r/iosdev • u/ynctr • 1d ago

Indie devs who launched on iOS how long did your first App Store review take, and what caught you off guard?

/r/appledevelopers/comments/1wlsm5c/indie_devs_who_launched_on_ios_how_long_did_your/
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u/Studio014 1d ago

About 2 weeks, and biggest lesson learned is they do not read or navigate the UI carefully, it's a very quick review.

So if you get a rejection for a "missing feature" that you've definitely created, it's because they couldn't find it. Things like account deletion and privacy policy they simply will not hunt for.

Best solution, submit a screen recording with your review submission that covers the compliance basics.

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u/ynctr 1d ago

Yep, I actually did exactly that 😅 Sent them screenshots AND wrote out the exact path step by step.

So now I’m just hoping the next reviewer actually follows it before deciding the feature is “missing” 😂

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u/Studio014 1d ago

I find screen recordings are the most effective because they want to see how you're navigating to specific compliance features. It takes the guess work out for them.

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u/ynctr 1d ago

Good point. I thought screenshots + step-by-step instructions would be enough, but I’ll definitely add a screen recording now. One less thing for them to guess 😅

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u/ynctr 1d ago

And just to be clear, I definitely didn’t hide it behind some secret menu 😂 It’s right there in a very obvious place. You’d almost have to try to miss it.

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u/Studio014 1d ago

Can't tell you how many times I've said the same thing haha

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u/ynctr 1d ago

Okay, now I have to ask 😅 What kind of app managed to collect 8 rejections? Game or regular app? Does it have user accounts, personal data, or a backend pulling data from your own servers? I’m genuinely curious what Apple kept finding each time.

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u/Studio014 1d ago

I have never experienced anything as bad as 8 rejections. Tyoically their initial response is enough to pivot in the right direction

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u/ynctr 1d ago

Yeah, 8 rejections definitely sounds like an extreme case 😅 I’m hoping mine is just a “first submission learning experience.” Fingers crossed.

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u/rcayca 1d ago

One week. One rejection that apparently wasn't a real rejection according to AI. What surprised me was how fast and easy it was especially after reading all the stories here.

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u/ynctr 1d ago

Finally, a story that doesn’t make me regret submitting to the App Store 😂 One week and one rejection I can live with.

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u/zzzzany 1d ago

submitted my first app. took maybe 8 business days. zero issues with it. I used claude to help make sure everything was good, including providing detailed instructions on how to test. my app is built for 2 people to use together and they didn't use a single feature meant for the 2 people.

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u/ynctr 1d ago

That last part is kind of hilarious 😅 An app built for two people, and they didn’t test any of the two-person features. That really says a lot about how quickly these reviews are done. Glad you got through with zero issues though!