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iOS app reviews generally take around a week or so. Since Apple now requires that new TestFlight beta apps go through the beta review process as well before we can send it to external testers, I have been wondering how long this process will take.

I have just submitted an app for a beta review. What is the timeframe that I should expect the approval (or denial, for that matter) of the beta app to take?

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    This question appears to be off-topic because it is about how apple staffs a queue. If there were something like a physical amount of time or if Apple by policy refused to review anything in less than two weeks, then there would be an actual problem to solve. In this case, the review process depends on staffing and how many apps get submitted and not really anything to do with a specific app.
    – bmike ♦
    Commented Oct 31, 2014 at 17:20
  • @nsij22 OK - let's see if having it opens helps. It will be closed again if it generates too much spam or maintenance efforts.
    – bmike ♦
    Commented May 30, 2015 at 14:59
  • A pre-release that was submitted for external tester review last week took, I kid you not, about 5 minutes to be approved. The 2nd submission was waiting for about 12 hours (and was never approved) before we submitted a 3rd version, which has been in review for about 18 hours now with no movement. Very inconsistent.
    – Charlie Schliesser
    Commented Jun 2, 2015 at 18:23
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    For what it's worth here is a mid 2016 answer on the issue: stackoverflow.com/a/38396347/294884 It's true that the situation changes often - and it's tricky to get hard facts.
    – Fattie
    Commented Jul 20, 2016 at 14:10
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    Here's a longer discussion/rant: christianselig.com/2020/06/testflight-review
    – Michael Douma
    Commented Feb 26, 2021 at 21:36

7 Answers 7

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Yesterday at 6 pm I uploaded my beta build for review and it's status was waiting for review. This morning the status had changes to "In review" but now, 13h later it's still "In review". I will update this post if my app build had been approved.

EDIT: A day later in the morning it was approved. The total proces from uploading to being reviewed took 1 and a half days.

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    One data point does not make an answer.
    – Ian C.
    Commented Feb 20, 2015 at 22:00
  • Was this over a weekend?
    – rib3ye
    Commented Oct 17, 2015 at 15:57
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    Generally similar times for me as well, though over the weekend it has taken an extra day or two.
    – mkirk
    Commented Oct 17, 2016 at 13:54
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    @IanC. it's infinitely more information than having none though.
    – devios1
    Commented Mar 8, 2017 at 16:31
  • I have already asked test flight related question on SO but did not received any answer, so could you please share your valuable inputs on this : stackoverflow.com/questions/53501307/…
    – iLearner
    Commented Nov 28, 2018 at 10:28
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We just submitted our first Beta Review request and were approved in 50 minutes. The app is fairly large and complex. It appears that the Apple testing was very minimal.

Edit to add: We just release a second version for external beta testing and it was instantly approved; no review required.

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  • is that for internal testing for external
    – ina
    Commented Oct 30, 2015 at 18:12
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    External. Internal testing does not require an Apple review.
    – picciano
    Commented Oct 30, 2015 at 21:58
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    External testing does not generally require a review if you did not make significant changes from the previous version.
    – hypercrypt
    Commented Feb 13, 2016 at 19:28
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    Apple requires each new version of the app to be reviewed before they approve it for external testing, but that's only if the version number changes. If you only increment the build number, you can upload as many versions as you want after that first one was approved
    – Cristian Moisei
    Commented May 8, 2020 at 11:11
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It does seem to be shorter than the full review process on average, and actually -- from personal experience -- it seems to be less than 24 hours (don't count on reviews over a weekend or holiday however). There is a tool for seeing how long a regular review might take Average App Store Review Times which is based on voluntarily submitted review time data. Haven't ever seen it take longer than that though.

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In my experience, it depends on the version of your app as well. Generally, first version takes longer and if you have kept the features more or less same, the next version is quickly approved. We submitted first beta version of our app for review last month. It took one day for Apple to approve first beta release. From that point onwards, all subsequent beta releases were instantly approved.

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  • I'm not experiencing this. It's taking more than a few hours for the second beta release to get in review. :/
    – damirstuhec
    Commented Dec 2, 2016 at 14:22
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Apple states, on the TestFlight Beta Testing page, that a beta app must comply with the full App Store Review Guidelines in order to be accepted. Based on this, it would be reasonable to expect that the timeframe for review would be about the same.

(That is, of course, assuming they haven't been inundated with a deluge of beta review requests since the feature just became available a few days ago.)

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    This is wrong. There's a different process for actual-review and beta-review.
    – Fattie
    Commented Jul 15, 2016 at 12:25
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    @JoeBlow Feel free to post an answer if you find mine to be wrong. It was accurate at the time of my post based on the information available.
    – tubedogg
    Commented Jul 20, 2016 at 3:30
  • indeed @tubedogg now that it's a couple years later - the damned process changes constantly. (I should have said "this has changed now, yet again" rather than "this is wrong", sorry.) Just another answer on this ... stackoverflow.com/a/38396347/294884
    – Fattie
    Commented Jul 20, 2016 at 14:11
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Minimum time it takes is a few hours. Maximum is 3 days (that's what I've experienced). It usually takes longer over the weekends and holidays. In regular days, it usually takes 1 - 1 and a half days. Generally first build of your new version takes longer than the following builds especially if there is a major change. All information written is from experience only. It will differ in your case.

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I had a beta release approved for TestFlight today in around an hour.

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  • that was my case for most builds as well
    – Antek
    Commented Mar 23, 2018 at 14:28

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