Adam Kos Apple and Google are fighting each other not only in the field of hardware, but also in the field of software, and indeed also the content they provide for their devices. Even though the Android platform is much more benevolent, and you can install content on Android devices outside of Google Play, it's still the primary source of apps and games. Of course, Apple only offers (so far) the App Store.
Many titles can be found on both platforms, and many are also available for Mac and PC. However, in order for a developer to publish his title in the Apple and Google stores, he must undergo various requirements. The first is to create a paid account. In the case of Google, it is much cheaper, because it only requires a one-time fee of 25 dollars (approx. 550 CZK). Apple wants an annual subscription from developers, which is 99 dollars (approx. 2 CZK).
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In the case of the Android platform, applications are created with the extension APK, in the case of iOS it is an IPA. However, Apple directly offers tools for creating applications, such as Xcode. This allows you to upload your creation directly to App Store Connect. Both stores offer fairly extensive documentation that informs you of everything your application must be missing (here for App Store, here for Google Play). This is, of course, basic information, such as the name, some description, designation of the category, but also labels or keywords, icon, accompanying visualization of the application, etc.
It is interesting that Google Play allows a name of 50 characters, the App Store only 30. You can write up to 4 thousand characters in the description. The first mentioned allows adding five labels, the second provides space for 100 characters. The icon should have dimensions of 1024 × 1024 pixels and should be in 32-bit PNG format.
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Vratislav Holub Approval process times
One of the most striking differences between the App Store and the Google Play Store is the speed of the approval process. The latter is much faster on Google Play, which also leads to a few lower quality apps you can find on it. However, the App Store is based on quality assurance leading to stricter assessment. That is why it takes longer with him, even though it is not unusual for a bad or problematic application to push through his approval process as well (see Fortnite with an alternative payment option). Previously, up to 14 days were reported for Apple, 2 days for Google, but today the situation is a little different.
Because Apple has worked on its algorithms because content is not approved by "living people", and according to data from 2020, it approves a new app in an average of 4,78 days. However, you can request an expedited review. How is Google doing? Paradoxically worse, because it takes him an average of a week. Of course, it may also happen that the application is rejected for some reason. So it has to be modified according to the requirements and it has to be sent again. And yes, wait again.
The main reasons for application rejection
- Privacy issues
- Hardware or software incompatibility
- Payment systems in the application
- Duplication of content
- Poor user interface
- Bad metadata
Unfortunately, the article contains a lot of inaccuracies and without citing the source it is impossible to find out what information the article is based on. While Apple uses algorithms to improve, the app also reaches real, live people who also verify and approve (or may reject) the app. Similarly, the approval process does not take that long on average, and I think that Apple itself states somewhere that 90% of applications are reviewed within 24 hours, and my experience confirms this. With Google, the process is almost immediate (within hours at the most) and it may happen retrospectively that they verify the application and then cancel the publication, etc. It would be better to find out the facts and the current situation.
Thanks for the comment, the source is listed below the article. But doesn't the application reach a live person only when there is a problem with it? So typically it is rejected for some reason and the developer appeals to it? There is not always something wrong with the application, it is just poorly evaluated. The appeal is discussed, for example, in this article: https://inited.cz/2017/02/07/schvalovani-aplikaci-na-android-a-iphone-jak-na-nej-vyzrat/
Good day. The details of how the approval process works are not publicly known, so we can only speculate about them based on experience. Overall, I can confirm that Apple is "softening" and Google is "hardening", the situation has changed a lot in the last two years. Gone are the days when an app was published on Google almost instantly. If you create a new account and a new app, you will really be waiting a week. On the contrary, I published an application on Apple in 50 minutes a year ago.
A lot depends on the situation - is it a new application or an update? Is this a new client or verified? Are there payments in the app? Features impacting user privacy?