We need to submit our app to the store before it closes for the weekend—what time does the app store close on Friday nights?
I found that quote on the very funny site ClientsFromHell.net. Reportedly it’s an actual quote from a real client.
Of course the App Store is not shut down for customers during weekends. But we have recently found out that the app review team no longer works on weekends. Back in the days when it seemed like the app reviewers were constantly having trouble keeping up with the ever increasing flood of app submissions, you would see apps get approved at all hours of the day and on weekends. No longer.
In a previous life when I was building large scale web sites and server systems we learned to never deploy new code on a Friday, unless you wanted to work on weekends to fix bugs or deal with launch jitters.
The same thing applies to iOS apps now. Don’t set the release date of an app to fall on a Friday. Should there be a problem with the new version of the app and you want to push through an emergency update, then nobody will act on your request until the following Monday.
But, you don’t have control over when an app will be approved, you say. That is true, but you can set the date when the app will be released. And you should always, always use this feature.
Look at the current App Store Review Status and add some margin to allow for delays. For example, today the status says that 99% of all new app submissions and 99% of all app updates are reviewed within 7 days. I would set the release date to around 2 weeks for an app update. Make sure that the date is not a Friday, and that it’s a day when you’re available and ready to handle new customer support issues.
For a new app submission I would set the release date even further into the future to allow your marketing campaign to ramp up and steam forward towards a known date. But that’s a different topic.
August 19th, 2011 at 10:19
You have good points. I have always liked to release apps on a Friday because you have people getting off work for the weekend and wanting to spend time trolling the app store. I looked at it similar to movies opening on a Friday. I need to rethink my strategy.
September 9th, 2011 at 07:27
It’s that old rule of thumb in the development world. Never launch on a Friday! Like you said, you will only end up spending your weekend on the phone to screaming clients. I guess some people at Apple have gotta sleep!
September 21st, 2011 at 05:27
I think it depends on what type of app you are deploying. If it’s some sort of entertainment app, I like Marty’s approach of launching it in a Friday so people have the weekend to find and download the app. If it’s a business app, then a Monday morning release is probably better.
In any case, I always recommend holding the app for release so YOU control the timing of the app release instead of Apple.
October 12th, 2011 at 22:51
hi …
sorry may b my question is out of context but i realy want to know .. my developer made my iphone app and sumbit it to the app store … now i need the source code .. how can i download it .. help needede ..
thanku`
October 18th, 2011 at 18:18
@Haseeb: You need to talk to your developer to get the source code. Apple or the App Store does not have the source code, just the binary app file.