Getting an app through App Store review: what we wish we’d known

Getting an app through App Store review takes three things: a listing that says exactly what the app does, a build that doesn't crash on the first screen, and patience. Most rejections aren't about taste. They're about a missing detail you could have caught in an hour. Here's the honest version, from two people who just did it.

The listing is half the battle

Before you ever hit submit, you write the store listing. This is the part founders skip and regret. Our first draft of the description was a feature list nobody would read. We rewrote it to answer one question in the first line: what does this do for me? For Trott, that's "save a reel, find it later by just asking." Lead with the promise, then the details.

Pick the category honestly. We sat between Productivity and Utilities and chose the one a real person would browse looking for what we make. The wrong category doesn't get you rejected, but it buries you.

Then there's ASO keyword strategy, which sounds fancier than it is. You get a limited keyword field. Don't waste characters repeating words already in your title. Don't add plurals of words you already have. Use comma separation with no spaces to fit more. We listed the actual phrases people type when they've lost something they saved, not the clever brand words we liked.

Screenshots that actually convert

People decide from your screenshots, not your paragraph. The first two are everything, because that's all most people see before scrolling past. We learned to stop showing empty states and start showing the app doing its one job: a reel going in, the useful part coming back out.

• Put a short caption on each shot. "Search by meaning, not exact words" beats a bare screen.
• Show real content, not lorem-ipsum placeholders. Reviewers and users both notice.
• Make the first screenshot carry the whole pitch on its own.
• Match every device size Apple asks for, or the upload just stops.

Make the App Store preview video too. Yes, it's extra work. It earned its keep: a fifteen-second clip of someone saving a reel and finding it again said more than any sentence we wrote. Keep it short, no intro, no logo splash. Show the thing working in the first three seconds.

The boring fields that get you rejected

Age rating tripped us up. Apple makes you fill out a questionnaire, and the answers have to match what your app actually does. Be accurate. A rating that doesn't fit your content is an easy, avoidable flag.

Here's the pre-submit checklist we wish we'd had on day one:

• A demo account or test steps if anything sits behind a login. Reviewers won't guess.
• Notes in the review field explaining anything non-obvious about how the app works.
• Privacy details filled in honestly, matching what the app collects.
• Working purchases. If you sell anything, the reviewer will try to buy it, so test the RevenueCat flow on a real device first.
• No placeholder text, no dead buttons, no "coming soon" screens shipped by accident.
• A support URL and a privacy policy URL that both actually load.

The waiting, and what usually gets rejected

Then you submit and you wait. This part is just anxious. Review usually lands within a day or two, sometimes faster, sometimes longer near big launches and holidays. Refreshing the dashboard does not speed it up. We checked anyway.

Most iOS app approval problems come from the same short list:

• A crash on launch. The single most common rejection. Test the cold start on a clean device, not just the one you've been building on for months.
• Broken or missing sign-in. If the reviewer can't get in, they can't approve.
• The app doesn't match the listing. Promise less, or build more, but make them agree.
• Purchases that don't work, or that try to dodge Apple's own billing.
• Privacy answers that don't line up with what the app does.

If you do get rejected, read the message slowly. It cites the exact guideline. Reply in the Resolution Center, fix the real thing, and resubmit. It's a conversation, not a verdict. Our takeaway after going through it on both the App Store and Google Play: the review isn't out to get you. It's just checking that the app does what you said. The honest path is also the fast one.

The story didn't end there: Apple flagged us on the next round, and we shipped on Google Play too. That's all in part two.

Want to see what we shipped at the end of all this? Trott is live and free to start.