TestFlight "waiting for review"

Question

For my React Native app, I've pushed many builds to TestFlight in the past with no problems. I recently submitted my first actual build to the app store, and now when I'm trying to submit a new build to TestFlight, instead of going into "Testing" mode, it goes into "Waiting for review" and nothing happens. Does anyone know what I should do here? It didn't send out any invites to any of my testers or anything, and it's now been a few hours that it's been hanging in "Waiting for review" mode.

Answer 1

I empirically noticed the same as @MariaUngur. Apple formalised this behaviour in its documentation.

https://developer.apple.com/help/app-store-connect/test-a-beta-version/testflight-overview/

Step 3: Invite internal and external testers

Create groups for testers, then assign specific builds to them. After you've added builds to a group, you can add external testers (up to 10,000 people) and internal testers (up to 100 App Store Connect users with access to your content) to test your app. If you invite external testers, your beta build may require review. When you add the first build of your app to a group, the build gets sent to App Review to make sure it follows the App Review Guidelines. A review is only required for the first build of a version and subsequent builds may not need a full review. Testing can begin once a build is approved.

Answer 2

Did you increase your application version number? When you deploy to TestFlight the same version number but with a higher build number, it goes directly to Testing. However I noticed that changing the version number triggers a new Waiting for Review from Apple, before going into Testing

Answer 3

Waiting for review means that apple team will review your app before allowing you to submit on TestFlight for public testing. It will take around 24~48 hours for them to review your app. After if your app is approved, you can submit on TestFlight and create public link for anyone with the link as tester.