Join the Apple Developer Program
To put an app on the App Store you need a paid Apple Developer Program membership. Apple's enrollment page lists the annual fee as 99 USD, charged in local currency where available, and notes that prices may vary by region. It's yearly, so count it in your pricing.
You'll need an Apple Account with two-factor authentication turned on, and you must be of legal age in your region. Then choose how to enroll:
- As an individual: your personal legal name is shown as the seller on the App Store. Enter it exactly; Apple says an alias, nickname or company name in the name fields will delay approval.
- As an organization: your legal entity's name is shown as the seller. You'll need a D-U-N-S Number, a public website on your organization's domain, a work email on that domain and the authority to sign for the company. Apple verifies this before you can pay for the membership.
Don't leave enrollment to launch week, especially as an organization: verification comes first. While you wait, prepare your App Privacy details. Apple requires them to submit new apps and updates, and they must cover data collected by the analytics tools, ad networks and other third-party SDKs inside your app.
Beta Test With TestFlight
TestFlight is Apple's beta testing service, and it's the best rehearsal you have for both launch and App Review. According to Apple's TestFlight page and the TestFlight help docs:
- Internal testers: up to 100 people from your App Store Connect team.
- External testers: up to 10,000 people, invited by email or through a public link.
- Beta review: the first build you add to an external group goes to App Review. Later builds may not need a full review.
- Expiry: each build can be tested for up to 90 days.
Treat the beta as launch preparation, not only bug hunting:
- Recruit from the places you'll launch: people who have posted about the problem, your waitlist, a community you're already part of.
- Ask each tester one specific question, such as "where did you get stuck in the first five minutes?"
- Write down the words testers use to describe the app. They're your subtitle and keywords.
- Ask if you can tell them when it's live. They're your first launch-day users.
The external beta review also gives you an early read on App Review: a build turned down here shows you a problem before launch week, not during it.
App Review and Common Rejections
Apple says App Review typically reviews at least 50% of submissions in less than 24 hours and 90% in less than 48 hours. Incomplete submissions take longer or fail, and Apple notes that, on average, over 40% of unresolved issues relate to guideline 2.1, App Completeness.
Apple's own list of common issues includes crashes, broken links, placeholder content, privacy policy issues and inaccurate screenshots. Check these points in the App Review Guidelines before you submit:
| Guideline | What it asks | Check before submitting |
|---|---|---|
| 2.1 App Completeness | A final, working build with no placeholder content | If there's a login, give reviewers a demo account and keep your backend live during review |
| 2.3 Accurate Metadata | Screenshots show the app in use; app names are limited to 30 characters | No splash screens or title art as screenshots, no competitor names in your metadata |
| 3.1.1 In-App Purchase | Paid features and content inside the app are sold through in-app purchase | Selling digital features? Plan for in-app purchase, and read section 3.1 for exceptions |
| 4.2 Minimum Functionality | More than a repackaged website | Make sure the app does something a bookmark can't |
| 4.8 Login Services | Apps that use a third-party login such as Google Sign-In must also offer an equivalent option that limits data collection | Add one, unless an exception applies, such as using only your own account system |
| 5.1.1 Privacy | A privacy policy link in App Store Connect and inside the app; account deletion in the app if users can create accounts | Add both before you submit |
If your app is rejected, the message arrives in App Store Connect, where you can reply to App Review and resolve the issue before resubmitting. Keep replies short and factual, and say exactly what you changed. If a critical bug reaches users, or your launch is tied to an event that's coming up fast, you can request an expedited review, though Apple suggests scheduling releases in advance instead. For guideline 5.1.1, the privacy policy generator gives you a draft to edit.
Your App Store Product Page
The product page is your launch listing on the App Store. Apple's product page guidance sets the limits:
| Field | Limit | How to use it |
|---|---|---|
| App name | 30 characters | Simple, memorable, and a hint of what the app does |
| Subtitle | 30 characters | The value in a phrase, not "world's best app" |
| Keywords | 100 characters, separated by commas | Words people search for, with no plurals of words already there, no "app", no category names and no duplicates |
| Promotional text | 170 characters | Launch news; change it at any time without a new version |
| Screenshots | Up to 10 | The first one to three appear in search results when there's no preview |
| App previews | Up to 3 | They autoplay muted, so the first seconds must show the app working |
Keep trademarked terms, celebrity names and competitor app names out of your keywords: Apple says improper keyword use is a common cause of rejection. In the description, the first sentence is visible before anyone taps "more", so make it say what the app does. Changing the description needs a new version, so get it right before launch.
