The Google Play app review process now regularly takes longer than a week
- ID
- 25152
- Status
- summarized
- Published
- 16 Sep 2026, 7:19 PM
- Fetched
- 18 Sep 2026, 4:53 PM
- Provider
- Hacker News
- Category
- dev-community
- Original URL
- https://gultsch.social/@daniel/117280438824908947
- Source URL
- https://hnrss.org/best
Summary
- Score
- 6.5
- Created
- 18 Sep 2026, 4:56 PM
- Tags
- Audience
- developerssaas_founders
What happened
Daniel Gultsch reports that Google Play app review now regularly exceeds one week, with his XMPP client Conversations (an app with 12+ years on the store, monthly update cadence) still pending review a week after submission on September 9. He attributes the backlog to the pipeline being 'clogged with AI slop' and calls on Google to prioritize established apps.
Why it matters
If you ship Android apps to Google Play, plan release timelines around review delays of 7+ days rather than the historical 1-3 day expectation. This affects hotfix scheduling, staged rollout timing, and any SLA you promise users — especially for apps with monthly or less frequent update cycles where each review window is a larger fraction of your cadence.
Discussion angle
How should mobile-first Malaysian startups adjust their release and hotfix strategy if Play review stays at 7+ days — staggered rollouts, alternative distribution channels, or pushing critical fixes via server-side feature flags instead of app updates?