App Store shuffle brings long-awaited speed boost for developers

AppleInsider

Developers are the latest beneficiaries of Apple's ongoing bid to revamp the App Store, with new policies shortening the time it takes to gain app approval from more than a week to fewer than two days.

It now takes an average of 1.95 days for App Store reviewers to approve new app submissions for sale, according to data collated by AppReviewTimes.com. That is down from nearly 9 days at this time last year and 5 days in December.

The changes, noted by Bloomberg, are believed to be part of a broader push to make the App Store more efficient as Apple leans more heavily on its services business.

Apple shook up its services division in September, removing the App Store -- and much of the developer relations group -- from Eddy Cue's software and services division. Worldwide marketing chief Phil Schiller was subsequently given control of those areas.

Schiller has reportedly embarked on major changes to the App Store, with a "secret team" that is mulling significant user-facing updates.

Part of the reason for such renewed attention on the App Store is the explosive growth of Apple's services business in relation to its hardware sales. Apple reported nearly $9 billion in services revenue in the first fiscal quarter of 2016.

"The growth of our Services business accelerated during the quarter to produce record results," Apple chief Tim Cook said during the earnings call, "and our installed base recently crossed a major milestone of one billion active devices."

robertwalter

I hope there has been a concurrent improvement in the check for violations of Apple's design requirements and security. 

xbit

This is fantastic news. Well done Apple!

greg uvan

We just witnessed this change for real. Posted a new version of our app Quetzal POS at 6pm est on Tuesday, it was reviewed and ready for release by noon the following day. Less than 24 turn around. 

We thought it was a fluke. I love the idea that this going to be the new norm!! Means we can push out bug fixes in a day. Yay!

cropr

As an app developer I can only say this is very welcome news.  Last year it took on average 10 days, end of March it was 4 days.  Next week I'll post a new app, let's hope it;ll indeed under 48 hours

techguy911

Great news.  But as a developer, the somewhat long wait time has pushed me to take new releases more seriously, trying to make sure they are polished and have a good number of new features before releasing.  If it's quick and easy to put out a new release, I can see developers throwing more crap over the wall knowing they can put out an update 2 days later.  I already see it with the near constant updates of many of the popular apps with a generic non-description of the update other than "weekly updates".

I don't by any means think Apple can or should fix this by making wait times longer, but I worry about lower quality app updates.

mike1

techguy911 said:

Great news.  But as a developer, the somewhat long wait time has pushed me to take new releases more seriously, trying to make sure they are polished and have a good number of new features before releasing.  If it's quick and easy to put out a new release, I can see developers throwing more crap over the wall knowing they can put out an update 2 days later.  I already see it with the near constant updates of many of the popular apps with a generic non-description of the update other than "weekly updates".

I don't by any means think Apple can or should fix this by making wait times longer, but I worry about lower quality app updates.

That is an excellent point. I hope that they are staffing up to speed the review process but not changing the standards. Still, if turnaround times are under two days, sloppy developers will keep throwing crap over the wall in the hopes that Apple will finally approve it. There needs to be a way to incentivize developers to do better work upfront.