Developers Warn Flood of Vibe-Coded Apps Could Slow Apple Approvals

The mainstream release of agentic coding in 2025 has significantly increased the number of iOS apps being released on Apple’s App Store.
Data from Sensor Tower shows a 54.8% year-over-year increase in app releases, with December hitting a four-year high of 56%.
While anyone can utilize agentic coding to develop and monetize apps, some developers are frustrated by longer review times for their submissions, reportedly up to six weeks.
Developer James Steinberg notes increased wait times, but Apple claims 90% of submissions are reviewed within 48 hours and has processed over 200,000 submissions weekly with a 1.5-day average review time.
Some developers and Reddit users worry that Apple may adopt stricter review processes to manage the influx of AI-generated apps and avoid what they term “AI slop.”
Analysts suggest Apple will need to evolve from manual to large-scale curation to manage the ongoing challenges associated with the proliferation of agentic coding submissions.