I run multiple Shopify stores. On every store opened before this year, I can connect GoHighLevel, Klaviyo workarounds, and other third-party tools using the legacy custom app flow with the shpat_ token. It takes 90 seconds. It just works.
On a new store I opened this year, none of that works. The Develop apps page in store admin only offers ‘Build apps in Dev Dashboard.’ Dev Dashboard apps issue 24-hour tokens via client_credentials_grant, which is not compatible with how GHL or most other CRMs authenticate. Per official Shopify staff guidance ( How to get Admin API tokens using apps in Dev Dashboard ), the only correct path is for third parties to use OAuth via a Shopify App Store listing.
GoHighLevel submitted their OAuth Shopify app to the App Store in January 2026. Today is May 20, 2026. It is still in review. GHL support confirmed in ticket 4729124:
‘This appears to be a global issue affecting Shopify customers broadly. We have been consistently following up with the Shopify support team and have also posted about this twice in the Shopify community. At this stage, we do not have a firm ETA from Shopify. They confirmed that app reviews are taking longer than usual but did not share an exact turnaround time.’
This is not isolated to GHL. Every third-party integration that has to re-submit to comply with the OAuth-only requirement is sitting in the same queue. Every new Shopify merchant who tries to use one of them hits the same wall.
The math here does not work. You shipped a deprecation with a hard cutoff. The replacement path is gated behind an App Store review queue running 4+ months with no published SLA. There is no interim escape hatch for merchants. There is no escalation path for partners.
Direct questions to Shopify:
- What is the current App Store review queue depth and average turnaround?
- Is there an expedited review path for partner integrations whose only blocker is compliance with the Jan 1 deprecation?
- Is the Dev Dashboard custom-distribution flow an officially supported bridge for individual merchants while reviews are backlogged, and if so, can the documentation be updated to make this clear?
- What is the published escalation path for merchants and partners when the deprecation timeline and review timeline are misaligned by months?
Happy to provide store URLs, ticket numbers, and timestamps to whichever staff member can actually move this.
@TerenceShopify tagging you since you authored the public guidance on this transition.