SkieWhy does my own app show as waiting for Skie approval?
Apps you add yourself that are not already in the Skie catalog wait for Skie to review them before they can be used. The status reads as waiting for Skie. It is a safety step, not an error. When the team approves the app, it becomes available to publish and add to lists.
When you paste a Play Store link for an app Skie has not seen, it enters your organisation store as your own app. Because organisations can reach students with it, the Skie team checks that it is a genuine, suitable Play app first. Until then, the entry stays in a waiting state and cannot be attached to a live list.
The waiting state does not affect anything already running. Devices keep following their current policy and app list. Only the new app is pending. You can carry on building the list around it, and you can see the status in the store so you know where each app stands.
Approval is on by default. If your organisation is a trusted one, the Skie owner can turn approval off for it, in which case your own apps go through without waiting. That is a decision made per organisation, not something a school admin can switch for themselves.
A practical tip: add apps early, and add the Play link exactly as it appears on Google Play so there is no doubt which app you mean. If a parent or teacher asks for an app urgently, check the catalog first, since catalog apps need no wait. Branches that add their own apps work under the same rule, if the owner allows branch additions.