How Long Does App Review Take? (2026 Data)

Apple states that 90% of App Store submissions are reviewed in less than 24 hours. In practice, tracked submissions across 2026 have averaged between roughly 6 and 14 hours waiting in the queue, plus about another hour actually in review. Google Play publishes no target at all, and says some accounts may take up to seven days or longer. Below: what the real numbers look like, why they swing so widely, and what actually changes your wait.

Data verified July 2026. We re-check this page monthly — see the sources note at the end.

What Apple actually promises

Apple makes exactly one quantified commitment about review time: on average, 90% of submissions are reviewed in less than 24 hours. That is the whole of it. Apple does not publish an average in hours, does not publish a median, and does not publish separate figures for new apps versus updates.

This matters because almost every article on this topic quotes a precise hour figure and implies Apple is the source. None of those numbers come from Apple. They come from third-party trackers that measure submissions from their own customers — useful data, but not a vendor commitment, and not a representative sample of all developers.

The most-cited public dataset is Runway's App Store review-times tracker, which reports a truncated mean of review times encountered by teams using its product. As of its July 24, 2026 update, the current figures were roughly 9 hours waiting for review and about 1 hour 25 minutes actually in review.

The monthly spread is the interesting part, because it undercuts the whole idea of a single number. Across 2026 the waiting-for-review average moved like this:

Month (2026)	Average wait for review
February	14h 35m
March	10h 20m
April	7h 58m
May	13h 59m
June	6h 08m
July	9h 09m

That is a swing of more than double between the fastest and slowest months of the same year. Any article quoting one figure as "the" review time is describing a single month and calling it a rule. Treat these as a range, not a promise.

Two caveats worth stating plainly, because the sources of this data do not always state them. The sample is self-selected — it reflects teams using one release-management tool, which skews toward established developers shipping updates rather than first-time submitters. And the sample size is not disclosed. So read the numbers as a directional signal from experienced teams, not as your expected wait.

"Waiting for Review" and "In Review" are different things

If you are watching a status and wondering what is happening, this is the single most useful thing to understand: your submission passes through two separate states, and almost all of the elapsed time is the first one.

Phase	Typical duration (July 2026)	What is happening
Build processing	~1h 06m	App Store Connect processes your uploaded build before you can submit it
Waiting for Review	~9h 09m	Queued. Nobody has looked at it yet
In Review	~1h 25m	Actually being reviewed
TestFlight: waiting for beta review	~12h 58m	First external-tester build queued for Beta App Review
TestFlight: in beta review	~1h 19m	Beta build being reviewed

So an app sitting in "Waiting for Review" for ten hours is not being scrutinised — it is in a queue. And the review itself, once it starts, is usually over in under two hours. This is also why "my app has been in review for three days" is a different and more concerning signal than "waiting for review for three days".

Note the TestFlight line if you plan external testing: your first build sent to an external group goes through Beta App Review, and that queue has been running longer than the App Store queue. Build that into your timeline rather than discovering it the day before a launch.

Wednesday is the fastest day to submit

The same tracked data broken down by day of week shows a consistent and fairly large effect:

Day submitted	Average wait for review
Wednesday	5h 44m
Thursday	7h 49m
Saturday	10h 59m
Friday	11h 04m
Tuesday	11h 25m
Monday	13h 48m
Sunday	19h 18m

Submitting midweek has been running roughly three times faster than submitting on a Sunday. If your release date is flexible by a day or two, this is free time. It is also the kind of detail that only shows up in observed data — Apple has never published anything like it, and it may shift, which is why this page is re-checked monthly.

What makes your review slower or faster

The averages above are dominated by experienced teams shipping updates. Your own wait depends mostly on things you control.

Factor	Effect
Completeness of the submission	The biggest one. Apple states that if your submission is incomplete, review may be delayed or fail outright
New app vs update	A first submission from a new account is generally the slowest case; established accounts shipping updates are the fastest
Missing demo account	If your app is behind a login and you did not provide working credentials, the reviewer cannot proceed
Sensitive or regulated category	Health, finance, crypto and similar categories attract additional scrutiny
Submission volume	Not in your control, but real: app releases rose sharply through 2026, which is part of why queues feel worse than they used to
Platform	Mac App Store reviews have been reported as materially slower than iOS — several days rather than several hours

Apple names one cause above all: over 40% of unresolved issues relate to Guideline 2.1, App Completeness — crashes, placeholder content, broken links and missing information. Incompleteness is not just the main reason submissions fail, it is the main reason they take longer than expected.

