Zurarczurx wrote:
The media have recently reported that app reviews are taking longer than normal, without giving a reason.
Generally speaking, it's a bad idea to believe what you see on the internet. That being said, sometimes "journalists" do have connections and inadvertently publish useful information. You just have to read carefully to separate the wheat from the chaff.
That link is a great example. It's mostly junk, of course. Its level of analysis is barely more than that of the typical App Store developer (i.e. zero). But it did include an interesting link to a heavily paywalled article. But sometimes the modern malaise gives as well as it takes. To get any traction on said paywalled article, they had to offer up what is probably the only interesting and useful snippet of information - that App Store submissions jumped 84% in February 2026.
That makes sense. I noticed a huge change around that time and mentioned that specific date in the Apple developer forums numerous times. Of course Apple hasn't said much. But they definitely noticed it too. In June, Apple published this press release regarding App Store changes and practices. As you might expect, few developers paid attention. Nor did they ever pay attention to any of Apple's App Store transparency reports.
Had anyone done that research, the current situation would make total sense. But that one paywalled story provides a little bit of data. If that's correct, then Apple actually is no longer getting slammed with 24,933 app submissions every day. Apple is now getting 45,877 submissions per day, with about 20,944 being AI slop.
Apple's former executive claims that Apple only has 450 reviewers in total. So that's 100 app reviews per day. So clearly, something's got to give.
But all the posts that have flooded the Apple Developer forums since February have revealed a fascinating, if deeply disturbing, insight into the goals, mind, and practices of Apple's developer community.
