Since founding webtoapp.design, we have turned hundreds of websites into apps. Of course we also helped our customers successfully publish those apps in the app stores. Through that we have lots of experience and data about how the app publishing process works and how long it takes.
For this update, we matched store notification emails with our app records. Our 2026 timing sample covers 229 apps, with emails through October 28, 2026.
What determines how long publishing an app takes?
The first step, app creation, completely depends on how quick you want to be. It's the process where you configure your app settings on our website and you can quickly go through it all in a few minutes, or you can be very detailed and spend as much time on it to make sure everything is perfect.
Nadat je je app hebt ingediend, wacht deze op beoordeling. Apple of Google controleert vervolgens of de app aan de richtlijnen van de store voldoet. Een afwijzing of verzoek om informatie kan wijzigingen, een antwoord en opnieuw wachten betekenen. Goedkeuring en publieke beschikbaarheid zijn afzonderlijke stappen: een geplande of handmatige publicatie kan extra tijd kosten.
Here's a flowchart of the process:
App Review Times in Our 2026 Data
| Stage | Steekproefgrootte | Mediaan | Average | 90% binnen |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apple: new-app submission to first response | 421 | 36,2 uur | 48,3 uur | 96,5 uur |
| Apple: app update to first response | 245 | 13,3 uur | 24,9 uur | 53,2 uur |
| Google: production-access application to approval | 27 | 31,3 uur | 44,2 uur | 93,8 uur |
The median is the middle result: half were faster and half were slower. The last column shows the time within which 90% of the observed results arrived. These are different stages, not total publishing times or guaranteed deadlines.
Apple App Store
In the app developer community, Apple is well known for being very strict at enforcing their rules. These rules are the so-called App Review Guidelines. For Apple, a first response means the first approval or issue notification we could match to a submission. It includes both waiting and review time. A rejection is a response, but your app still needs approval before it can launch.
App Store Beoordelingstijden voor Nieuwe Apps
The new-app sample contains 421 submissions across 135 apps, including resubmissions before initial approval. 27,8% received a first response within 24 hours and 59,1% within 48 hours.
For 104 completed new-app launches, the time from the first recorded submission to approval had a median of 7,4 days. 90% were approved within 22,2 days. This includes time spent resolving issues and resubmitting, but excludes apps still awaiting approval.
Apple currently says it typically reviews at least 50% of submissions in under 24 hours and 90% in under 48 hours. That is Apple's overall guidance; our customer sample has a different mix of apps and includes repeated review attempts, so it should not be treated as an App Store-wide estimate.
App Store Beoordelingstijden voor App Updates
After your app has been published for a while, you might feel the need to make changes to it that require an app update. Our update sample covers 245 submissions across 128 apps. Updates were faster than new-app submissions: 74,3% received a first response within 24 hours and 88,2% within 48 hours.
Voor het oplossen van een kritieke bug of een andere uitzonderlijke situatie kun je bij Apple een versnelde beoordeling aanvragen. Dit is een verzoek, geen garantie op een snellere beoordeling.
Google Play Store
Google Play Review Times for New Apps
Our records do not provide reliable paired submission and decision times for Google Play app reviews, so we cannot give a new measured average for that stage. Google waarschuwt dat sommige appbeoordelingen tot zeven dagen kunnen duren, of langer in uitzonderlijke gevallen.
For 27 apps, we matched the recorded production-access application time to Google's approval email. This is the stage shown in the table: it comes after closed testing and is separate from app review and public release. Application times are recorded when customers confirm they have applied, so these timings are approximate.
Google Play Review Times for App Updates
We also cannot substantiate a current average for Google Play updates from these records. The older claim that updates usually finish within four hours should not be used as a deadline; Google's extended-review warning also applies to updates.
Hoeveel tijd moet je inplannen?
As a planning allowance, leave at least one to two weeks for App Store review and resolving issues, with more time for a fixed launch date. Our completed-launch sample shows that some apps take several weeks.
If Google's closed-testing requirement applies to your account, plan at least three to four weeks after the app is ready for testing. The mandatory 14-day test comes before the production-access application and public release. Recruiting testers, extra testing, rejections, or appeals can extend that timeline.
How We Measured These Times
We used 2026 submission or application dates, matched store identifiers to our app records, and excluded missing or ambiguous matches. Apple timings use the submission time in the notification and the email's date, converted to the same time zone. Repeated notifications for the same submission were counted once; separate recorded resubmissions remain separate observations.
These figures describe observed responses, not apps still waiting. The first recorded submission may be later than the actual first submission if earlier emails are missing. New apps and updates are separated using existing-app and publication records. Missing notifications, customer confirmation delays, and the kinds of apps we publish can affect the results.
