The Apple App Store Is Flooded With AI Slop And Legitimate Developers Are Paying For It

App submissions developers submitted 557,000 new apps to the App Store in 2025 figure reported by Appfigures for the year.

App revenue distribution the top 1% of apps generated 92.2% of in-app purchase revenue in 2025 percentage reported in Sensor Tower’s State of Mobile 2026.

App review times developers reported review waits of 14 to 45 days or longer for App Store submissions reports from Apple Developer Forums and developer posts.

Apple enforcement Apple blocked updates for several apps including Replit and Vibecode citing Guideline 2.5.2 mid-March enforcement action referencing code execution rule.

AI app commissions generative AI apps paid about $900 million in App Store fees in 2025, appMagic analysis reported by WSJ and others.