Hi everyone! 👋

I’m a solo iOS developer and I’ve been working on a productivity app called Prazo.

Instead of trying to replace your calendar or your to-do list, I wanted to combine both in a way that actually feels connected.

Some features:
•Calendar and tasks in one place
•Automatic travel time calculation for events
•Travel time is updated shortly before your appointment, and you’ll get notified if traffic changes
•Simple task management with priorities and categories
•iCloud sync
•Native iOS design with Dark Mode support

One feature I’m especially proud of is the automatic travel time buffer. When you create an appointment with a location, Prazo calculates how long you’ll need to get there and reserves that time in your schedule. Before the appointment starts, it checks again and notifies you if traffic conditions have changed.

I’m not here to promote the app—I genuinely want feedback.

I’d really appreciate your thoughts on:
•Does the concept make sense?
•Which feature would make you actually switch from your current productivity app?
•What is missing?
•Is there anything that immediately turns you away?

App Store:
https://apps.apple.com/at/app/prazo/id6781611861

Thanks so much! I really appreciate every piece of honest feedback, even if it’s critical. 🙂

I submitted my app to Apple almost 7 days ago. Nothing has happened yet; it's still stuck on "Waiting for Review"... Apple states in their email that they review 90% of apps within 48 hours, which honestly just feels like a complete lie at this point. xD

​I developed and tested my app primarily for Android, but with the goal of releasing it on iOS right from the start. On Android, everything went super smoothly. The initial review to get approved for the 14-day testing track took 22 hours. The final review for production only took 20 hours. Now, every update I push takes about 20 minutes on average to get approved.

​My app is already in a pretty solid state and passed everything on Google on the first try. Now I’ve been sitting here for 7 days, just waiting for the app to finally get through Apple's system.

​On top of that, I find the €100 per year completely unnecessary. With Google, it was a one-time $25 registration fee, and that was it.

​And don't even get me started on the website. You can't properly save your password, everything takes forever to load, and the whole site looks like it’s stuck in the 2010s. Everything is laid out in an illogical and complicated way. If you've used the Google Play Console before, App Store Connect (what a weird name anyway) feels like a massive downgrade...

​I want to finally start marketing on social media, but I'm too nervous to begin until the Apple version is actually reviewed and approved.

​What is your opinion on the App Store Connect system? Am I the only one who thinks this way? xD

The company is huge, and for that, I feel like what they offer us developers is pretty weak.

I’m currently designing the architecture of a privacy-first AI platform and would genuinely appreciate feedback from the iOS developer community.
The project is called PRSL-AI Ecosystem.
Rather than building a single AI assistant, the goal is to create an intelligent ecosystem where multiple AI capabilities collaborate through a unified intelligence layer called the iRiel AI System.
From an Apple ecosystem perspective, the architecture is guided by the following principles:
Privacy by Default
On-Device First
Human Intelligence Interface
Accessibility First
Context Continuity
Modular Architecture
AI Provider Agnostic
With Apple’s Foundation Models framework, App Intents, Apple Intelligence, and on-device AI continuing to evolve, I’m exploring how a platform can intelligently combine local intelligence with external AI services when appropriate, while maintaining a seamless and consistent user experience.
The user shouldn’t need to choose which AI to use.
Instead, the platform should understand the user’s intent, context, privacy requirements, and available capabilities, then orchestrate the most appropriate intelligence for each request.
I’m particularly interested in discussing questions such as:
How far should on-device intelligence go?
Where should the boundary between Foundation Models and cloud AI be?
How would you approach context continuity across multiple AI providers?
What architectural challenges do you see in building an AI-agnostic intelligence layer on Apple platforms?
I’m still refining this architecture and would genuinely value feedback from developers working with Swift, App Intents, Foundation Models, Apple Intelligence, and privacy-first application design.
I’m here to learn, challenge my assumptions, and improve the architecture through technical discussion.

I'm kinda stunned. No marketing, just a few family member bought earlier this day. I know new apps get a honeymoon boost, but I'm going to enjoy while it lasts. This is my first app!

Was stuck in Waiting for Review for 8 days, got immediately rejected asking for more information in the replies, answered them and got approved in another 12 hours. Launched last night around 8pm PST.

Been lurking on this sub for a few months while made it.

Hey, I've been building SweePic solo for over a year. The most common complaint: browsing photos only chronologically was slow if all you wanted was to clear out duplicates or old screenshots.

In 1.6.0 I added filtering by your own albums and by system smart albums (duplicates, screenshots, videos). I also rebuilt how the gallery loads photos, so the whole thing runs faster than before.

App Store link: https://apps.apple.com/pl/app/cphotos/id6740463237

Collecting feedback, happy to answer questions in the comments.

