Developers can now offer their apps for pre-order up to 180 days

Apple is extending the amount of time that developers can offer their app for pre-order to users in the App Store.

In a news update on the Apple Developer website, the company has announced that customers can now pre-order an app up to 180 days before it is released on the App Store. Once the app is released, customers who have pre-ordered the app will receive a notification and, if they don't install it manually, it will be downloaded to their device within 24 hours.

Apple says that it is extending the amount of time for pre-orders to give developers more time to build excitement around their new app.

Now you can let customers pre-order your app up to 180 days before it's released for download on the App Store. Take advantage of this longer lead time to build more excitement for your app's features, services, and content, and to encourage more pre-orders. Once your app is released, customers will be notified and it will automatically download to their device within 24 hours.

Apple has allowed developers to offer their apps for pre-order since 2017. Until now, you could only pre-order an app up to 90 days before it released for download on the App Store. With today's announcement, that time is now doubled.