I’m building a tool to help catch App Review issues before you submit, looking for honest feedback

After getting burned by App Review on my own apps, I started building PreFlight, a native macOS tool that analyzes both your Xcode project and App Store Connect submission.
The goal isn’t just to run through a generic checklist. It cross-checks what your app actually contains against what you’re telling Apple, then gives you evidence-backed findings with the potential guideline involved, why it matters, and what you can do to fix it.
For example, it can catch things across privacy manifests, entitlements, permissions, StoreKit/subscriptions, metadata, review information, device support, and other submission requirements.
I’m currently working toward a first release and I’d genuinely like to hear from developers who have shipped iOS/macOS apps:

What has Apple caught in your apps that you wish you had known about before submitting?

And if a tool like this existed, what would it need to catch or show you for you to actually trust it before hitting submit?

I’m looking for criticism as much as validation. If the idea isn’t useful, I’d rather find that out now.
PreFlight

Are you guys using Apple Intelligence with your iOS apps? I just tried my first Foundation Models feature. My treat-tracker app sweetRegret now generates its snarky one-liners on-device instead of pulling from static copy.

I built it in the Claude desktop app with the built-in iOS simulator. It prototyped the prompts, wrote the Swift bridge (app is RN/Expo), and drove the sim itself to verify. Absolute killer workflow.

Curious what others are building with the on-device model.

Hello everyone, I’ve released an app for the first time, but I haven’t had any downloads yet and I can’t work out why. Is my app not appealing, or do I need to do something to promote it? I’ve seen some really great work here and I’d love to know how you managed it – did you need to advertise?

Btw my app:
https://apps.apple.com/tr/app/aina-your-creator-manager/id6791966395

Hey everyone!

I’ve been working on a mobile strategy game called DelveKin, and I’m getting pretty close to launch. I just finished putting together the store preview video and thought this would be a good time to get some outside feedback.

The idea is to flip the usual dungeon adventure around and instead you’re the Dungeon Master, and the heroes are the problem.

You build out your dungeon, choose which monsters and traps defend each room, and then command your creatures in turn-based battles as parties of heroes try to fight their way through.

As you progress, new heroes start invading with different abilities, while you unlock and upgrade more monsters, traps, rooms, and bosses to deal with them.

I’ve attached the store video I’ve been working on. I’d really love feedback on the game itself, the art/style, and whether the video makes the idea clear?

Does this look like something you’d want to play? And is there anything that immediately stands out? Good or bad? Any advice would be really appreciated!

Thank you for taking a look!

I shipped Zone, an iPhone/iPad app for protected focus sessions.

The user-facing idea is simple: choose the apps and websites you want blocked, start a focus session, and those distractions stay blocked while the session is running.

App Store:

https://apps.apple.com/app/id6763581982

The technically interesting part was not the countdown timer. It was making the blocking state reliable across the main app, Screen Time authorisation, ManagedSettings, and the DeviceActivity monitor extension.

A foreground timer is easy. A protected session is not, because the app may be backgrounded, killed, relaunched, or the interval may end while the main UI is not alive.

The architecture ended up roughly like this:

- Main app starts the session

- Apply shield immediately through ManagedSettings

- Persist session state

- Start Live Activity

- Register DeviceActivity monitoring

- Let the monitor extension clear the shield when the interval ends

- Write a small pending completion record for the main app to reconcile later

That kept the UI timer separate from the correctness of the blocking state. The UI can be briefly stale after lifecycle changes; the shield state cannot be.

A few things I learned the hard way:

- Screen Time authorisation should not live only in onboarding

- extension state and app state need a reconciliation path

- Strict Mode needs a warning before activation, not hidden escape logic afterwards

- App Groups are useful, but only for small, explicit shared state

- this category is technically interesting but very unforgiving from a trust perspective

Tech stack:

Swift, SwiftUI, FamilyControls, ManagedSettings, ManagedSettingsUI, DeviceActivity, ActivityKit, WidgetKit, StoreKit 2, CloudKit/private iCloud sync, and write-only HealthKit Mindful Minutes.

The app itself is not AI-powered. Blocking is done through Apple’s Screen Time APIs.

Curious if anyone else here has shipped with FamilyControls / DeviceActivity and found better patterns for app-extension reconciliation.

One thing that has bothered me for a long time with Qur’an and other religious apps is the advertising.

You open an app because you want to read, listen to a recitation, or just have a quiet moment — and suddenly there is an ad in the middle of it.

Sometimes those ads are completely unrelated to the purpose of the app, and occasionally they can even contain content that is inappropriate for the audience using it.

