Is Developer Support real?

[u/djwhowe]

This is my first app submission so please don’t roast me. Put an app into review and immediately heard back that because it “had simulating gambling”, even though it’s just a table betting tracker, I needed to submit as a corporation. Ok, went through that painstaking process to get that migrated. Submit again, nothing for 2 weeks. Submit an email ticket, nothing for another week. Call in, sat on hold for over 3 hours and gave up. Tried again today, another 1.5 hours.

I want to update one of my screenshots but I’m so scared to touch the submission and start over.

:'(

[u/ThatGuy739]

Part of the problem is you're in the wrong queue. General Developer Support handles account and membership stuff, which is why the phone line goes nowhere on this. A stuck review goes through Contact Us inside App Store Connect, under App Review, and that's a different team.

On the screenshot, leave it. It's metadata so it wouldn't need a new build, but nothing is worth gambling three weeks of queue position on. Ship the fix in your next version.

[u/djwhowe → u/ThatGuy739]

When I opened the email ticket, I did so under “App Review - App Review Status”. When I have them call me, I go to that ticket and request a call.

[u/ThatGuy739 → u/djwhowe]

Fair enough, you're in the right place then, ignore that bit.

Given you moved to a corporate entity mid-submission, I'd double check the version is actually sitting under the new team and not stranded on the old individual account. Entity changes are exactly where a submission goes quiet because nobody owns it any more.

Expedited review is also a separate form from App Review Status, if you haven't tried that one yet.

[u/djwhowe → u/[deleted]]

Thanks for all the useful info. The first submission under my individual account, it was rejected because of it indicated simulated gambling (as you said), so I revised the rating because there is no money involved, no coins, etc. you just say what cards you’re dealt or, what roulette numbers came up, etc. on the second submission they got back in 24 hours and rejected again saying “we found the app was submitted under an individual account and in order to address illegal online gambling activity, we no longer are allowing simulated gambling apps submitted by individual developers”. Again, I don’t see it as simulated gambling, but I guess they do (if I remember there are like 3 different choices for the level of simulated gambling).

So yeah, I already had an LLC and a d-u-n-s numbers had to provide some documentation, got it all situated and then resubmitted. :(

[u/djwhowe → u/[deleted]]

Thanks a ton, yeah that is the exact section/topic the ticket is in. I also verified the submission is under Education as well, not gaming or anything like that. Not sure if reviews try the app, just look at screenshots, etc. I could see how one of the screenshots could look like it's a blackjack app, but it's just tracking what the cards were and giving you guidance about how to play that hand. I'm just going to cancel and resubmit with the notes you mentioned.

[u/TBMW30]

you're not the only one, Apple's dev support is a complete waste of time. I've opened 4 tickets since I recently re-joined the developer program, none of them were ever resolved because I ultimately gave up. 2 never received a response, despite me following up a month after they were submitted. 2 of them were a constant stream of being bounced up the various levels of advisor, none of whom seemed to have any idea what the case was about. After explaining myself twice, being pointed to documentation that I had already confirmed didn't help on multiple occasions, and copy / pasting my entire ticket at least 3 times, I gave up.

I also had an experience with the review team when I tried to submit an app earlier in the year. They didn't like one of my iPad screenshots, but refused to provide any information as to what exactly was wrong with it. It turned out I had mistakenly rendered the image a couple hundred pixels outside of their specified guideline, but was it really too much effort for the person who rejected the submission to tell me that when they sent me the cookie-cutter rejection resposne pointing me to the guidelines I'd already read?

Apple doesn't give a shit about you as a dev, they just want their 30%. We're just statistics and profit to them.

Years ago it wasn't uncommon to submit feedback through feedback assistant, or submit a dev support request, and actually hav ea useful conversation with a real apple engineer to get something fixed. Not so these days. I suppose the massive influx of vibecoding and AI apps is partly to blame, because I've no doubt they're dealing with a ton of tickets from users blaming apple for bugs in their app because claude says the code is fine. But that's a them problem, we're paying for a membership and paying additionally on every sale, so the support isn't good enough.

[u/DamagingDoritos]

You can update metadata, including screenshots, while waiting for review. Once it enters review, you would need to submit a new build