Facebook App Review: How long does it take? (post Spring 2018 changes)

Question

Has anyone had an app complete review since the new process was implemented a few weeks ago? I am currently 4 weeks and counting, no eta provided by Facebook, it used to take a few days.

Answer 1

I had a complete app review with the new process for the read_page_mailboxes and manage_pages. But it clearly was an automated process since the approval was immediately. I had this permission before and was remove after the changes, I just resubmitted the review and it was immediately approve.

After that, I resubmitted the pages_messaging permission (this one is reviewed by a different team since it is the messenger platform) , this one was already active in my application. The resubmit started a two step process:

1. Technical review
2. Business Verification

Incredible! the technical review was executed within 2 hours, sadly my app was wrongly review as a Bot (but it is not a bot) so it was rejected, so now I have lost by pages_messaging permission in a production app with 40k active users!

I immediately resubmitted the review and the technical review was again executed withing 2 hours and now it was approve. But it started the second step "Business Verification".

I have been waiting this second step for a week now with the pages_messaging permission disable in my production app due to the first wrong technical review.

So answering your question I think the time changes depending on:

1. If you have the permission before in your app
2. The number of users in your app
3. The permission you are asking for (in my case read_page_mailboxes was an automated process but pages_messaging is painfully slow)

Answer 2

I think they are pretty swamped right now as they need to verify both new and existing apps post the new review process.

Step 1 - Permissions and features review

This step takes 7 business days to be reviewed.

I had submitted my chat bot on May 27, 2018 and got past this review step on Jun 6, 2018

Step 2 - Business Verification

If you use the messenger API then your business needs to be verified (license, utility bill) etc. and also you need accept the supplemental terms.

You need to create a Business manager account and link it to your app.

You then need to provide the proofs for verification.

Finally, you need to sign the supplemental terms and apply for review.

References -

[1] New App Review Requirements - https://developers.facebook.com/docs/apps/review