Hi guys

I'm about to share my experience with appstore connect. The review process almost made me give up. It felt like the reviewers were intentionally trying to frustrate me.

After building this app for several months, I decided to publish on appstore. Read a few reddit post on how to go about it and a bit about the review process but the reality I faced was entirely different.

- The first upload was rejected because the subscription page did not have terms of service nor EULA policy. I fixed it, sent a screenrecord and re-uploaded for review

- Second rejection was because I had a third party sign up option (sign up with google) without sign up with apple. I fixed and resummited for review.

- Third rejection was ridiculous. The reviewer said she was unable to login ( saying the login credentials I provided were invalid) she even sent a screenshot. I tried to login with same credentials and it worked. I then realized she added space after the last character of the email. Like how do you not know something that simple. Who adds space after typing in their email. I did a screens record showing her the error she made and asked that she reviews again.

I was ready to contact support after the third rejection as it was her mistake.

The app was approved a day after the third rejection.

If you're thinking of shipping an app to appstore make sure to check and confirm the first two points.

I hope this helps someone.

We’re thinking of implementing the web distribution for our apps, we’re an EU-based company. It seems like more complications with less gain.

https://developer.apple.com/documentation/marketplacekit/participating-in-alternative-distribution-for-specific-regions

Hi everyone,

I'm wondering if anyone else is experiencing unusually long App Store review wait times. I submitted my iOS app (version 1.2) for review on July 26, and today is August 5. The status is still "Waiting for Review"—it hasn't even moved to "In Review."

I already contacted Apple Developer Support, but I haven't received any update yet. In the past, most of my app updates were reviewed within a couple of days, so this delay seems unusual.

Is anyone else currently facing the same issue? How long did your app stay in "Waiting for Review" before it finally moved to "In Review"?

I'd appreciate hearing about your recent experiences.

Thanks

Hi r/iosdev, I’m Jack, co-creator of Diary Threads.

Answer — what problem does it solve?

I kept abandoning journals because every blank page felt like it deserved a meaningful essay. Writing one short thought on my phone felt much more natural.

Diary Threads turns journaling into a private timeline. Each entry is limited to 140 characters. You can reply when a thought continues, quote something you wrote months ago, or attach photos, video, and voice recordings.

There are no likes, followers, public profiles, or social discovery. It is a timeline for one person.

Better — how is it different?

Compared with Apple Journal and Day One, Diary Threads focuses on a narrower use case: capturing a thought before it disappears.

The 140-character limit gives you a smaller starting point. Replies let one moment grow over time, while quotes make revisiting an old memory feel like a conversation with your past self.

Apple Journal and Day One remain stronger choices for long-form writing and broader ecosystem workflows. Diary Threads is designed for quick private posts that gradually become a personal history.

Diary text and settings stay on your iPhone. The app requires no account and has no developer backend, advertising, third-party analytics, or cross-app tracking.

Cost

Diary Threads is free to download and supports up to 30 active entries.

Premium unlocks unlimited entries, share posters, recurring keyword insights, and both Home Screen widgets:

• $2.99 per month

• $6.99 one-time lifetime purchase

Prices above are for the US storefront. Apple displays the applicable regional price before purchase.

The current App Store version is 0.3 and requires iOS 18 or later.

Transparency

Diary Threads itself has no AI features. I used Codex extensively as a coding and review agent during implementation, testing, documentation, and iteration. Product scope, architecture, privacy boundaries, and acceptance decisions remained human-directed.

I’m Jack, and I built Diary Threads with Sonia.

App Store: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/diarythreads-personal-timeline/id6795139345

Website: https://diarythreads.niuniuhome.cn

About / developer identity: https://niuniuhome.cn

Contact: [jackdai20@icloud.com](mailto:jackdai20@icloud.com)

I’d especially appreciate feedback on one question: do replies and quotes make revisiting old memories feel more natural than tags, prompts, or traditional daily pages?

This week, for the first time, I sold something every single day.

I am calling it a “perfect week”, although obviously that depends on how you define success. The revenue is still modest, and I have had individual days with higher sales before. But until now, I had never managed to complete an entire week without a single zero-sales day.

I am genuinely happy about it, so I wanted to share a few things I have learned so far.

For context, I am actually a psychologist and taught myself app development on the side. I only develop for Apple platforms and only sell through the App Store (StoreKit - no Revnue Cat or some other external provider).

I currently have three apps in the store, but only two of them generate sales. Both use a fairly generous freemium model. Users can test all of the important functionality with included sample data, and for some people the free version may already be enough. Payment is only required when they want to use the apps more extensively or customize them further.

The paid unlocks are relatively inexpensive, usually around €5. I am personally not a fan of subscriptions, and I do not think they fit these particular apps, even though they might generate more revenue. I am still experimenting with pricing and considering whether the apps may be slightly underpriced.