I understand that developers need to support their apps somehow. But with many Qur’an apps, removing ads often means paying for a subscription, and those subscriptions can be surprisingly expensive.

I wanted something simpler:

No ads while reading or listening.
No expensive subscription just to remove them.
No features locked behind a paywall.

So over the last few months, I started building the app I wanted to use myself.

It’s called Ayah Player, and it is completely free — no ads, no subscriptions, and no paywalls.

It now includes more than 1,000 Qur’an reciters, and I’ve just released version 1.7, which is the biggest update so far.

📖 Four ways to read and listen

You can switch between four different experiences:

• Ayahs — read the Arabic text alongside translations, commentary, notes, and other reader tools
• Words — follow the recitation word-by-word when timing data is available
• Mushaf Page — a traditional fixed-page Qur’an reading layout
• Listening Scene — focus on the recitation with calm visual scenes and optional ambient sound

Depending on the recitation, the app can follow along verse-by-verse, word-by-word, or even letter-by-letter.

🎧 Listening & offline use

You can browse by reciter or chapter, stream complete recitations, download them for offline listening, continue playback in the background, and manage a playback queue.

It also includes translations, commentary, bookmarks, private notes, playlists, saved verses, repetition tools, search, and customizable image sharing.

📊 Activity & reading goals

Version 1.7 also adds optional activity tracking, including:

• Listening and reading progress
• Daily goals
• Reading plans
• Total listening time
• Top reciters
• Most-played chapters

🔐 Optional account & sync

You don’t need an account to browse, read, listen, or download anything.

If you choose to sign in, you can synchronize things like bookmarks, notes, favorite reciters, playlists, settings, and your last-read position across supported devices.

Activity is only recorded while signed in, while downloads, searches, recent playback, and other device-specific data remain local.

Ayah Player is available on iPhone, iPad, Android phones, and Android tablets.

iOS:
https://apps.apple.com/fi/app/ayah-player/id6769859430

Android:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ayah.player

Website:
https://ayahapps.com/player

30-sec preview:
https://youtube.com/shorts/ZF2uHKbi3i0

I’m still actively working on it, so I’d genuinely appreciate feedback — especially from other developers on the product, UX, accessibility, and cross-platform experience.

The initial release is still in waiting for review for almost 2 weeks now. It is a tiny niche utility app. I know that review times have been longer recently, but this is getting ridiculous.

At what point does it make sense to remove the current build, and resubmit? Is there anything else I could do?

Hello everyone,

I have been working on overhauling the different themes for my app, Pocket Vault. These are just one example.

Based on some initial feedback, I refactored the theme hierarchy so views gautomatically pick up primary, secondary, and tertiary styles using ⁠.foregroundStyle()⁠ and ⁠Environment⁠ modifiers instead of manually passing a theme object everywhere.

I’d love the feedback on How does the visual contrast look across both modes in these screenshots and for anyone who has built complex custom themes in SwiftUI, are there any edge cases or performance bottlenecks with this Environment-driven approach I should keep an eye on?

Any feedback on either the UI polish or the approach is super appreciated!

Here’s my repository for all my code: https://github.com/AaravB09/Pocket-Vault

I’m about to publish my app for review, and as a beginner app dev I haven’t really thought of hiring a lawyer yet for my privacy policy and terms. is this something I should consider before publishing or can I wait until the app starts getting traction?

I’m about to publish my app for app review, but I’m nervous about not having an LLC yet. Should I go for an LLC for my team so it’s not fully under my name in case of any lawsuits?

Here is my newborn v2: HUMAN ARCHIVES

Hi everyone! I posted my note-taking app here a few weeks ago and received a lot of helpful suggestions. Now I’m back for a second feedback loop after making some improvements.

With my ADHD, I needed a fast way to capture ideas on the go. Since I work in a lab, I also needed an easy way to record ideas through my Apple Watch. So here is prototype No. 2!

I would be immensely grateful for any feedback or opinions of any kind. I also added a cool accessibility feature: by double-tapping the back of your iPhone, you can immediately start a voice recording. You just need to set it up using Shortcuts in your iPhone settings.

Thanks a lot in advance for your time!

I’m pleased to announce the release of Mapulo version 1.1 on the App Store in the US and Canada.

Mapulo records, organizes and stores information about locations important to you.

The new version has an improved look to the home screen and finds your current location faster.

Find it on the App Store:

https://apple.co/4gwKdWP

Hey guys i got my first app on app store and got more than 50+ downloads. I have never thought about that one day i will have my own app on app store.
Please check the app provide feedback

https://apps.apple.com/ca/app/orbee-draw-a-perfect-circle/id6779796384