Huh.
On the flip side, googles release infra provides much more functionality for apps that already has scale. I wish apple were more production oriented too.
The Google Play app review process now regularly takes longer than a week
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Re: The Google Play app review process now regularly takes longer than a week
#12AnkiDroid (~17 years old) submitted our latest alpha on Sept 03, 2026, 4:40 am. Still pending review.
Re: The Google Play app review process now regularly takes longer than a week
#13This isn't my experience. My updates usually get accepted within hours. Apple takes days usually.
Re: The Google Play app review process now regularly takes longer than a week
#14Longer than an average App Store review (which is heavily criticized for being too long)? Hilarious
I believe the App Store has switched to automated reviews, at least for updates. I've had my app updates approved in <1h on a regular basis starting this summer.
Re: The Google Play app review process now regularly takes longer than a week
#15For new accounts yes, for older accounts it's much faster in my experience.
Apple has it's own issues, they often just answer with a random question so they can kick the review down the line. "Are you sure this is your pricing?" "Can you confifrm you have not selected that country" and then you have to wait another 2 days.
Re: The Google Play app review process now regularly takes longer than a week
#16Now, let's compare with "google friendly" apps: https://www.apkmirror.com/uploads/?appcategory=youtube :)
It took the whole year before v21 was finally approved, so seems only fair they publish minor v21 revisions multiple times a day!
Re: The Google Play app review process now regularly takes longer than a week
#17Some reviews are clearly automated, some get a light human review, and some involve a human really looking hard. New apps seem to get a more rigorous human review for their first 2-4 submissions. Or at least humans looking over automated test screenshots etc. One reviewer apparently only looked at screenshots because they missed something that would be blindingly obvious on the prior screen if they did it themselves.
The explosion in LLM app development has clearly created a bottleneck at the human review steps. Not only delays but much more “dumb” rejections from likely over-stressed humans.
Re: The Google Play app review process now regularly takes longer than a week
#18MAYBE operating systems shouldn't have gatekeepers which can deny access to billions of customers for any and no reason at all. Apple and Google are WELL past due for regulation in this space. The fact that we cannot download and install software from the internet onto our phones JUST like we can do with our computers is a symbol of our inept and ineffective politicians.
And before someone says "well akshully you can technically do it on Android," Google has been working tirelessly to make it as onerous as possible for both developers and customers. For example, users need to separately authorise each app (browser, files manager, alternative store, etc) to install an APK from outside the Play Store. Google also does background scans using "Play Protect" which will periodically delete apps Google doesn't approve of. This happened to me with SmartTubeNext. I have a dozen other ways Google ensures users are discouraged from stepping outside the Play Store.
Re: The Google Play app review process now regularly takes longer than a week
#19yeah my 'promptly AI' alarm clock almost always spends 7 days, as soon as the binary changes, even descriptions changes take several days
Re: The Google Play app review process now regularly takes longer than a week
#20Sounds like a clear "find another store" message to me.