App Store allows developers to spam the submission and review process

App Store allows developers to spam the submission and review process

August 13 2026

Yesterday I published a spicy tale of an App Store fraud perpetrated by a developer deep into AI slop. My blog post was linked by Daring Fireball and 9to5Mac, which I appreciate! Coincidentally, on the same day well-known developer Marco Arment complained on social media that his new, unreleased Mac App Store app had been waiting 12 days for review by Apple. Reportedly, Apple app review is having trouble keeping up with the increased volume of App Store submissions due to AI slop; anecdotal reports from developers such as Arment seem to confirm this.

As far as I can tell, every App Store developer whether novice solo hobbyist, longtime professional indie, or multinational corporation (e.g., Alphabet/Google, Meta/Facebook) lines up into the same submission review queue. And as far as I can tell, Apple does not place any limit on the frequency of submissions by an individual developer. As a result, developers can spam the submission queue and make the review process (more) miserable for everyone. According to Apple, “In 2025, the App Review team evaluated more than 9.1 million app submissions, helping to welcome over 306,000 new developers to the platform.” Needless to say, that’s a lot of reviews, around 25,000 per day!

While I was looking at the App Store list of top paid Safari extensions for my previous blog post mentioned above, another developer caught my eye: Alfredo Grassau. The developer’s website https://www.safariwebextensions.com/ indicates a focus on Safari extensions. Alfredo Grassau currently has an astonishing 41 apps in the App Store, most on both iOS and Mac, some exclusive to iOS or Mac. (In comparison, I currently have 6 apps in the App Store.) Alfredo Grassau also has 10 App Store app bundles, which are collections of apps sold at a volume discount. It’s actually difficult to view all of the developer’s apps at once, because the iOS App Store, Mac App Store, and apps.apple.com have different lists, with odd omissions.

Strangely, although the developer has a website, the privacy policy links for all of the developer’s apps are hosted on Google Drive. That’s a common pattern of App Store scammers, to use free anonymous hosting sites for the links in the App Store listings. The developer does have one app that’s not a Safari extension, BlueMount - Money manager. The apps’s privacy policy is again on Google Drive, but the developer website link goes to https://aee5e5015.app-ads-txt.com, a suspicious URL. This website is barren and simply redirects back to the App Store:

url=https://itunes.apple.com/US/developer/id1564157928" />

Did App Store review ever bother to click the developer website link?

In addition to the 41 apps, each of which required at least one submission to App Store review, I count across those 41 apps at least 327 updates, almost all of which have the same generic description for what’s new in the update: "Bug fixes and performance improvements." So that’s at least 368 submissions to App Store review, most within the past 12 months, from a single developer. In other words, the developer is averaging almost one submission per day. We can count only approved submissions; we have no idea how many submissions by the developer were privately rejected by App Store review.

I get the impression that Apple is asleep at the wheel. Is anyone at Apple counting submissions per developer? How many is too many? How many resources is one developer allowed to consume? Note that every developer, no matter how small or large, no matter how many apps or submissions, pays the same $99 per year Apple Developer Program fee.

Several months ago, I published a list of small ways the App Store could be improved for developers, with input from my fellow developers. A couple of the suggestions are particularly relevant here: bring back Apple Developer Program tiers and review app updates post-release for proven developers. Why should Marco Arment go into the same App Store review queue as AI slop? Does that make any sense for developers, for Apple users, or for Apple? Is there no way for developers to earn Apple’s trust, no matter how long they’ve been in the App Store, no matter how famous or beloved? Should professional software developers whose livelihood depends on the App Store go into the same review queue as hobbyists? Speaking for myself, I would be willing to pay a much higher developer program fee for improved service, including a separate review queue. I suspect that a much higher developer program fee might also deter scams and AI slop, typically looking for a fast, easy buck.

The Apple App Store has been compared to a retail store. (I personally call it a jukebox.) However, retail stores do not accept product submissions from any random person in the world with $99! Retail stores deal mainly with well-known brands. You may...