What It Takes to Publish an App on the App Store and Google Play

To publish an app on the Apple App Store and Google Play, you need a developer account with each company, a complete store listing, accurate privacy disclosures, a privacy policy, a tested release build and approval from each store's review process. Apple and Google make the final decision on every submission, so the practical goal is to prepare well, follow their published guidelines and respond quickly to feedback.

This guide walks through each step from a small business owner's point of view.

Step 1: Set up developer accounts in your business's name

Apple Developer Program

To distribute on the App Store you enrol in the Apple Developer Program, which has an annual membership fee (check the current amount on Apple's official page). You can enrol as an individual or as an organisation. Organisations need a legal entity and a D-U-N-S Number, and Apple verifies that the person enrolling has authority to bind the organisation. Enrolling as an organisation means your business name appears as the seller on the App Store.

Google Play Console

To publish on Google Play you create a Play Console developer account, which involves a one-off registration fee (check the current amount in Google's documentation). Google verifies developer identities, and organisation accounts may need to provide business verification details. Google's requirements for new personal accounts have changed in recent years, including testing requirements before production access, so check the current Play Console Help pages when you register.

Why ownership matters

The account that publishes an app owns its listing, ratings and history. If your developer publishes the app under their account, moving it later can be awkward. Register both accounts in your business's name and invite your developer as a team member with the right role. Apptavio works this way: the accounts, the listing and the app are yours.

Step 2: Make sure the app meets the guidelines

Both stores publish detailed rules. A few areas cause most problems for small business apps:

Minimum functionality

Apple's App Review Guidelines (section 4.2) expect apps to offer more than a repackaged website. An app that simply displays your website in a web view risks rejection. Google Play's policies also address apps that offer a broken or minimal experience.

Complete and working

Submitted apps should be final versions, not demos or betas, with no placeholder content or broken links. If your app requires a login, give reviewers a demo account in the review notes.

Payments

Physical goods and services used outside the app, such as a haircut, a car repair or a takeaway, are normally paid for through a standard payment provider. Digital content and subscriptions unlocked inside the app generally must use the store's in-app purchase system (Apple's guidelines cover this in section 3.1). Getting this wrong is a common cause of rejection.

Account deletion

If your app lets users create an account, Apple requires that they can also start deleting it from within the app. Google Play has a similar requirement for apps with accounts.

Permissions with a clear purpose

Requests for the camera, location, contacts or notifications must be justified by a feature and explained clearly. Ask at the moment the feature is used, not all at once on first launch.

Step 3: Prepare privacy disclosures and a privacy policy

Both stores require a privacy policy that is publicly accessible and linked from the listing.

• Apple App Privacy details (often called privacy "nutrition labels") ask what data the app and any third-party SDKs collect, whether it is linked to the user's identity and whether it is used for tracking.
• Google Play's Data safety section asks similar questions, including whether data is shared, encrypted in transit and whether users can request deletion.

The declarations must match the app's real behaviour, including analytics, crash reporting and advertising SDKs. Your developer should give you an accurate list of every SDK and the data it handles. In the UK and EU, your app's data handling also needs to comply with UK GDPR or the EU GDPR, and with electronic communications rules such as PECR for marketing messages.

Step 4: Create the store listing

A store listing includes:

• App name and subtitle or short description.
• Full description: what the app does and who it is for. Avoid keyword stuffing and claims you cannot support.
• Screenshots for the required device sizes, and optionally a preview video.
• App icon at the required sizes.
• Category and age rating, determined by questionnaires in each console.
• Support URL and contact details.
• Privacy policy URL.

Screenshots should show real app screens. They are often the deciding factor for customers browsing the store.

Step 5: Test with real users before release

Beta testing catches the problems that internal testing misses: unusual devices, unclear wording, slow networks.

• TestFlight is Apple's beta testing service. You can invite internal testers from your team and external testers by email or public link. External test builds go through a beta app review first.
• Google Play testing tracks include internal testing, closed testing and open testing, each with different audience sizes and review requirements.

For a small business, a short beta with a few staff members and loyal customers is valuable. They will tell you whether booking a service or finding the loyalty card is as obvious as you think.

With React Native and Expo, release builds are typically produced with EAS Build and submitted to both stores with EAS Submit, which reduces manual steps but does not change the stores' review process.

Step 6: Submit for review

When the build, listing and privacy information are complete, you submit the app for review.

• Apple reviews each new app and each update. Reviewers may approve, reject with reasons referencing specific guidelines, or ask for more information through App Store Connect.
• Google also reviews apps and updates. New developer accounts and apps in some categories can take longer.

Review times vary and are not under the developer's control. Plan a launch window rather than a fixed date, and avoid booking a launch event the day after submission.

If the app is rejected

A rejection is not unusual, especially for first submissions. Read the reason carefully, fix the issue or explain the behaviour clearly in the Resolution Center or console, and resubmit. Both companies offer appeal processes if you believe a decision is wrong.

Step 7: Launch and maintain

Once approved, you choose when to release: immediately, on a date, or as a phased rollout to a percentage of users. After launch:

• Monitor crash reports and reviews, and reply to reviews politely.
• Keep the app current. Apple and Google introduce new operating system versions and requirements, such as Google Play's target API level rules, which require apps to be rebuilt with recent tools to remain available to new users.
• Keep privacy disclosures accurate whenever you add features or SDKs.
• Renew your Apple membership. If it lapses, your apps are removed from sale.

Checklist

How Apptavio handles publishing

We build apps with React Native, Expo and TypeScript, designed to Apple's and Google's guidelines from the outset. We help you set up the developer accounts in your name, prepare store listings, screenshots, privacy disclosures and reviewer notes, run beta tests with TestFlight and Google Play testing tracks, submit the app and respond to reviewer feedback. We cannot promise approval, because that is Apple's and Google's decision, but we can make sure the submission is complete and accurate.

Before any of that, you can see a free, personalised interactive concept of your app built from your existing public website. It opens in a browser, is reviewed by a person before it is sent, and helps you decide what the app should do before you commit. Apps start from £1,499 (indicative starting price), with the final price depending on scope.

Summary

Publishing an app involves more than uploading a file. You need developer accounts in your business's name, an app that meets each store's guidelines, honest privacy disclosures, a good store listing, beta testing and a review that only Apple and Google can approve. Prepare each step carefully, plan for review time and treat maintenance as part of owning an app.