Important: App review and quota extension waiting times

[Nikola]

The Spotify for developers platform helps many bring their ideas to life. Whether it's a short term app helping an artist’s release or something more long term - there is always a chance of success. Things start to grow and then you might also need what we call a quota extension.

When you request a quota extension or you're simply waiting for your app to be reviewed, there is a follow up process that sets certain limits with the sole purpose of making things fair, better functioning and with an optimal level of user-experience quality.

During this process a few questions may arise. Such as:

• How long does it take to review my submission? 

During peak periods, it may take longer than six weeks. 

• Why does it take that long?

The review and extension request process is an iterative process. It is a matter of the developer and the Spotify team finding exactly where things need to be in order for the application to find its audience.

• What can I do as a developer to speed up the process? 

Make sure everything in your request is clear and correct, that you’re providing enough and correct information, adhering to Spotify’s developer terms, policies and design guidelines. If your request is rejected and needs to be resubmitted, an SLA of another 6 weeks will be applied after resubmission. Therefore the more attention and efforts you put into submitting a fully correct request from the beginning - the better are the chances that you will not have to resubmit and save precious time.

• An example of adhering to terms and conditions is our updated terms on using Artificial Intelligence and Large Language Models (AI/LLM) when consuming the Spotify API. Since this is a new and emerging field, we felt it was important to update the Terms of Service to clarify that using Spotify data or information to train models is outside the scope of what the platform is built for.

• Does it help for me to reach out to other teams about this issue? 

It will not help a developer to try to reach out to other Spotify teams to get their request expedited or a question answered. We are the dedicated point of contact who can approve your request and involving other teams may actually interfere with the process. It's best to follow the instructions outlined above and you will receive an answer as soon as possible.

• What do I do if my submission gets rejected?

Don’t despair just yet. You will receive an email with applied rejection reasons, and further instructions on how (if) to proceed. Please make sure to read the email thoroughly to understand the reasons for rejection, and possible next steps. If a change can be made to be compliant, simply make the change and resubmit your request. As mentioned above - another review timeline of 6 weeks will be applied upon resubmission. You can navigate in the best way using the email and other applicable resources such as the Dev Terms, Dev Policy or Design Guidelines. 

Please keep in mind that if you’re waiting for an answer to an email you’ve sent us - our Developer email will not be monitored for an extended period during this summer. But it’s highly probable that your question will be answered by the topics covered above. You can also refer to the Spotify for developers general questions: 

- WebAPI Documentation

- App Modes

- Developer Terms

- Developer Policy

- Design Guidelines

- App Reviews Instructions

- Community Forum for specific questions

Thank you for your understanding and patience. Take care!

[kevinu]

Hello,

After waiting close to 3 months, I'm seeing that the app was rejected erroneously. The only thing that this app does is create a Spotify playlist and send the link to the user. Nothing else. It does not break the visual content rules and logo rules Spotify claims. I am seeing from my user base that no one from Spotify engaged with the app to test it out and that it was rejected with no trial. No users from Spotify tested it. We waited two and a half months to not even be granted a real review. Please let me know when this can be reviewed properly. Everything is already in compliance.

Thanks,

Kevin 

[onururas]

Hello,

I wanted to reach out about the second review we've been waiting for. It's been almost a month now and we don't seem to have a support contact to reach out to. We're feeling a bit in the dark here. Could you please help us out or point us in the right direction?

Thanks a lot!

[zaronwald123]

Can we please get some sort of communication here. It’s shocking that there is not one person capable of replying and at the very least giving a status update, be it on here or directly by email. Please give some sort of update on the review process as we have anxiously been awaiting for weeks with not even a word from Spotify.

[yoloboykjkk]

**bleep** application got rejected for the second time after 2+ months with no explanation as to why that was. I spent a great deal of time with the application. Support emails were also non-responsive.

[zaronwald123]

After weeks of waiting, my application was rejected for something you claim we are missing, but we very much have. Considering the developers wait so long for these reviews with absolutely zero support or communication, you’d think you would actually spend time on the review and make sure you’re doing it accurately. This is absolutely ridiculous at this point, and I need a developer to reach out to me ASAP. This is crazy that you don’t have any means of support or such for developers. Someone needs to amend this review mistake immediately

[dsnum1]

Is there a discord?  Would appreciate if I could get some personalized feedback on why my app didn't make it.

[musicdev1]

Hi Nikola and Spotify Team!

We have built a well functional social platform and first sent a review request in summer last year, with our latest update in September last year but did not hear back yet still in those 4+ months.

Since then we now need to delete old users to add new users to stay under the 25 people limit and with that reducing value to our users but also to Spotify as we would backlink profiles in our platform.

Are backlogs still reviewed or should we submit again?

Did not want to move us to the end of the line by resubmitting thus far.

[zaronwald123]

Hello! Our extension request status is listed as “In Review” and I just wanted to know if anyone could answer what that new status entails and if there is a timeline for the actual in review process. We have been in review for over a week now and I was just wondering if it is going to be a while longer. Thanks for getting to it!

[zaronwald123]

My app has been listed as in review for about two weeks now. do any other developers have any past experience with this status and have an estimate on timing?

[lucaswinter]

Exactly! We are having the same problem. We want to help the ecosystem by building good applications around the biggest audio player in the world, but it seems like they don't want that to happen.

We integrated with Meta and Tiktok (much more complex) and it only took 48 hours for approval.

[lucaswinter]

There's nothing apparently. I'm turning to Twitter. Let's all post there and make this giant problem we are facing public. Also post there by tagging @spotifyplatform which is the Spotify for developers profile

[zaronwald123]

Anybody get any updates on an “in review” application? My prior applications had been listed as “unreviewed” but this one has been “in review” for quite some time now. Is that a bad thing?

[Plus18]

I have "in review" status since 22 November. Client id is f6283e89e22843deb2d46304fa7c6b98. 

[wlumley]

I've been waiting since November for an approval / review. I've sent several emails and even tried reaching out to 'Spotify Developer' via Twitter, but haven't heard anything back. Beyond frustrated at this process. I understand that it can take time, and that's fine of course, but to go no-contact? Extremely infuriating.

[manofnibiru]

is there any way to get in touch with the app review team directly? We've been waiting for approval for over a month now. our app is ready and we're blocked due to the review process. we heavily rely on Spotify Login.

[wlumley]

@manofnibiru I am in a similar boat. This level of disregard for wanting to build products for their service is ridiculous, especially for a multi-billion dollar company.

[zaronwald123]

I finally got an update. There was an alert on my app’s developer page saying that they were sorry for the delay but it was due to them assessing my use case with other involved departments which is resulting in a delay

[wlumley]

Very jealous! I've had that warning for the last couple months. I completely understand if something takes too long - but to not reply to any of my emails/tweets/etc is pretty poor form IMO.

[manofnibiru]

Did they approve the request? how long did it take in total?

[paulrose]

Just got to wait it out. There are thousands of applications, and they'll be assessing them in the order they come in. Screaming and shouting and "putting them on blast" on social probably won't help your cause.

We've been through a few rounds of amends and are hoping we'll get the approval soon! It's just a waiting game. I certainly wouldn't expect that shouting about it should move me up the queue, ahead of people that have been waiting longer.