Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's a strange statement. It's a very simple app, which specific guidelines do you think should have taken significant time for him to write code that complies to? In my experience the guidelines are mostly common sense once you get used to the "Apple way", and are straightforward to comply with, especially if you're already familiar with them (OP had submitted several apps before).
This is accurate. I should have possibly mentioned in more detail that at the time I had a lot of experience with prior apps, so whipping another one together—particularly for such a simple concept—is trivial. I’m surprised anyone here thinks something like Snaplight would take more than an hour to build (no repos, testing on device but otherwise no tests, simple permissions, uncomplicated UI that only improved post-…
I think it would take me longer just to make the icon, having never done anything like that before.
Think about all the skills you had previously built up that allowed you to make it in an hour. If someone lacks even one of them, they would never be able to do it so quickly.