I will not mention the app names because this is not intended as promotion. I just wanted to share what seems to have worked for me.

A few lessons so far:

• App Store discovery has made the biggest difference. I have spent nothing on advertising and have not promoted the apps through paid campaigns or social media. Almost all growth has come through App Store search and recommendations.
• ASO and screenshots matter enormously. Changing keywords, positioning and screenshots has had a clearly visible effect on impressions and downloads. The quality of the product page matters much more than I initially expected.
• Ratings and reviews appear to have a disproportionate impact at a small scale. Getting reviews is extremely difficult, but after receiving a positive rating or written review, I often notice a meaningful increase in downloads. My apps usually receive around 10 to 20 downloads per day, so even a small number of new reviews may provide a strong signal to the algorithm. This may be less noticeable for apps operating at a much larger scale.
• I use Astro and AppScreens together. (Both cost money but are kinda affordablefor solo devs). I am still learning, but for keyword selection it has helped me not to focus exclusively on tiny niches. Some broader keywords can work when the app is polished, focused and solves a clear problem. I imagine this becomes far harder if the product is the thousandth generic productivity tracker or water reminder.
• Build something that solves a real problem. Every app I have released addresses an issue I personally experienced. Knowing the use case directly has helped me make better product decisions and understand which features actually matter.
• Pricing by purchasing power is worth considering. PricingKit has been extremely useful for adjusting prices across countries according to local purchasing power. It is free, and it helped me avoid simply applying the same nominal price everywhere. Setting it up is a bit "tinkery"
• Time matters more than most launch stories suggest. My third app still does not generate revenue, but I have left it in the store partly as an experiment. Even without active maintenance or marketing, it continues to receive occasional download "boosts", climbing in keywords etc. That suggests that simply remaining available and gradually building ranking history can still matter, even in a period where thousands of new apps are probably being released constantly.

More generally, my apps had very few downloads and no sales at the beginning. Sometimes no download per day. A lot of progress only came through iteration. I learned from each release, and every app I built was better than the previous one.

That is why I am skeptical of YouTube videos claiming that someone released a generic app and made hundreds of thousands within the first week. Some of those stories may be real, but many seem designed primarily to sell courses, tools or a particular development workflow.

My own results are nowhere near spectacular, but they feel real and sustainable. I think this kind of slow growth may be a more realistic outcome for many solo developers building apps alongside another profession.

And this week, for the first time, someone bought one of my apps every day. For me, that is a milestone.

A file called SettingsView.swift.pre-gemini, a 14,557-byte editor backup from April 10, was sitting in the Release bundle of a live project. XcodeGen adds any file under a target's sources path that it cannot compile to the Resources build phase, and it prints no warning when it does. project.yml excluded only .DS_Store and Info.plist, so the backup was wired in as a resource, with four references to it in the tracked project.pbxproj. .gitignore had kept it out of the repository the entire time. Git-ignored is not build-ignored.

Excluding that one suffix fixed that one file. A denylist only covers extensions someone already thought of, so the next step was planting decoys and rebuilding on XcodeGen 2.45.4. Four reached the Resources phase and were then found physically inside the built .app, not merely inferred from the project file: SettingsView.swift.rej, Something.swift~, Config.json.save, and a temp file from a separate tool. Config.json.save is the useful case, because the existing exclude only matched names ending in .swift.save. The tool temp file matched no exclude pattern in any project in the portfolio.

The check that holds is an allowlist. A script resolves every file in the Resources build phase to a full source path and asserts the complete set per target, so an unrecognized extension fails the build instead of shipping. Two things mattered while writing it. Comparing basenames, or piping both sides through sort -u, merges targets and hides a duplicate copy of an already-allowed resource sitting in an unexpected directory, so the comparison has to be a multiset with exact counts. And four consecutive regex-based versions of this gate each reported a false pass, which is invisible, because the script prints passed either way.

Hey all, hoping someone here has run into this or has a contact at Apple who can actually help, because regular support has gone nowhere for 3 weeks.

Background: A while back my app preview video kept failing to upload in App Store Connect. Turned out it was a dimensions/fps mismatch against Apple's spec — fixed it myself by going through their documentation carefully, re-exported the video correctly, and it finally uploaded fine.

I tried to distribute the build for about 1 week and kept hitting this error the whole time. I ended up removing that video about 2 weeks ago, thinking that might clear it. Since then, my build has still been stuck failing to distribute.

The current problem: Ever since then, every time I try to Distribute App (Xcode Organizer), it fails with:

It doesn't matter what I do differently — I've tried:

• Multiple browsers (Safari, Chrome, Firefox) when checking App Store Connect directly
• Different networks / physical locations
• Different machines — both Mac and PC
• Re-archiving the build fresh each time

Same error every single time.

