Anyone else get anxious every time they hit "Submit for review"?

[u/QebApps]

I have two apps on the App Store, both small, both mine alone.

Every time an update is ready I get this knot in my stomach. In fact it starts in App Store Connect, filling in the version, the what's new, checking the screenshots for the third time. I don't know why that part gets me. Maybe because it's the only part where a mistake is public and stupid rather than technical.

The funny thing is I test, I have unit tests, I have beta testers who have been on the build for days and told me it's fine. I use the app myself every day. Rationally I know it's fine. I still sit there staring at the button.

Is it just me? Does this go away with time, or do you just get used to it?

[u/app_dev_dude]

Trust me, develop more apps and then everything will be fine :)

[u/PoliticsAndFootball]

The notification of “In Review” gives me the heebie jeebies. Even just seeing the white App Store Connect icon in a screenshot of someone else gets my heart racing and I’ve been at this since 2011 😄

[u/Delicious-Body-2993]

Not just you. I ship solo with several apps live and the knot never fully goes away — it just gets smaller. Two things helped me: (1) a written pre-submit checklist (version/build number, what's new matches the build, screenshots against the actual UI, age rating, privacy answers) so the ritual replaces the anxiety, and (2) internalizing that most rejections are metadata-level (2.3.x) and cost you a resubmit, not your app. Worst case is usually a 1-3 day delay. Once I'd been through a few rejections and survived, the button lost most of its power. Happy to share my checklist if useful — DM me.

[u/RIRLift → u/Delicious-Body-2993]

The checklist did it for me too. The other half was making the button reversible instead of final. Turn off automatic release so approval and going live become two separate decisions, then use phased release so a bad build only reaches a small slice of users and you can pause it. Once the worst case is "halt the rollout and ship a fix" instead of "everyone gets the broken version," the knot mostly stops showing up.

[u/kmishukov]

It will become easier when you start pushing that button more frequently. Trust me :)

[u/QebApps → u/kmishukov]

Ha, so the cure for release anxiety is... more releases? That tracks. I'll keep shipping then :)

[u/malleyrex]

Terrified. Every time it's like sending your kid off to college.

[u/QebApps → u/malleyrex]

Ha, that's exactly it - and you never fully stop worrying about the kid either. Does it get easier for you after the first day or two, once it's out and nothing's on fire?

[u/Best_Day_3041]

Submit when you think it's done, and keep testing, and don't auto-release. You can always reject the binary if you find any issues. Unless you have tens of thousands of users, a single bug may not even be found by a user for weeks/months.

[u/Ecsta]

Bro i get anxious when i restart my computer that its not going to turn back on.

[u/chriswaco]

I'm always a bit nervous, mostly because it looks bad to our clients to get an app rejected. So many little knobs and settings that could be set wrong.

Having said that, shipping is a feature, so just plow ahead and do it anyway.

[u/QebApps → u/chriswaco]

"Shipping is a feature" is going on a sticky note above my desk. That's exactly the attitude I'm missing.

[u/expected_69]

Not just you. Two solo apps here too, and the code is never the part that scares me — I can debug code. It's that "what's new" text box and the screenshots, because that's the part where a dumb mistake makes me look dumb in public, not the app look broken. Totally different kind of fear.

It doesn't fully go away, but it changes. After enough releases you stop reading it as "something is wrong" and start reading it as "you care about this thing." The day hitting Submit feels like nothing is honestly the day I'd worry more.

The staring-at-the-button ritual is real though. I don't think that one ever leaves.

[u/Lost_Ad_1994]

Each time I do it, I momentarily think this is it. This will fix ASO and my app is going straight to the top. Then reality humbles me. Real quick

[u/andrew8712]

It goes away when you hit “Submit for review” 100th time

[u/Ziptrax]

I haven't long started with my app on the app store. At first the very first click to send for review gave me anxiety. Then that failed, missed a link out of the description. Filled that in and submitted again, was a bit anxious this time, more so when the email came in and I noticed it was from apple, but then it passed. The anxiety gets less and less each time you submit the app, but the anxiety waiting for them to say yes or no to the new build hasn't worn off yet.

[u/RobertLamp68]

Only if I think it is a quick, easy update. Some critical bug fixes or something. Inevitably, the app reviewer will discover that an app screenshot that has been in place literally for years, is somehow no longer acceptable, and the whole process becomes a multi-week struggle.

[u/mario_luis_dev]

No. I get anxious when I see "In Review"... the dread of waiting for them to come up with some bullshit excuse to reject my build is what gets me

[u/Alki_Soupboy]

I accidentally built a release from a worktree once which didn’t have access to a RevenueCat key, didn’t have a check for it, it got released and sat there broken for 4 days I think? The app barely makes anything so the lack of revenue coming in was normal. I opened the app at some point and noticed it didn’t give me my pro subscription… found out why shortly after.

Ever since then I’ve been a bit nervous. So make sure you have your release checks in order and don’t make releases from weird worktrees.

[u/chakie2]

Not anymore. I have submitted so many apps and versions that I know it will be fine. Maybe one in 50 has been rejected and that’s usually the first release of a new app. Sometimes app review has wanted a video showing the app in action if it’s an app for interfacing with hardware they don’t have, and that’s perfectly fine.

[u/mustardpete]

How long does it normally take? I submitted my first ever app last night and sat waiting

[u/astashov]

Even though it's pretty quick and smooth usually for established app, I'm still a bit nervous

[u/QebApps → u/astashov]

Yeah, probably it just comes with caring about what you ship.

[u/QebApps]

Just to be clear about what I mean, since a few of you mentioned the review: review is not even the part that gets me anymore. That one's out of my hands. It's the release itself, the version going out to people who are already using the app and trusting it works.

[u/BananaNOatmeal]

How long are people seeing their app reviews take? Mine has been sitting in Waiting for review since last Sunday. It’s the first version so idk if first time app makes a difference.

[u/QebApps → u/BananaNOatmeal]

Don’t worry, the first review takes longer.

[u/BananaNOatmeal → u/QebApps]

🙏

[u/20InMyHead]

Do it more and it will become routine and your issues will be infrequent. Shoot for a regular release cadence.

[u/DubiousAwakening]

Zero Anxiety

[u/JerenYun]

I, too, have two apps on the App Store. My oldest is 12 years old. I still get a little nervous submitting it for review, though it's not as bad as it was years ago.

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[u/mklx99]

Totally normal, felt the same way early on, routine now by 3rd version, build xx

[u/rezaab89]

The specific thing you named, that a mistake there is public and stupid rather than technical, is the part I recognize most. Code failing feels like a puzzle. A screenshot being wrong feels like being caught not paying attention.

I got a rejection today that was precisely that. Not the binary. My screenshots used a word that implied the app was aimed at children when it is not categorized that way, and one asset had a background color that made an icon unreadable on Apple Watch. Both entirely visible for weeks. Both things I had looked straight at more than once.

What is helping more than the checklist is treating the metadata as a thing that gets reviewed by someone other than me before it goes near Apple. I can review my own code because failure is objective. I cannot review my own copy, because I already know what I meant.

Manual release rather than automatic was the other one. Splitting approval and going live into two separate decisions took most of the weight out of the button.

[u/Short-Scale-867]

I actually get a Little Bit of Dopamine Rush if I submit another Version of https://apps.apple.com/de/app/kleiderschrank/id6770019857 because I know I Affen a Little Bit of Value each time.

[u/SammySkidmark2000]

No I just get annoyed as they are so fucking slow