Although Apple hasn’t announced a policy change, developers report that the approval process for new and updated apps now takes less than two days. That’s about seven days less than it took one year ago.
Developers reported the reduced wait time to AppReviewTimes.com, which uses the information developers voluntarily submit to track the approval process. The latest wait times are based on submissions from 322 developers, according to Bloomberg News.
If there has indeed been a policy change, Apple could be boosting efforts to better compete with the Google Play store, which regularly approves submitted apps in less than a day. (Until last year, Google published any app submitted to its store without conducting a review.)
For developers, the one- to two-week lag time between app submission and approval has historically tightened production schedules and delayed important app updates. The decreased wait time could not only free up resources for development, but also lead to more frequent app improvements.
Developers of less-established apps, however, could now face an even more saturated app market. Over the past year, about 1,500 new apps were submitted to the store every day. That number could now surge drastically, especially if the quality of the approval process drops along with its duration.