The slowest review is the one you have to do twice. A day in the queue is nothing next to a rejection, a fix and a resubmission. Choicely's Publish Assistant checks your app against Apple's and Google's rules before you submit — crashes, privacy details, metadata, the completeness items above. Start free →

Expedited review — what genuinely qualifies

Apple offers expedited review, and it is real, but the bar is narrower than most people assume. Two situations qualify: a critical bug in a released app, where you must include steps to reproduce it on the current version; and an app tied to a specific event, where you must give the event name, its date, and your app's connection to it.

What does not qualify: a launch deadline, a marketing date, investor or press timing, or simply being new and in a hurry. Apple assesses each request individually and promises no timeframe. And expediting changes your place in the queue — it does not soften the review standards, so an incomplete app expedited is just an app that gets rejected sooner.

The reliable way to shorten your total time to launch is not expediting. It is not needing a second round: a complete submission with a working demo account, no placeholder content and accurate privacy details avoids the rejection round trip, which costs far more than any queue. Rejections are normal rather than fatal — in 2025 over 387,000 submissions were approved after an earlier rejection — but each one restarts the clock.

How long does Google Play review take?

Google publishes no target and no average. Its one quantified statement is that for certain developer accounts it will take longer to review thoroughly, which "may result in review times of up to seven days or longer in exceptional cases".

Plan for about a week on a first release rather than a day. Two Play-specific things also affect your real timeline more than the review itself: new personal accounts created after November 13, 2023 must first run a closed test with 12 testers for 14 continuous days before they can release to production — calendar time you cannot compress — and editing your store listing after submitting can restart the review.

Why is my app stuck in "Waiting for Review"?

Usually nothing is wrong. "Waiting for Review" means queued, not under scrutiny — and the queue is where nearly all the elapsed time goes. Tracked averages in 2026 ranged from about 6 to 14 hours depending on the month, and from under 6 hours to over 19 depending on the day you submitted. If it has been several days, check that your submission is complete and that any required demo account and review notes are filled in.

Does review take longer for a new app than an update?

Generally yes. Apple does not publish separate figures, but a first submission from a new account is the slowest case, and established accounts shipping updates are the fastest. Public tracked averages skew toward that second group, so treat them as a floor rather than an expectation for a first launch.

Can I get my app reviewed faster?

Apple offers expedited review for a critical bug in a released app or an app tied to a specific dated event. A launch or marketing deadline does not qualify, Apple decides case by case, and it promises no timeframe. Expediting moves your place in the queue but does not relax the review standards — so the more reliable speed-up is submitting something complete enough not to need a second round.

Is there a best day to submit?

On tracked 2026 data, yes: submissions made on Wednesday waited about 5h 44m on average, against about 19h 18m on Sunday. If your release date has a day or two of flexibility, submitting midweek has been meaningfully faster. This is observed third-party data, not an Apple commitment, and it may change.

How long does TestFlight beta review take?

The first build you send to an external tester group goes through Beta App Review. In July 2026 that queue averaged about 12h 58m waiting, plus about 1h 19m in review — longer than the App Store queue at the same time. Internal testing has no review, so use internal testers when you need a fast loop.

How long does Google Play review take?

Google publishes no target. It says review may take up to seven days or longer in exceptional cases for certain accounts. Plan for roughly a week on a first release. Note separately that new personal Play accounts must complete a 12-tester, 14-day closed test before releasing to production, which is calendar time on top of any review.

Waiting is easier when you know the submission was right the first time. Choicely builds real native iOS and Android apps free — 300 credits every month, no credit card — and the Publish Assistant checks your app against Apple's and Google's review rules before you submit, so you are not spending the queue wondering.

Sources & disclosure: Apple's official review-time statement and expedited-review criteria verified on Apple's developer documentation on July 28, 2026. Observed timing figures are from Runway's public App Store review-times tracker (data as of its July 24, 2026 update), which reports a truncated mean of submissions from teams using its product — a self-selected sample of undisclosed size, skewed toward established developers shipping updates. It is not Apple data and not a commitment. Choicely publishes this page and sells an app-publishing product, so we have a commercial interest in it. Because these numbers move, we re-verify this page monthly.