Apple warns devs of app review delays following Dev Center outage

iOS 7 (App Store teaser 004)

Apple is emailing its registered iOS developers that app approvals may take longer than usual, most likely due to an eight-day-long Dev Center outage having created a backlog of submissions for App Store approval. A few developers reported receiving an email from Apple apologizing for the delay due to the review process requiring “additional time”.

Apple started bringing the various Dev Center systems back online six days ago, following an attempted breach which prompted the server-wide security shutdown, in turn stripping developers of access to pre-release documentation, beta code and other development tools…

According to ReadWriteWeb, Apple’s app review team is getting bogged down by Dev Center woes. One developer who asked not to be named provided an email he received from Apple, explaining the situation.

The developer said that it was six days from the time of submission until it got the notice from Apple requesting additional time for review. It has since between another five days and the developer’s app still has not been approved.

Here’s the excerpt from Apple’s message:

We are currently reviewing an app that you submitted for inclusion on the App Store, and want to let you know that the review process will require additional time. We apologize for the delay and will provide you with an update on the status of your app as soon as possible.

Keep in mind these kinds of messages to developers stating their apps will take additional time to review have been standard for years.

A few developers don’t necessarily make a difference so we’ll just have to wait a few days to see if the outage actually affected Apple’s review process. We’d love to hear from developers who have been experiencing app review delays down in the comments.

Given the severity of the Dev Center issues, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that Apple would need some time recovering from such a major security incident, especially knowing devs were unable to submit new apps to the App Store team during the outage.

Dev Center Status page (20130731)

As for the outage itself, Apple’s status page at the time of this writing showed only four systems offline: Xcode Automatic Configuration, Member Center, Program Enrollment and Renewals and Technical Support.

Speaking of status pages, you should really check this one out, it’s hilarious.