There is a strange feeling that comes with watching something you have spent months building sit behind someone else's locked door.
You can see the finish line.
You can almost touch it.
Everything is ready.
The product is ready.
The team is ready.
The marketing is ready.
The users are waiting.
And then you realize that someone else gets to decide whether you are allowed to start.
That is exactly where we are today.
It is Friday, August 21, 2026.
In a few hours, football fans across Nepal will be awake at an ungodly hour, waiting for the English Premier League to kick off. The first whistle of the new season is almost here.
Fantasy Premier League groups are being finalized. Squads are being debated. Captains are being changed at the last minute. Messenger & WhatsApp groups are alive. Friends are arguing about transfers as if their lives depend on them.
The football season is ready to begin.
And so are we.
Except we aren't.
Not quite.
Because Khelro is still waiting for Apple.
We had a date
At SoftNEP, we had been working on something we were genuinely excited about.
Khelro.
Our latest digital product.
A sports prediction platform built around a simple idea: make watching sport more exciting.
You predict.
You compete.
You climb the leaderboard.
And if you are good enough, you win.
Khelro is not a betting platform. There is no wagering, no staking, no deposit and no money required to participate. Our own terms and disclaimer make that distinction very clearly.
We wanted to build something that would bring another layer of excitement to the sports people already love.
And naturally, the English Premier League was a huge part of our thinking.
Because if you know Nepal, you know that football isn't just football here.
It is conversation.
It is rivalry.
It is friendship.
It is late nights.
It is college friends, office colleagues, brothers, cousins and entire groups of people arguing passionately over something they have absolutely no control over.
We wanted Khelro to become part of that experience.
So we picked a date.
August 16, 2026.
That was supposed to be our launch day.
We had a plan.
We had the product.
We had the campaigns.
We had the excitement.
And then we submitted Khelro to Apple.
August 2
On August 2, we submitted the app for review.
We knew Apple was strict.
We knew the App Store review process could take time.
We knew that anything involving sports predictions and contests might receive additional scrutiny.
Fine.
We were prepared for that.
Three days later, the status changed.
In Review.
Finally.
We thought, "Here we go."
Except...
Nothing happened.
August 5.
August 6.
August 7.
August 8.
August 9.
August 10.
And then, finally, the review happened.
The first rejection came.
Apple had classified Khelro as a betting app.
Just like that.
A sports prediction app became a betting app.
We were stunned.
Because the distinction seemed fundamental to us.
Khelro doesn't take bets.
There is no sportsbook.
There are no betting odds.
There is no money being staked.
There is no deposit.
There is no withdrawal.
Our documentation explicitly says Khelro is not a betting service or money-making scheme.
Yet our first review seemed to reduce the entire concept to:
Sports + prediction + prizes = betting.
And that one conclusion cost us several precious days.
Back into the queue
There was nothing philosophical about what happened next.
We had to fix what Apple had raised and resubmit.
And every resubmission meant another wait.
Another queue.
Another reviewer.
Another opportunity for something to go wrong.
The launch date was getting closer.
Inside our team, the mood was changing.
We were still excited.
But now there was anxiety mixed into that excitement.
Because we were no longer simply building a product.
We were racing a calendar.
The Premier League doesn't move its opening weekend because your app is waiting for review.
Gameweek 1 doesn't care about App Store queues.
Marketing campaigns don't wait indefinitely.
Sponsors don't wait indefinitely.
And football fans certainly don't wait.
So we resubmitted.
Then Apple found the login problem
The second time Apple reviewed Khelro, they looked at the login.
At that stage, we had Google login available.
Apple wanted Sign in with Apple.
To be fair, this was a legitimate App Store requirement in our situation, and Apple's guidelines do require Sign in with Apple in certain circumstances where third-party social login is offered.
So we did what developers are supposed to do.
We fixed it.
We implemented Apple login.
We tested it.
We submitted again.
No argument.
No complaint.
Just work.
But by then, the launch date was getting dangerously close.
The clock was ticking.
And every day suddenly felt much longer than 24 hours.
The third review
We submitted again.
This time, Apple reviewed the app after roughly 55 hours.
We waited.
And then came another rejection.
Age assurance.
The reviewer said they were unable to validate the age assurance check.
