On average, 90% of submissions are reviewed in less than 24 hours.
On September 26, 2022, version 4.11.1 of BlueMail for iPhone was waiting on Apple. The update was ready for BlueMail’s users, but in App Store Connect it showed only one status: “In Review”.
Apple tells developers that nine in ten submissions are reviewed within a day. BlueMail’s updates were stuck for much longer, time and again. Blix wrote to the App Review team:
“Please explain the reason for continuing to delay the BlueMail app updates for iOS. Apple states that 90% of submissions are reviewed in less than 24 hours. However, BlueMail is stuck “In Review” for much longer, time and again. This is unreasonable. In all fairness, Apple must not block any BlueMail updates, this is the only way to bring innovation to and fix bugs for iOS users. Apple has already hurt BlueMail enormously.”
Blix to Apple’s App Review team, September 26, 2022
Why it matters
For an app on the App Store, an update stuck in review means bug fixes and new features that users can’t get, while the competing app – in this case Apple’s own Mail – ships with every iOS release. A delay doesn’t have to be a rejection to hold a competitor back.
Meanwhile, in Congress
The delay came at a critical moment. The Open App Markets Act, a bipartisan bill to stop app store owners from favouring their own apps and punishing developers who compete with them, had passed the Senate Judiciary Committee in February 2022 and was waiting for a vote in the full Senate.
The bill never reached a Senate vote. In Europe, the Digital Markets Act entered into force that November.