① Validated, then rebuilt and re-uploaded

At 11:50 PM on Jul 26, 1.0.20260717 (7) passed Validate App — Xcode Organizer reported Validation succeeded. The version string was then bumped to the submission day's 1.0.20260727, rebuilt as build (8), and uploaded at 12:19 AM with status Uploaded to Apple.

② Submission items finalized in App Store Connect

The draft submission created at 12:13 AM still carried build 1.0.20260717 (7). Once the new build landed, reopening the draft at 12:26 AM showed iOS App 1.0.20260727 · 1.0.20260727 (8) marked Item Ready to Submit.

The four questions (near-inevitable for Kids Category)

1. Does the app include third-party analytics? If so, what data is collected.
2. Does it include third-party advertising? If so, link the ad network's published kids-app policy.
3. Is data shared with any third parties? For what purpose, and stored where.
4. Any other user or device data collected beyond those two? Explain every planned use.

The reply

For LetCube all four answers happen to be "no": no third-party analytics or ad SDKs, nothing shared with anyone, and no user or device data collected beyond local settings — camera frames only sample colour in memory and are discarded, never stored or uploaded. After replying in App Store Connect, review resumed the same day (Aug 5, 9:15 AM PDT).

1. Kids without a physical cube are no longer locked out

1.0 opened on the camera page — a child with no cube at home could only stare at the viewfinder. 1.1 opens into the Academy instead, with the challenge card on top, so there is something playable on first launch.

2. The real cause of the black screen / crash: a speech-engine deadlock

AVSpeechSynthesizer hangs the main thread if it's deallocated mid-utterance; the watchdog then kills the app and the user sees a black screen or a crash. Now one engine is shared app-wide and never deallocated — and the shared KidsTTS got the same fix, so the whole app family benefits.

3. Academy feel: four fixes that only work stacked

Defer the layer decision when a finger lands on the black line between layers; a ~6mm sensing band outside the outline (small hands miss edge cells); a second view of the back face that is not a mirror (a reflection flips left and right, so copying it produces the wrong turn); and, while a hint is showing, the arrow wins the touch.

4. Tip jar and the parental gate

Three optional tips ($0.99 / $4.99 / $9.99) sit behind the parental gate and unlock nothing — invisible anywhere in the child's flow (scan, 3D guidance, Academy). The gate now also accepts a 4-digit passcode as an alternative to the maths question.