Reader question
When is an App Store release actually done?
When the review submission is complete, the intended version is in App Store Connect's distributed state, and that same version is public in the storefront you are checking. Approval alone is not the finish line.
Twelve updates were checked this way today. All twelve latest submissions were complete, all twelve intended versions were distributed in App Store Connect, and all twelve matched Apple's public US Lookup result. That is enough to close the US release checks. It says nothing about storefronts that were not checked.
| Layer | Evidence to record | If it does not match |
|---|---|---|
| Review submission | The exact submission reports COMPLETE. | The review is not finished. Read the current state before doing anything else. |
| App Store Connect version | The intended version reports the distributed state. | Approval has not become an available app version yet. Keep the release open. |
| Named public storefront | The public lookup returns the same version you intended to release. | Customers in that storefront still see another version. Keep watching; do not rewrite history as done. |
State names are a poor place to anchor the decision. One App Store Connect command reports the legacy label READY_FOR_SALE while another surface can call the same distributed state READY_FOR_DISTRIBUTION. Record the command with the state, then finish the check with version equality. The names vary. The intended version and the public version either match or they do not.
The close rule
Submission COMPLETE + intended version distributed + public storefront version equal = release closed for that storefront. Anything less is a monitor, not a completed release.