We stared at the message.
Because the age assurance check was there.
Right there.
During sign-up.
Clear.
Obvious.
Part of the registration flow.
It wasn't hidden somewhere deep inside the app.
It wasn't something that required a secret combination of taps.
It was simply there.
Yet we were asked to tell Apple where the age assurance mechanism was.
That was the point where frustration turned into disbelief.
We completely understand Apple wanting to verify age-related controls.
We actually support that.
Check our age assurance.
Check our privacy.
Check our authentication.
Check our contest rules.
Check everything.
We don't mind strict.
We mind inaccurate.
That is the distinction that has frustrated us the most throughout this process.
A strict reviewer who finds a genuine problem is doing their job.
A reviewer who misses something that is plainly present and rejects the app because they believe it isn't there creates an entirely different problem.
Because then the developer loses several more days correcting something that, from the developer's perspective, was never actually broken.
And this is where things become painful
People sometimes imagine that launching an app is simply a matter of uploading it to an app store.
It isn't.
There is a whole ecosystem behind a launch.
There are marketing campaigns.
There are creatives.
There are social media posts.
There are partnerships.
There are people waiting.
There are plans built around dates.
There are teams working late into the night.
And in our case, there is a sporting calendar.
That last part matters enormously.
Because we didn't build Khelro for some abstract date in the future.
We built it for sport.
We built it for moments like this.
The Premier League is about to begin.
This is the moment.
This is what we have been preparing for.
And yet we are sitting here with an app that is technically available on Android, while deliberately keeping its fixtures empty.
Why?
Because we made a decision.
We want to launch Khelro properly.
Not half-launch it.
Not launch Android today and tell iPhone users to wait.
Not start Gameweek 1 for one group of users and Gameweek 2 for another.
We want people to enter the same Khelro, at the same time, with the same opportunity.
So although the Android version has already been approved and is available on Google Play, we have not populated the fixtures yet.
The actual Khelro experience hasn't begun.
We are waiting for the iOS approval before we officially open the doors.
And that makes this delay much more painful.
Because Android is ready.
Khelro is ready.
We are ready.
But the launch is not.
And then there was Google
Here is the part that makes this entire experience even more interesting.
We submitted Khelro to Google.
After two reviews, Google approved it.
And the review process didn't take days upon days.
It took hours.
That difference has genuinely surprised me.
When you are a developer trying to launch a product, you don't expect special treatment.
You simply want a review process that is clear, consistent and reasonably efficient.
Google gave us that experience.
And for that, I have to give them credit.
They deserve applause.
The Android version of Khelro is already approved and available on Google Play:
Download Khelro on Google Play
But don't expect to find a list of fixtures waiting for you yet.
We haven't started the game.
Because we're still waiting for Apple.
Is this about being a company from Nepal?
This is the part I have struggled with the most.
I don't want to make an accusation I cannot prove.
I don't know what was happening on the other side of Apple's review process.
Perhaps this was simply a series of unfortunate mistakes.
Perhaps Khelro landed in a particularly complicated review category.
Perhaps different reviewers interpreted different aspects of the product differently.
Perhaps there is absolutely no connection whatsoever between where we come from and how our app was reviewed.
I don't know.
But I do know what the experience feels like from this side.
We are a technology company from Nepal.
We build software.
We have been doing this for years.
We build products for our own market and for clients beyond Nepal.
And like thousands of other developers around the world, we dream of building something that can reach a much bigger audience.
Yet there is something psychologically different about being a developer from a smaller technology market.
You sometimes feel like you are playing on someone else's field.
And when something goes wrong, you have very little leverage.
This experience has made me understand why some developers and technology companies from smaller or developing markets have complained about the way large global platforms treat them.
Apple says its App Store review process applies standards designed to protect users and maintain quality across the platform.
I have no reason to doubt that intention.
But here's the question our experience has left me with:
Does equal policy always translate into equal experience?
I honestly don't know.
And perhaps that is the uncomfortable question worth asking.
Tomorrow is Gameweek 1
In a few hours, the Premier League begins.
People will wake up.
They'll watch the matches.
They'll argue about lineups.
They'll check Fantasy Premier League points.
They'll make predictions.
And we wanted Khelro to be sitting right there with them.
Instead, we are still waiting.
