What it actually takes to get an app into the stores

Clients usually budget time for building an app and almost none for publishing it. Then the build is finished and nothing is live for another week, which is a bad surprise if you have already told customers a date.

Here is what that last stretch involves, so you can plan around it instead of through it.

The parts that take real time

Review. Apple and Google both check the app before it goes out. Most updates clear in a day or two. First submissions take longer because the whole listing gets looked at, and a rejection sends you back to the start of the queue.

Store accounts. A Google Play developer account and an Apple Developer account both cost money and need identity verification. For a company, that verification can take days. Start it early, not when the app is ready.

The listing itself. Screenshots at the right sizes, a description, a privacy policy on a real URL, and an answer to what data you collect. None of it is hard, all of it is fiddly, and the app will not publish without it.

The traps

Uploading is not submitting. Both stores will happily accept a build and leave it sitting there unsent. Check the status, do not assume.

Signing keys are forever. Lose the key you first published with and you cannot update that app again. Not “call support”, cannot. Back it up somewhere that is not one laptop.

Old phones set your floor. Supporting very old devices costs real effort. Decide early how far back you want to go, because changing your mind later means rebuilding and resubmitting.

Plan for a week

Between review, fixes, and the small things you forgot, a week between finished and published is a fair estimate. Tell customers a date after that, not before it.

If you are getting close to launch and want someone to handle the store side, that is something we do.