AI Surge Overwhelms Apple App Review, Leaving iOS Developers Waiting Weeks

A flood of new iOS apps, many created with AI tools, is overwhelming Apple's app review process and leaving developers with delays of weeks rather than days. Developers including AudioThing, Igor Vasiliev and Sugar Bytes say their apps have been stuck in review with no updates, while some report repeated rejections. The strain is affecting music software releases and raising concerns about the future of the iOS app market.

What the review process normally involves

Publishing an iOS app requires joining the Apple Developer Program, which costs $99 per year. Every app, whether a synthesizer, effects app, game or utility, must pass Apple's review process, which checks requirements including security standards. Apple's guidelines say App Review typically reviews at least 50% of submissions in less than 24 hours and 90% in less than 48 hours, and developers say a typical review takes a day or two.

Delays now stretch into weeks

Developers say the process is now on the verge of collapsing under the volume of new iOS apps, AI generated or not. AudioThing, Igor Vasiliev, Sugar Bytes and others say their new apps have been stuck in App Review for weeks rather than days, with no updates. Pittsburgh Modular released its Microvolt 3901 synth as a VST on October 27, while the iOS version arrived on November 12, although a simultaneous release was planned. Igor Vasiliev's HollowTone app also spent weeks stuck in review.

Two cases show erratic rejections

Unfiltered Audio had trouble bringing Sinusoidal Run Rhythm to market. Michael Hetrick wrote on the Loopy Pro forum that Apple seems to be using AI for automated App Store reviews, and the app was rejected four times. The reasons included a request for a demonstration video, a hallucinated claim that "Polyharmonic" was an audio technology requiring a documented license, another request for a video with the app connected to required proprietary hardware, and a spam flag because SRR MIDI was similar to SRR. After more than a month of back and forth, the app was released in an audio only version, while the MIDI version is still not out. AudioThing Materia took 25 days to get approved with one rejection, and Seconds, made with Hainbach, has been in review for 29 days and counting.

Marek Dendes, a new developer, has spent several months building CRUX Synth, described as a flagship synthesizer for iOS. He wrote on the Loopy Pro forum that the app was rejected four times in a row for reasons he called obvious nonsense, including claims that it was design spam, duplicated existing apps and was created using app generation template services. He said the status moved from Waiting for Review to In Review and then almost instantly to Rejected, suggesting an automated process, and that his appeals to the App Review Board received no reply after about five days. He also said he contacted Apple contacts but received no real help.

Broader concerns from developers and media

The author, who has used iOS and iPadOS in a hybrid live performance setup for more than six years, says submitting an app for release before year's end is genuinely problematic because it could wait three weeks and then be rejected. Many developers have lost former euphoria and now express disillusionment. The article also notes that Apple ended its affiliate program years ago, which it says left media outlets unable to cover iOS meaningfully, and that written coverage of iOS music apps is now rare unless backed by major names such as Roland, Korg or Moog. It asks where real Apple Intelligence is when needed and warns that the market could enter a strange period if Apple does not reach out to iOS developers in person again.

Sources: synthanatomy.com