How to Publish an App on the App Store and Google Play

Publishing an app is a checklist, not a mystery. The build is only one part. The rest is accounts, test releases, store listings, privacy answers and a review by Apple and Google. Miss one piece and the app sits in a queue or comes back rejected.

We handle App Store and Google Play submissions for clients every week, and we have more than 10 apps live across both stores. This guide walks through the whole process in the order we do it. If your app was built on Base44, our Base44 publishing guide covers the platform-specific steps.

What do you need before you start?

You need two developer accounts, a finished build for each platform and a short list of assets and documents. Getting these ready first saves days later.

• An Apple Developer Program membership. Apple lists the annual fee as 99 USD. Organizations also need a D-U-N-S Number and a working website. See what an Apple developer account costs for the details.
• A Google Play developer account. Google charges a 25 USD one-time registration fee and asks you to verify your identity.
• A signed build for each store: an iOS build uploaded to App Store Connect and an Android App Bundle (AAB) for the Play Console.
• Store assets: an app icon, screenshots for each device size and, for Google Play, a 1024 by 500 feature graphic. Our screenshot size guide has the exact pixels.
• A privacy policy URL, a support URL or email, and test login details for the reviewers.

Step 1: Set up your developer accounts

Start here, because account approval can take longer than anything else. Apple needs to verify you, and if you enroll as a company it checks your D-U-N-S Number and that you have legal authority to sign for the business.

Apple is specific about who counts as an organization: "We don't accept DBAs, fictitious businesses, trade names, or branches." If you enroll as an individual, your personal legal name shows as the seller on the App Store. Decide which one you want before you apply, since switching later is extra work.

On Google's side, you create the account in the Play Console, pay the 25 USD fee and complete identity verification. Personal accounts also have to verify access to an Android device using the Play Console mobile app before publishing.

Step 2: Create the app records

Each store needs an app record before you can upload anything. In App Store Connect you create a new app with its name, primary language, bundle ID and SKU. In the Play Console you create the app, choose app or game, free or paid, and accept the declarations.

Step 3: Upload a build and test it

Test with real people before you ask Apple or Google to review the app. Reviewers reject crashes and broken flows quickly, and every rejection costs you another review cycle.

iPhone: TestFlight

Upload your build to App Store Connect, then use TestFlight. Apple's help pages say you can invite up to 100 internal testers from your team and up to 10,000 external testers, and that each build is available for 90 days. The first build you send to external testers goes through a beta review.

Android: internal and closed testing

Upload your AAB to an internal or closed testing track in the Play Console. If you have a personal developer account created after 13 November 2023, Google requires a closed test with "a minimum of 12 testers who have been opted in continuously for at least 14 days" before you can publish to production. Plan two weeks for this. Organization accounts do not have the same requirement.

Also check your target API level. Google says that starting August 31, 2026, "New apps and app updates must target Android 16 (API level 36) or higher to be submitted to Google Play," with exceptions for Wear OS, Automotive, TV and XR apps.

Step 4: Build your store listings

Your listing is your sales page. Most people decide from the icon, the first few screenshots and the first line of the description, so write for a busy reader.

Write the first two screenshots as headlines: the outcome the user gets, not a list of features. Then show the actual screens that deliver it.

Step 5: Fill in the privacy forms honestly

Both stores require privacy disclosures, and a mismatch between what you declare and what the app does is a common reason for rejection or removal.

Apple's rule is direct: "All apps must include a link to their privacy policy in the App Store Connect metadata field and within the app in an easily accessible manner." You also complete the App Privacy section, and Apple says that information, including the practices of third-party code like analytics and ad SDKs, "is required to submit new apps and app updates."

Google's equivalent is the Data safety form. List every type of data you collect, including what your SDKs collect, and whether it is shared.

Step 6: Submit for review

Before you press submit, give reviewers everything they need to use the app without guessing. If your app has a login, include a working demo account. Apple's guideline 2.1 says to "include demo account info (and turn on your back-end service!) if your app includes a login."

Google's reviews are usually quick too, but its help center warns that some accounts may see "review times of up to seven days or longer in exceptional cases." Build that buffer into any launch date.

Step 7: Release, then keep it current

When the app is approved you can release it right away or schedule it. Apple lets you release manually after approval, and Google's managed publishing means "you control exactly when the changes are published." We usually hold approved builds until the website, emails and announcements are ready.

After launch, the work keeps going. Each year brings new iOS and Android versions, new store requirements and new screenshot sizes. Apps that are not updated eventually drop in search or stop meeting the rules.

Why do apps get rejected?

In 2024 Apple reviewed 7.77 million submissions and rejected 1.93 million of them, according to its App Store Transparency Report as covered by MacRumors. The top reasons were performance, legal, design, business and safety, in that order.

For apps built from a website, the biggest risk is Apple's minimum functionality rule: "Your app should include features, content, and UI that elevate it beyond a repackaged website." Our guides on App Store rejection reasons and turning a website into an app cover how to avoid both.

Should you do it yourself or hire help?

If you have one app, a technical teammate and some patience, you can absolutely do this yourself with the steps above. The first submission takes the longest because you learn each console as you go.

Hiring help makes sense when the launch date matters, when the app was built on a platform like Base44 and needs native wrapping, or when you have several apps to keep current. That is the work we do in our mobile app service: we gather the answers from you, build the listings, make the screenshots for every device and manage the review until the app is live.

Roenic Natarelli

Founder, Virtual Horizons

Roenic runs Virtual Horizons and is a Base44 Legend Partner, Ambassador and Community Pillar, Base44 Shark Tank winner and multiple-time Vibe Sprint winner. The studio builds web and mobile apps, AI voice agents and automations, with more than 10 apps live on the App Store and Google Play. More about us