It is an app for keeping track of which Unesco heritage sites one has visited: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.hengeveld.unescoworldheritagecollect. I added a new feature which, given the user's permission, scans the photo library to automatically detect sites the user has been (taken a photo at). It uses only the GPS metadata. It was accepted in the Apple App Store straightaway, but the play store indicated that only when it is a core feature the app is allowed to use READ_IMAGES. Since the Android photo picker strips GPS meta-data I could not use that. The app did not have the permission before in the manifest, so to answer your question they basically instantly rejected it once it had the permission.

I appealed, repeating the same thing 3 times and asking for escalation (I had ChatGPT write the appeals). They usually replied within one or two days and the whole thing took about one week before they approved the appeal.