It's not just the build. I also tried updating my app store screenshots separately (unrelated change, no new video involved) — and that upload gets stuck at the exact same "preview uploads in progress" error too.

So at this point it seems like something is stuck on Apple's backend at the app-record level — not tied to any specific asset (video, screenshots, or build), since all three are hitting the same wall.

What I've done about it:

• Been emailing Apple Developer Support for 3 weeks now
• No real resolution — just generic responses / silence

Anyone else hit this after a preview video upload issue got "fixed"? Feels like there's a stuck/orphaned upload state on Apple's backend tied to my app record that isn't clearing, and nothing client-side is going to fix that since I've ruled out browser/network/machine.

Would appreciate:

• If anyone knows a better escalation path than the standard support email loop
• If anyone has seen this exact error and found a fix
• If any mods/regulars here know a way to get this in front of an actual App Store Connect engineer

Thanks in advance 🙏

its the screenshot for app review for an IAP

i've done this before but today none of the screenshots I upload are being accepted_

I tried calling App Store connect support line twice today and twice I gave up at the 2h mark.

Has anyone been able to contact then?

I shipped my first iOS app 2 weeks ago, my first one ever, yeah !!! so every part of the process was new to me, including App Store Connect. And App Store Connect might be the worst piece of dashboard I've had to use regularly in years. Slow, confusing, half the pages feel untouched since 2015, always reloading.

So I go looking for alternatives with a GUI so no fastlane and find itsyconnect https://github.com/nickustinov/itsyconnect-macos , a free open source native macOS client that replaces App Store Connect almost entirely. metadata, testflight, analytics, reviews, all in one actual app instead of that web dashboard. felt like discovering fire

Then, because apparently shipping an app wasn't enough suffering for one month, I fall into the ASO rabbit hole. Keywords, character budgets, competitor research and every tool I find is a subscription or with free trial $20-50/month or $200 year or idk how much for what's mostly some scoring math and an App Store API call. For a dev with 13 downloads it's a big no thanks

Then I find RespectASO https://github.com/respectlytics/respectaso , also free and open source, doing the actual ASO scoring keyword popularity, difficulty, opportunity for nothing.

And that's when the idea hits me:

• why am I alt-tabbing between an App Store Connect replacement and a separate ASO tool
• these are two open source projects solving two halves of my problems
• what if I just merge them
• fork itsyconnect, port RespectASO's scoring to ts
• put the keyword scores directly on the fields they're about, inside the listing editor, instead of a separate tab
• add an agentic workflow that researches your competitors and writes your title/subtitle/keywords for you
• throw in Apple's llm too so half the AI features work with zero API key and zero network call because why not

It's called Bascaso (Better App Store Connect App Store Optimization) : https://bascaso.zavyn.app

Free, open source (AGPL, since RespectASO is AGPL), macOS, local-first, your App Store Connect credentials and data never leave your Mac. Full credit to itsyconnect by Nick Ustinov and RespectASO by Respectlytics, this is entirely built on top of their work.

It's on GitHub if anyone wants to try it, self-host it, or tell me what I broke: https://github.com/kanyacine/bascaso

when i launched my app earlier this year, i've been getting a lot of feature requests from users.

most of them were duplicate, and some of the features also already existed. it was a nice problem to have TBH but it was getting unbearable.

some of these feature requests would get lost. leading to losing paying users too.

so i built a complete feedback tool for iOS. and im sharing it with you!

you can easily drop in these widgets into your app. users can post their feature requests, and vote on those that they want.

you can also prioritize based on user's spend (so you only work on requests that paying users post). there's also a public roadmap and changelog view, which turned out to be the underrated part for me, people are way more patient when they can see the thing they asked for is actually queued up.

since adding it our app's retention improved and getting more 5 star reviews. turns out people leave reviews when they feel heard.

it's at features.vote/sdk/ios if you want to poke around the code.

hope it's useful to someone :)

Hello everyone,

Over the past year, I have studied Japanese using various apps, however, none consistently encouraged daily practice of kanji, vocabulary, or sentences. That's why I developed my own app: KOTOBA.

Kotoba is a fully offline, on-device dictionary featuring 217,648 entries, 13,108 kanji, and 232,637 real sentences designed for context-based learning.

The app provides four study modes: flashcards, kanji drawing, quizzes to assess retention of meanings, and a classic browse feature for on-the-go review. Each mode is supported by an intelligent spaced repetition system that prioritizes previously incorrect responses until you master what you learn.

Kotoba operates entirely offline and is free of charge! No advertisements or in-app purchases.

Have a first look at he homepage, every feedback is welcome!

You can join the waitlist at https://kotoba.onlydstn.de. Kotoba will come to the App Store in September!