How long does it take for an app review to be completed?

[mukundsrivathsa]

Hello Team , 

I have recently submitted my Shopify App for Review. I have not heard back from the team. How much time will it take for our app to be reviewed and when will we hear back ? It will be great if our Shopify App can be looked into. Attaching a screenshot for your reference. Looking forward to hear back from the team 

[Maz]

Hey, @mukundsrivathsa!

Great question!

While I am unable to check on the status on your behalf, I can provide a general turnaround time of when you will hear back. It usually takes anywhere from 5-10 business days for the submission to be reviewed by our team, but this can sometimes be longer due to the time of year and how many submissions are in the queue at that time.

You should have also received a conformation email of the submission with some FAQs as well.

If more than 30 days have passed you can check the status from your partner dashboard, please head to: Resources > Support > Email Support > Topic > Application Status.

By the way, since you have developed a new app, be sure to read this article; How to Develop a Basic Marketing Plan for Your Freelance Business  to gain valuable insights. Afterward, dedicate some time to define your unique goals, strategy, and tactics that align with your business!

[buzzinspots]

These are very misleading timelines! We have been in the Shopify App Review process for >8 weeks now. And the only reason we are continuing to persist through this frustrating process is the "sunk" tech investment that went behind the project. Having deployed apps on the Meta platform, I can clearly see the levels of ineptitude you will encounter during this process.

While the 5-10 days for a response is fairly accurate, Maz does not mention that there is 10-day response delay between EVERY interaction with the App Review team. The App Review team does not even compare notes BETWEEN submissions, where you will spend 3 weeks b'cos the first reviewer and the second reviewer contradict each other in the usecase.

In our case, it took 12 days for the first reviewer to reject our submission and tell us we need to "resubmit" our app as a "sales channel app". After doing that, we got rejected 24 days later by a reviewer contradicting the first review (and asking us to revert back to a app). We have spent 8 weeks in the process and we have NOT received even one functional feedback. 

Having gone ahead and resolved this contradiction internally, they went ahead and reviewed the incorrect app (already installed by the reviewer on an earlier iteration) and rejected the submission anyways! So, everytime someone does not pay too much attention to their job, you will lose 10-12 business days in the process.

My two cents here..I advise you to reconsider going "all-in" with a 'build for Shopify' approach. Rather, I suggest being loosely coupled to the Shopify platform till they fix their processes. In this way, you will not be BLOCKED by a delibitating app review process. 

[kyleHana]

This would be a nightmare scenario for us. 

Oh my gosh.

I'm sorry that this has happened to you.

We're about to release and I hope a process like this does not happen for us. We have marketing campaigns designed around a launch... but it's extremely worrisome when a target launch date is uncertain.
I hope Shopify App Review Team isn't a blocker for us...

[buzzinspots]

We are nearing 3 months of this App Review process. 

The Shopify App Review Team takes 48 hours between every interaction now. This is what they call "in conversation". This is the case even if you respond to their queries in minutes. 

For us, after resolving ALL the app reviewer issues raised, we thought we were on the home stretch. Alas! The reviewer attempted to test Instagram App functionalities (while using the web), unmarked a resolved issue and left us hanging for another 48 hours!!

I sincerely suggest not investing in "building for Shopify" unless they can fix the quality of their App Review process...Or keep around ~100 days buffer if you planning anything around it!!