For years, if you wanted to know when your build finished processing in App Store Connect, your options were: wait for an email, refresh the page repeatedly, or poll the REST API on a timer and feel vaguely bad about it. Apple's WWDC25 announcement of a proper Webhooks API quietly changed all of that — and if you're still running a manual release workflow, it's worth understanding why.
what webhooks actually give you#
The new Webhook API lets App Store Connect push event notifications to a URL you control, the moment something happens. Build upload completed. App version state changed. TestFlight feedback submitted. No polling. No stale dashboard refreshes.
The supported events cover the things you actually care about during a release cycle:
- Build upload state — your build is done processing (or failed)
- App version state — review status changed (in review, approved, rejected, waiting for export compliance)
- Build beta state — TestFlight build is ready for testers
- TestFlight feedback — a tester submitted a screenshot or crash report
Each event hits your endpoint as an HTTP POST with a signed payload you verify using a shared secret. Standard webhook stuff, but Apple has historically been slow to offer this kind of integration, so it matters.
why this matters for small teams#
If you're a solo dev or a small team, you're probably doing one of two things during a submission: hovering over App Store Connect waiting for a status change, or completely forgetting to check until a day later when the review is already done and your release is sitting there approved with no one to push the button.
Both are symptoms of the same problem — release status is push information being treated as pull. You shouldn't have to go looking for it.
With webhooks, you can build a Slack notification that fires the moment your build clears processing. You can trigger an automated sanity check as soon as TestFlight is ready. You can get a DM when review status changes so you can respond to a rejection the same day instead of the next morning.
For apps with external dependencies — live events, coordinated marketing pushes, time-sensitive updates — this gap between "approved" and "actually released" has always been a real operational risk. Webhooks close it.
the Stora angle#
This is exactly the kind of plumbing Stora has been wiring together on your behalf. When you submit through Stora, we're already listening for build and review state changes so you're not manually tracking status across multiple apps and storefronts. The same webhook infrastructure Apple just exposed to everyone is what makes it possible to know, in real time, when something needs your attention versus when you can leave it alone.
The difference is that you don't have to set up and maintain the endpoint, the signature verification, the retry logic, or the Slack integration yourself. Stora handles the event stream so you can stay in your editor.
the setup, if you want it#
If you want to wire this up yourself, webhooks are configured under Users and Access → Integrations → Webhooks in App Store Connect, or via the API. You'll need an HTTPS endpoint that can receive POST requests and return a 200, plus a secret for HMAC-SHA256 verification. Apple's documentation covers the payload structure clearly.
For most indie developers, the honest calculus is: set it up once and it's genuinely useful. If you're shipping frequently, it's worth the hour.
If you're not in the mood for infrastructure work, Stora does this automatically. Either way — the era of refreshing App Store Connect like you're waiting for a flight is over.