Developers are reporting severe delays in App Store review times, with waits stretching from three weeks to nearly a month—a stark gap between their experience and Apple's published metrics of 50% of submissions reviewed within 24 hours and 90% within 48 hours.
The surge in delays coincides with a flood of AI-generated applications entering the App Store. Submissions to the platform surged 84% year-over-year in Q1 2026, suggesting that the sheer volume of new apps—many built with generative AI tools—is straining Apple's review capacity. While Apple maintains its speed claims, the real-world bottleneck points to a system struggling to keep pace with the explosion in app development powered by AI.