Shopify Review Team Is Killing Our Startup — We Might Not Survive This Month

Partner Discussions
, ,
1

Dear Shopify Team & Community,

I’m writing this with a heavy heart and deep frustration — because our startup might be shutting down next week. And it’s not because our product failed or our team gave up — it’s because our app has been stuck in review since February.

Yes, FOUR MONTHS .

We submitted everything on time. We followed every guideline.

And while we waited in silence, our sales team went out and secured clients who are now literally waiting for the app to launch so they can start generating revenue today.

We’re ready. Our clients are ready.
But your silence is crushing us… :sob::sob::sob::sob::sob::sob::sob:

If we built something wrong, we’d fix it right away.
We’re not here to argue about technicalities.

What’s unbearable is that we’ve received no updates, no responses, and no clear point of contact for over a month.

Shopify — we know you’re busy. We respect that.
But we’re a small team fighting for survival.

If our app is approved within a week, we can still make it. If not, we may not have a second chance.

Please. Help us.

We’re not trying to cut the line — we just want someone, anyone, to take a look and let us know where we stand.

We’ve put our hearts, our money, and our future into this.

To the review team
: If this post reaches you, know that a real team of passionate builders is counting on you this week.

Don’t let this be the reason a startup dies.

Sincerely,
A desperate founder hoping for a miracle :folded_hands:

2 Likes
2

Same here , looks like Shopify team is taking too long to review apps. Although this was not the case few years back.

3

Why not distribute as a custom app in the meantime?

It’s a lot more onboarding support, but the most willing to take this approach with you are probably going to be your most invested customers anyway.

4

Hey @user127 ,

Thanks for the message here. We’ve had other partners reach out here lately. Can you double check that your app has been submitted? Also I have some other things you can check mentioned here:

5

Hi there! @Dylan
I’m wondering—what exactly is a custom app? Does it allow me to distribute the app to users without going through a review process?

Also, can I use all the features I’ve already built in the app as-is?
For example, I use various features through the Admin GraphQL API like subscriptions, retrieving product info, creating orders, and more.

6

Hello, @KyleG-Shopify

My app is currently in the “submitted” state, but not under review.
However, I can see from my server logs that someone from the Shopify team installed and used the app, most likely for review purposes.

This happened about two weeks ago, but since then, I haven’t received any updates or responses. :cry:

7

It’s the exact same except it won’t be on the app store. You can do whatever you want but the cons is that it is limited to 1 store only so might need to clone that app for each client.

8

@Richard_Jarray

One part I’m not so clear on is if you can still use Shopify’s Billing API with a custom app.

Or do you need to bill outside of Shopify?

Update

Looks like only publicly distributed apps can using the billing system:

2 Likes
9

Regarding custom apps, if you’re building the same cloned app for multiple merchants, I recommend continuing the process of building this as a public app.

API Restrictions. When using the Shopify API, you will (and will ensure that your employees, agents and service providers will):

  1. not make Custom Applications available to or for use by more than one Merchant. For the avoidance of doubt, this means that Custom Applications may not be installed by more than one Merchant. For clarity, a Merchant may have more than one Merchant Store. In the event of any breach of this provision, and in addition to all other rights and remedies available to Shopify under these Terms and under applicable law, Shopify will have the right to: (a) take any action it deems necessary including but not limited to immediately terminating some or all Developer’s rights under these Terms, and (b) determine, in its sole discretion, that the Application is deemed to be a Public Application and subject to both these Terms and the Partner Program Agreement available at Shopify Partner Program - Partner Program Agreement - Shopify
1 Like
10

I’m sending you a DM.

1 Like
11

Just for an update here as I’ve been talking with our app review team. They have let me know that due to the volume of submissions reviews are taking longer than expected currently so as long as your app is in the submitted state, it will be reviewed.