iOS app stuck in "Waiting for Review" since 10 October (macOS version of same app approved)

Update, 22 October: the iOS version (1.0.2, build 10) is still "Waiting for Review", now 12 days, and the review has never started. The expedited review was accepted on 21 October and nothing changed.

Today Developer Support answered that the app is "Ready for Distribution", but that is the macOS version (build 11), approved earlier. This is the second time the two were confused on our case. Cases: 102996820289, 102996821312, 103004889260.

Could someone from App Review please look at the iOS submission itself and tell us if it is held or if anything is missing? We will send anything needed the same day. Thank you.

The macOS and iOS versions have separate review submissions, so approval of the Mac build doesn’t move the iOS build out of Waiting for Review. Check the iOS version’s App Review page and confirm the iOS item itself is submitted, not just Ready for Review, and that the build shown is the one you expect.

Apple’s status guide says Waiting for Review means Apple has received the submission but hasn’t started reviewing it. An accepted expedite request is still subject to review capacity, so I wouldn’t withdraw and resubmit just to try to reset the queue. Since this has already been escalated and support mixed up the platforms, reply to the existing case with the iOS Apple ID, version, build number, and submission ID, and ask them to check that exact iOS submission. Leave account or case details out of the public thread.

Status guide: https://developer.apple.com/help/app-review/after-submitting-for-review/review-status
Expedited review: https://developer.apple.com/help/app-review/after-submitting-for-review/request-expedited-review

Thanks @Pokpong, that helped. Update, 25 October:

• 23 Oct: the iOS submission (1.0.2, build 10) finally moved to In Review after 13 days.

• • 24 Oct: it was stopped with "Information Needed" (2.1): the reviewer could not find the App Tracking Transparency prompt. We replied within hours with a screen recording showing exactly where the prompt appears, added the steps to the Review Notes, and resubmitted the same build.

  • • Since then it has been back in "Waiting for Review". Expedite requests were accepted on 24 and 25 Oct, but nothing has moved.

    • So one clarifying question cost us a full trip back through the queue, after 13 days of waiting the first time. We have replied on the existing case with the exact iOS app ID, version and build, as suggested.

  • Could someone from App Review please look at the iOS submission and pick it up? The question has already been answered in App Store Connect. If anything else is needed, we reply the same hour. Thank you.

Update, 3 November: 24 days. Still not approved. This is unacceptable.

Our iOS app has been waiting since 10 October. The current iOS submission (1.0.5, build 14) has sat in "Waiting for Review" since 29 October and has NEVER entered review. Expedites were "accepted" on 21 Oct, 24 Oct, 25 Oct and 1 Nov. Every single one did nothing. What exactly does "accepted" mean?

In the same weeks the macOS version of the SAME app, same account, same content, was reviewed and approved three times (1.0.3, 1.0.4, 1.0.5), each within a day or two. So the review team can clearly find our app. Just not the iPhone version.

Worse: Developer Support has answered our iOS question with the macOS status FOUR times, on four different cases. Today a "senior advisor" told us the app is "In Review". It is not. The macOS version is already approved and the iOS one has not even started. We gave the exact iOS version, build and submission ID every time. Nobody reads it. We get the same copy-paste template about "50 percent within 24 hours" every time.

Apple is one of the largest companies in the world, and for more than three weeks its support cannot tell iOS from macOS for one app. We pay for the Developer Program, we answer every question within the hour, and our players are waiting for the iPhone version while Apple sends us templates.

App Review: pick up the iOS submission of TAC FC: Football Manager (Apple ID 6817989550) NOW, or tell us exactly what is missing. No more templates. No more macOS answers to an iOS question.