Screenshot sizes. App Store Connect's screenshot specifications require at least one screenshot for iPhone with Dynamic Island (medium display), at 1179 × 2556 or 1206 × 2622 pixels in portrait, and at least one 13-inch iPad screenshot (2064 × 2752 or 2048 × 2732) if your app runs on iPad. They must be JPEG or PNG with no transparency. If your interface is the same across sizes, you only need the highest required resolution, and App Store Connect scales it down for smaller devices.
Preview video. Per the app preview specifications, previews run 15 to 30 seconds, up to 500MB, at up to 30 frames per second, and current iPhones take 886 × 1920 in portrait. Our guide to making a product demo video covers planning and recording one.
Give each screenshot one caption about one benefit, and lead with the app's main job. The same applies to launch-board listings; see writing a launch listing people click.
Release Timing and Pre-Orders
You choose how an approved version goes live (Apple's release options): release it manually, release it automatically once approved, or release it automatically after approval but no earlier than a date and time you set. After a manual release, Apple says it may take up to 24 hours for the version to appear on the App Store.
For a planned launch day, that suggests a simple order:
- Submit the final build a week or more before launch day, so a rejection still leaves time to fix it.
- Choose manual release, or automatic release no earlier than the day before your launch.
- Release a day early and check that the App Store link opens on a phone and in a browser.
- Announce only once the link works.
Pre-orders let people commit before release. A brand-new app can set a release date 2 to 180 days after the pre-order is published, the app has to pass App Review first, and on release day it downloads automatically to everyone who pre-ordered, who also get a notification (Apple's pre-order page). It's worth it if you have a waitlist or newsletter to send there. With no audience, a pre-order page mostly sits unseen.
Featuring. You can tell Apple's editors about your launch with an App Launch nomination in App Store Connect (Featuring, then Nominations). Apple's help page recommends a minimum lead time of three weeks, and its featuring page suggests nominating up to three months ahead for wider consideration. It's free but never guaranteed, so don't plan around it.
Launch-Day Channels for Indie Apps
The App Store doesn't hand a new app an audience, so plan where launch-day visitors come from, and give anyone on a laptop a page with screenshots and the App Store link.
- Your beta testers and waitlist, first. They know the app, and their early ratings come from real use.
- Product Hunt, if you can bring people with you on a single day.
- Communities such as r/SideProject, Indie Hackers and subreddits for your app's niche. Answer questions first and follow each community's rules; see how to launch on Reddit.
- Launch boards with longer windows, such as Peerlist, Fazier and Hauntboard, where a person reviews every launch and its page views and visits are shown in public.
- X and building in public: our guide to announcing your launch on X covers the posts.
A message for your beta testers on launch day:
"Hi Name, App is live on the App Store today: link. Thanks for testing the beta. Your note about their feedback is why what you changed. If it's been useful, an honest rating would help other people find it, and if anything is still broken, just reply and tell me."
Launch boards usually show wide images, so portrait phone screenshots need a background around them. The launch asset resizer pads them to the right size, and the launch post generator drafts a post for each community. If you have no following yet, our guide to launching with no audience covers outreach in more detail.
Ratings and Your First Update
Apple's product page guidance says ratings affect search ranking, and an app with none looks like a risk to try. The rules for asking are strict:
- Use Apple's prompt. Guideline 5.6.1 says to use the provided API to ask for reviews and disallows custom review prompts. With
SKStoreReviewController, you can prompt for ratings up to three times in a 365-day period. - Ask at a good moment. Apple suggests asking when users are most likely to feel satisfied, such as after they've completed an action, level or task, without interrupting them (ratings and reviews).
- Never gate or buy ratings. Apps can't force users to rate or review to use a feature, and Apple says manipulating reviews with paid, incentivized, filtered or fake feedback can get you expelled from the Developer Program.
- Answer reviews. You can respond to any review in App Store Connect; the reviewer is notified and can update their review.
If an early crash dragged your rating down, Apple lets you reset the summary rating, per territory, when you release a new version. It recommends using this sparingly, and written reviews stay either way.
You'll probably want to ship fixes soon after launch. A phased release spreads an update over 7 days to users with automatic updates on (1%, 2%, 5%, 10%, 20%, 50%, then 100%), and you can pause it for up to 30 days in total if something goes wrong (phased release). Anyone can still download it by hand.
Then keep going: read what to do after launch day, and once your app is live, launch it on Hauntboard for a permanent page that search engines and other makers can find.