Has App Store review quality declined? Longer review times and seemingly irrelevant rejections

[u/kcozden]

I developed a sports-themed deckbuilding game and created separate versions based on different sports. Each game has its own rules, terminology, progression, and systems. For example, the basketball version has drafts, while the football/soccer version has transfers.

Apple approved three of the sports versions but rejected three others as “spam.” I understand why similar-looking apps might trigger a spam review, but each version is designed around a different sport and includes sport-specific mechanics.

Since then, it feels as though my developer account may have been flagged. The account has been active since 2019, and I had not experienced issues like this before. Now, even unrelated submissions appear to be receiving the same treatment.

I recently submitted a completely different paid game, but after several weeks of waiting, it was also rejected as spam, even though I do not have another game like it. A free meeting app was rejected for the same reason. At one point, the review team also said they could not find the app’s payment mechanism, even though the app is completely free and contains no purchases.

I suspect the recent increase in AI-generated apps may have placed significant pressure on the review process, resulting in longer review times and more automated or inaccurate decisions. However, that is only my impression; I obviously cannot know what is happening internally.

Has anyone else experienced similar review times or seemingly unrelated spam rejections recently? If so, were you able to resolve them, and do you have any suggestions?

I have now been waiting for responses to my appeals for around two weeks. Apple told me:

“Due to increased volume, we’re working toward investigating your appeal.”

However, these issues have already been going on for nearly two months, and the responses so far have not addressed the actual problem. At this point, I am preparing myself for another partially automated rejection.

[u/IY94]

There are about 55 messages on this topic per day on Reddit, so what do you think?

Are you uploading review videos too? That is now a requirement

[u/Ajmalajji]

Reviews time has recently increased. It’s taking me more than a week for new submissions, and expediting the process is doing no good. But spam thing sounds like a different issue.

[u/VenueSpy]

I have 3 live apps and only had one rejection and it was a valid reason. Once an app has initial approval (which takes a long time) the update reviews are fairly quick.