December is a busy month filled with party planning and gift buying, as well as family and friend visiting. In all the rush, have you made a plan for keeping your application on track during the App Store Freeze?
The Busiest Time of the Year
Each year, the sale of new tablets and phones increases during the holidays. This causes an increase in the amount of activity the App Store receives. Companies try to publish new applications, make updates, and tweak prices in December to prepare for the onslaught. Add that to the fact that many Apple employees take vacations around Christmas and you end up with a clogged pipeline of pending App Store approvals. Those are just a few of the reasons suspected for Apple’s annual “App Store Freeze.”
Freeze Warning
iTunes Connect and Application Loader will be unavailable from December 22 through December 29. During this time, neither new applications nor updates can be submitted to the App Store. Changes to In-App purchases and TestFlight Beta Testing are also on hold.
How Do I Prepare?
Schedule your updates ahead of time. Price changes and app releases can be done during the freeze but need to be scheduled and submitted. Do it early so you can be sure the changes are approved well before the deadline- December 18th.
