In an effort to boost App Store revenues, Apple has cut down its app review process from nine days to only two.
Bloomberg reports that the shortened review procedure will motivate developers to release more regular upgrades, as well as bug fixes to their iOS apps.
The news was positively received by developers who said that a shorter approval cycle would only speed up the building and planning phase for their next app release.
Button founder and developer Chris Maddern has complimented Apple for "becoming a lot more developer-friendly." In an interview, he said Apple is gearing towards a more open approach to building the iOS ecosystem.
"A lot of the way that we build software for iOS is controlled around the fact that you have a one-week release cycle," Maddern explained. "It can now happen within hours of submitting them, which is really awesome because it speeds up the development cycle."
In January, AppReviewTimes.com, a website that tracks Apple's approval speed, reported that it takes 14 days for App Store submissions to get approved. Since Apple announced the shortened review process, the average approval time has improved from 8.8 to 1.95 days. The latest data is based on 332 user reviews in the past 14 days.
Mobile apps have largely contributed to Apple's success. As of the second quarter of 2016, mobile apps have generated over $6 billion in revenue for the company. This figure represents 12 percent of Apple's $50.6 billion in total quarterly sales.
In contrast, Apple's biggest competition – Google's Android platform – allows developers to rapidly deploy their apps and updates publicly before being fully vetted. This approach results in much faster updates and allows developers to easily make changes to their apps, though some critics say this approach might increase the risk of security problems or malware.
This announcement comes only a few weeks before Apple's annual developer conference in San Francisco, where the company is expected to release details about the next iOS version. WWDC 2016 is scheduled to start June 13 and run through June 17 at the Moscone West convention center.
