule event releases. Apple's help says it directly: "Schedule its release in App Store Connect ahead of time if you can."
• Send a complete submission. Apple says "over 40% of unresolved issues are related to guideline 2.1: App Completeness", which covers crashes, placeholder content and missing information. Add a demo account for anything behind a sign-in.
• Stay clear of late December for anything time-sensitive.
• Test with TestFlight first. A beta round catches the crashes that cause most rejections. The guide to beta testing with TestFlight covers it step by step.

While you wait

A release about to go live is the right moment to give its new users a place to say what they want next. WishKit adds a feature request board to your iOS app with a few lines of SwiftUI, so requests from the people this release brings land in one ranked list instead of in your reviews. And once the version is live, ask happy users for a rating at the right moment with the App Store review prompt.

Frequently asked questions