There is now a very real possibility that Khelro will miss Gameweek 1.
We may have to start with Gameweek 2.
And even that isn't certain yet.
Because we don't know when Apple will approve us.
It could be tomorrow.
It could be next week.
It could take longer.
And every additional day changes the launch equation.
That's the brutal thing about building around live sport.
You don't get the moment back.
Gameweek 1 happens once.
The opening weekend happens once.
The excitement of a new season happens once.
You can't recreate it six weeks later with a social media post saying:
"Hey guys, we're finally live!"
The moment has moved on.
The empty screen
There is a screen inside Khelro that I have started thinking about differently.
The fixtures screen.
Right now, it is empty.
And that empty screen probably doesn't mean much to someone who opens the app.
But to us, it represents months of work.
It represents developers.
Designers.
Marketing people.
Ideas.
Arguments.
Late nights.
Testing.
Planning.
Excitement.
And now, patience.
The screen is empty because we are deliberately keeping it that way.
We could populate the fixtures.
We could technically get things moving on Android.
But we don't want to.
We want the launch to mean something.
We want Android users and iPhone users to walk through the door together.
We want everyone to have the same starting line.
So we wait.
Perhaps this is what building products really looks like
People see the launch announcement.
They see the app.
They see the logo.
They see the advertisements.
They see the prizes.
They see the success story.
They rarely see this part.
They don't see developers repeatedly checking App Store Connect.
They don't see the WhatsApp messages.
"Any update?"
"Has Apple reviewed it?"
"Should we wait?"
"Should we push the campaign?"
"Should we delay the announcement?"
"Should we start Gameweek 2 instead?"
They don't see the uncertainty.
They only see the finished product.
But this is the real side of building something.
Sometimes you are solving a technical problem.
Sometimes you are solving a business problem.
Sometimes you are solving a legal problem.
And sometimes...
You're just waiting for someone else's approval.
So, did Apple screw our launch?
From where we are sitting today?
Yes.
Apple screwed our launch.
Not necessarily because Apple has some agenda against Khelro.
Not necessarily because Apple wanted to hurt a company from Nepal.
And not necessarily because every Apple reviewer is careless.
But because a series of delays, misunderstandings and incorrect evaluations have put a product that was ready to launch into a position where it may miss the single most important moment we built it for.
That's what we mean when we say Apple screwed our launch.
It is not an accusation of conspiracy.
It is an account of an experience.
And it has left a scar.
Not on the code.
Not on the product.
On our experience as developers.
But we're still here
The funny thing is...
Despite everything that has happened, I am actually more proud of the Khelro team today than I was before.
Because every time something came back from Apple, someone on our team got back to work.
Rejected?
Fix it.
Resubmit.
Rejected again?
Understand it.
Fix it.
Resubmit.
Another rejection?
Take a breath.
Fix it.
Resubmit.
That's what building products really looks like.
Not the glamorous version.
The real version.
And perhaps someday, when Khelro is much bigger, when thousands or millions of people are using it, when people are celebrating their rankings and arguing about their predictions, we'll look back at August 2026 and laugh.
Maybe we'll say:
"Remember when Apple wouldn't let us launch?"
I hope so.
But tonight, I'm not laughing yet.
Tonight, I'm watching the clock.
Because tomorrow morning, at 00:45 Nepal time, the Premier League begins.
The fans are ready.
The squads are ready.
The predictions are ready.
The football is ready.
Khelro is ready.
The Android app is approved.
The iOS app is ready.
The team is ready.
The only thing we don't have yet is the green light from Apple.
And that is why, for now, the most frustrating screen in Khelro is not a rejection screen.
It is the empty fixtures screen.
Because behind that emptiness is an entire product waiting to come alive.
So here we are.
A few hours before Gameweek 1.
Watching the clock.
Waiting for an approval.
Waiting to populate the fixtures.
Waiting to finally open the doors.
And hoping that Apple realizes soon that there is a small technology company in Nepal waiting on the other side.
A company that has built something.
A company that is ready.
A company that simply wants its chance to play.
Khelro.
Play. Predict. Win.
Just not yet.
We're still waiting for Apple.
(Sunil Rijal is the CEO and founder of SoftNEP, a software company based in Nepal)
