Multiple (invalid) app submission suspensions without escalation channels is taking months

Shopify App Store
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1

I know that there are already a lot of other developers who have posted about this, and I pretty much know what the answer will be. Nevertheless, I’m posting about this too because even if the issue can’t be fixed, I hope it creates more urgency to make the review process fairer.

I submitted our app for the first time in April (6 months ago). Back then, we didn’t use Shopify Billing, so the rejection was valid. (We are not a dedicated Shopify app, but only use Shopify as one of many channels users can connect.) Since then, we’ve made multiple changes to our billing implementation, but we kept getting rejected with 30-day suspensions and no way to communicate with the review team.

At one point, Shopify Support even tested the app and told me that the billing was implemented correctly, right after the review team had rejected it. They tested the exact same version just hours apart.

Once billing was finally approved, the app was rejected for a data-syncing issue that was caused by the reviewer not completing all the necessary setup steps.

Now I have to wait another month, and I can’t contact the review team. When contacting support, I hit a brick wall every time (I’ve had multiple lengthy conversations with them).

And yes, I understand that UI improvements can be made and that the reviewer would probably use the app in the same way a normal user would. But there are two big differences: for normal users, I wouldn’t have to wait 30 days to make changes or help them, and I can simply contact them and help with the setup.

So Shopify: please improve this process and make it more developer-friendly. If only it were possible to contact the review team while suspended and explain the situation. And please don’t suspend an app for 30 days when the issue that caused the suspension has been resolved, only for a new (never-before-communicated) issue to appear.

And I know this probably won’t be possible, but I would really like to get in touch with the review team and explain the setup to them. It is a complex product, and therefore we always get in touch with new users to help them through the setup. I would really hope I could do the same with the reviewer.

2

Did you run Shopify’s AI self-review and all the automated checks before submitting the app?

Shopify has recently added an AI-powered self-review and expanded the automated pre-submission checks, so I think it’s worth running all of them before submitting. They can catch some of the common issues before the app reaches the review team.

I also have two Shopify apps, and my experience has been quite different between them. One took around 1 month and 10 days to get approved, while the second was approved in about 3 days after completing the required checks and submission properly.

So I think the review time can still vary significantly depending on the app and the issues identified during review.

3

Yes, I ran the AI review for every submission. The first time it told my about the billing, but i tried it anyways since it is not a dedicated Shopify app. My mistake. After that I made sure for every submission the AI tool did not report any blockers.

4

Hey @Thijs_Hendrikx, we appreciate the feedback. Improving the app review experience for developers is something we are continually working on and making better, and sharing your experience here can help.

For suspensions, this can be especially tough because once you’ve had one suspension, subsequent suspensions compound in length of time, leading to exactly the kind of delays you are seeing.

What I would recommend in addition to the AI review toolkit is to also audit your app to see if it meets the Built for Shopify requirements and use these requirements as your North Star. The reason for this is if your app is checking these requirements, especially when it comes to user experience, then there’s a much higher chance that the experience is going to be good for merchants, easy for the reviewer to use, and pass the review quicker.