A good app launch is mostly preparation. Most of the delays stores run into, such as a missing account, a rejected listing or a forgotten privacy policy, can be avoided weeks in advance. Work through this checklist and launch day becomes a formality.
Accounts
1. Apple Developer Program membership
Needed to publish on the App Store: $99 a year, paid to Apple. Organisations need a D-U-N-S number, so start early.
2. Google Play Console account
A one-time $25 registration fee, paid to Google. New personal accounts must run a closed test with 12 testers for 14 days before going public, so open this account as early as you can.
Your listing
3. App name
Short, recognisable and available on both stores. Usually your store's name.
4. Icon
Your logo mark on a solid background. Check it at small sizes: it has to work at the size of a fingernail.
5. Screenshots and description
Real screens with your real products, plus a description that leads with what shoppers get from the app.
6. Privacy policy and support page
Both stores require a privacy policy URL, and Apple asks for a support URL. If your website already has these pages, make sure they mention the app.
The app itself
7. Test every screen
Install the test build and shop like a customer: search, filter, add to bag, sign in, check out, and open a notification. Ask a friend who has never seen the app to do the same.
8. Plan your first notifications
Switch on the automations, such as welcome and abandoned cart, before launch, so your first users get them from day one.
Launch
9. Prepare the announcement
Write the email, the social posts and the website banner in advance, each with one clear reason to download. See how to get customers to download your app for ideas.
10. Pick the date
Avoid launching on the eve of your biggest sale. Launch a week or two before it instead, so the app is installed and reviewed by the time the sale begins.
The checklist at a glance
| # | Item | When |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Apple Developer Program | 4 or more weeks before |
| 2 | Google Play Console | 4 or more weeks before |
| 3 | App name | 3 weeks before |
| 4 | Icon | 3 weeks before |
| 5 | Screenshots and description | 2 weeks before |
| 6 | Privacy policy and support page | 2 weeks before |
| 7 | Full test | 1 to 2 weeks before |
| 8 | Push automations | 1 week before |
| 9 | Announcement | 1 week before |
| 10 | Launch date | Agreed at the start |
AppFromShop's Launch checklist tracks each of these steps in the dashboard, and we build and submit your apps from your own developer accounts.
