It's amazing how easy it is to be driven mad by the App Store and app review. I recently released a new app that I'm really proud of called Quick Subtitles that lets you generate transcripts and subtitle files (great for podcasters and YouTubers). It's a lovely little tool, and I have an insanely simple monetization system in the app. You get 10 transcriptions for free, and then you need to upgrade to keep using the app with a simple $19.99 one-time in-app purchase. No subscriptions, no consumables. It's about as simple as in-app purchases get.

And the app's off to a good start. It's been downloaded nearly a thousand times. It got linked to by MacStories yesterday, and I've gotten quite a few messages from people who enjoy the app. However, my messages have also been flooded with people sharing a screenshot of the upgrade page in my app showing an error. These folks would like to upgrade to use the app to its full potential, but can't. I regrettably have to tell everyone sending me this that this is an issue with the in-app purchase on the App Store, and there's nothing I can do. I just need to wait for Apple to fix it on their side.

Let's get a basic timeline of what's happened with the app so far.

September 10

Apple starts letting developers submit apps using the latest Xcode build and requiring iOS 26. I'm on a work trip at the time and can't upload immediately, but no problem, I'll wait a couple days.

September 12

I upload the first build for app review.

September 15

The app is picked up for review 3 days later (weekend + surely a very busy time for app review, so I'm not too annoyed).

September 17

The app is approved and released to the App Store! I held off announcing anything since I wanted the Mac version to get approved as well (still waiting on that one, by the way).

September 19

People were finding the app and downloading it anyway, so I decided to announce it to the world.

That very same day, I got my first report that the in-app purchase page wasn't working in the app, which was a surprise because it had worked perfectly fine in TestFlight. Also, I'd previously done IAP in Quick Reviews and Best-o-Masto, and those didn't have any issues. I guess egg on my face because I assumed that Apple approving an app that uses an in-app purchase meant they approved of the IAP as well. Turns out they don't have to!

This is when I realized the situation I was in. My app was approved and deployed to the App Store, but the in-app purchase was not.

I didn't know what was going on, so I asked on social media to my developer friends if they had ever been in this situation before. I heard from Paul Haddad that this can happen and they've fixed it by submitting a new build of the app, which can "jostle" the IAP status loose and get it over the finish line so it's available to users.

This seemed weird, but okay, I incremented the app version to 1.0.1, didn't change anything else, and submitted that build on the 19th.

September 22

3 days later, the app update was approved (makes sense as it had no real code changes), but the in-app purchase was still "waiting for review"

September 23

Post by @matt_birchler@mastodon.social
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Nothing was fixed yet, so I complained on social media about this and was advised to escalate to Apple.

I filled out the escalation form the same day and hoped for something to happen.

September 25 (today)

Post by @matt_birchler@mastodon.social
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I still haven't heard anything back from Apple support on this, but when I logged into App Store Connect to check and see if it was fixed, I was dejected to find out the status had actually reverted from "in review" to "waiting for review". How are we actually further away from this IAP being approved when the app that uses it has been approved several times?

This is why you run to the press

I gotta be honest, I totally get why other developers in the past have "run to the press" with their app review complaints. I've gotten nowhere with App Store Connect chat, my escalation hasn't gotten anything moving, and my (would be) customers are constantly messaging me that they'd love to pay for the app, but they can't. I've tried the official channels, and if anything, the status of the in-app purchase is going backwards. When official channels feel futile, what else can you do?

In retrospect, I should have checked that the IAP was approved as well before releasing the app, but like I said, I've done this a few times before with in-app purchases, and this was never a problem. If the app build that uses the IAP was approved, of course the IAP itself was approved as well. With all the checks that Apple puts in place to make sure apps are functional when they release to the App Store, it's reasonable to think the IAP approval would be a prerequisite to the app itself getting approved for release. Apparently not, and you had better believe I'll be checking this next time.

In the meantime, I have an app out there, it's being used and linked to by others, and it's fundamentally broken and there's nothing I seem to be able to do other than shout into the void of Apple's developer support options. I'm not an Apple hater and I want this to work for everyone, but this is very frustrating and I don't know what else to do.

It's been 13 days since I submitted the app and 8 days since the 1.0 was approved and released to the App Store. Since then, the in-app purchase has regressed from "in review" to "waiting for review" and I've not been able to get anything back from Apple on what's going on or how I can resolve this. Here's hoping I can update this post soon with "Update: everything's fixed!"