Going live
Store review, the two forms only you can fill in, and releasing when you're ready.
When testing is done and you've given the go-ahead, the app goes to Apple and Google for review. We prepare and submit; they check; you release.
Most of this is ours to do. Two things are not, and they're the two things that most often hold a submission up — so they're first.
The two forms only you can fill in
Both stores make the developer account holder declare what the app does with people's data. We can draft the answers, but the forms live in your accounts and, on Apple's side, only an Admin or the Account Holder can submit them.
| Store | Where | Called |
|---|---|---|
| Apple | App Store Connect → your app → App Privacy | Privacy questions, shown to users as a "nutrition label" |
| Play Console → App content → Data safety | Data safety form |
Both ask for your Privacy Policy URL — the one from the brand page. Both refuse to accept a link that doesn't load, so check it in a browser before you submit.
While you're in App content, Google also asks for a content rating questionnaire, a target-audience declaration and an ads declaration. Apple's equivalent is the age rating questionnaire. All are quick; all are mandatory; none can be skipped and filled in later.
App Review needs a login that works
Your app has a sign-in screen. A reviewer who can't get past it rejects the app — and this is the single most common rejection we see, on both stores.
So we need a real working account on your website that we can hand to the reviewers:
- An ordinary user account is enough. It doesn't need admin rights.
- It has to stay live and the password has to stay the same. Reviewers come back for every update, and a deleted or rotated account rejects the next release.
- Don't use a personal account. Make one for the purpose —
appreview@yourcompany.comor similar.
Send it the same safe way as everything else on the checklist.
What else the reviewers check
Nothing you need to act on, but useful to know what's being looked at:
- That the app works. Broken links, blank screens and crashes are rejections.
- That the description matches the app. Promising something in the listing that isn't in the app is a rejection.
- Encryption. Apple asks an export-compliance question; your app only uses standard HTTPS, so the answer is the exempt one. We answer it.
- Guideline 4.3 — duplicates. Apple rejects apps that are near-identical to others already on the store. This is exactly why your app is published under your own account, with your own branding and content, rather than ours. It's the reason the whole setup on these pages exists.
How long it takes
Apple reviews most submissions within 24 to 48 hours. Occasionally longer, and noticeably longer around Christmas, when Apple's review teams are on a shutdown for about a week.
Google's first review is the slow one. A brand-new developer account with its first app can take several days while Google checks the account itself — allow up to a week and be pleasantly surprised. Every update after that is usually hours.
Plan your announcement around the app being approved, not around the date you submitted. Neither store will tell you in advance which day it will land.
Releasing
Approval and publication are separate. When a store approves the app it sits there, ready, until someone releases it — and that someone is you.
Both stores can let a release out gradually rather than to everyone at once: Apple calls it phased release, Google calls it staged rollout. Both are aimed at updates rather than a first launch, and for a first release most people simply go live to everyone. We'll set whichever you prefer.
The final release is your click, not ours. We'll tell you the moment it's approved and stand by while you decide.
If it's rejected
It happens, it isn't a disaster, and it's rarely the app itself. Apple replies in Resolution Center with the guideline number and usually a screenshot. Forward it to us — most rejections are a missing form answer or a demo account that stopped working, and the fix plus resubmission is normally same-day.
A rejection does not cost you your place in the queue in any lasting way. Resubmitted apps are re-reviewed on the normal timeline.
What to send us
- Demo account — username and password for a working account on your site. Sensitive.
- Confirmation that Apple's App Privacy and Google's Data safety forms are submitted
- Confirmation your Privacy Policy URL loads
- Your go-ahead to submit, and whether you want a staged rollout