I have been looking around for some time now, but can’t seem to find an answer.
My question is: when submitting an iOS app to apple, how long does the check take? Is it days or weeks before it is available in the app store (assuming it passes the tests)?
Timing is very crucial for this app, as we want it to be as good as possible, but as it is intended for a sports event taking 4 days, proper timing is essential to avoid release after the event has ended.
Hope somebody who has released one or more apps before could be helpful.
Thanks in advance. Thomas.
As stated in the other answers, the time it takes Apple to review your app varies. In my experience it has been anywhere between a couple days and a couple weeks (too many variables to count), and this is of course assuming that your app isn’t rejected for any reason.
However there is a work around for timing the release of your app just right. Make sure you submit it to Apple WELL in advance, and during the iTunes Connect new app creation process you will at some point be asked if you would like the app to automatically be released when it is approved, or if you would like to manually release it yourself. Go with the latter and you will at any point be able approve your app and it will be up on the App Store within a couple of hours.
If you have already selected automatic release and wish to change it, you can do this at any time in iTunes Connect by navigating to your app, selecting “Rights and Pricing” and adjusting your applications availability dates.