Launch an iPhone app on the App Store

Set up App Store Connect two weeks early

Create the app record as soon as you have a bundle ID. Most launch-week surprises come from paperwork, not code: an unsigned agreement, missing tax forms, an age-rating question nobody answered, or a privacy label that does not match an SDK.

Two choices are permanent, so make them deliberately:

• Bundle ID. It cannot change after you upload a build.
• SKU. It cannot change after you create the app record. Customers never see it, so use something boring like notes-ios-2026.

Then fill in the app-level fields. The app name can be 2 to 30 characters. Apple lets you edit it until you submit, and after that only with a new version.

Write the listing fields in this order

Write the subtitle first. It is the line most people read, and it forces you to say what the app does in 30 characters. Then write the name, the first screenshot caption and the keywords so they support that line instead of repeating it.

App Store search reads your app name, subtitle, keywords and primary category, plus how people respond to your app. Apple says promotional text doesn't affect ranking and asks you not to stuff keywords into the description, so write both for the person deciding whether to install.

Keep these out of the keyword field: words already in your name or subtitle, plurals of words you already have, the word "app", competitor names and trademarks you do not own. Apple calls improper keywords a common reason for rejection.

Make the first three screenshots count

Every iPhone app needs at least one screenshot in the iPhone with Dynamic Island (medium display) set: 1179 × 2556 or 1206 × 2622 pixels in portrait. You can upload up to 10. If your interface looks the same on every size, upload the largest required size and App Store Connect scales it down for older phones.

When you do not have an app preview, search results show your first one to three screenshots, depending on orientation. Plan those three as one unit:

1. Frame 1, the outcome. What someone gets, in the words they would search with.
2. Frame 2, how it works. The core screen with real content, readable at thumbnail size.
3. Frame 3, why this one. The feature or quality that sets you apart.
4. Frames 4–10, the objections. Sync, privacy, price, setup time, accessibility, widgets.

App previews are optional: up to three per size and language, up to 30 seconds each. They autoplay muted, so the first few seconds must make sense without sound.

Test the build people will actually install

TestFlight lets you invite up to 100 internal testers from your team and up to 10,000 external testers. The first build you send to external testers goes through a short beta review, and every build expires after 90 days.

Give testers jobs, not just an invite. Five people who each try a fresh install, a denied permission, a purchase, a restore and a bad network will find more than fifty people who open the app once.

Before you submit, check every claim on the store page against the signed release build:

• Every feature in a screenshot exists and is reachable without a hidden setting.
• Subscription prices and trial lengths in captions match what StoreKit shows.
• The privacy label covers your analytics, crash reporting and ad SDKs.
• Sign-in works with the demo account you will give App Review.

Submit with notes that answer the reviewer's questions

Apple says App Review typically reviews at least 50% of submissions in under 24 hours and 90% in under 48 hours. Incomplete submissions are what slow it down: over 40% of unresolved issues fall under guideline 2.1, App Completeness, which covers crashes, placeholder content and missing information.

Write review notes for someone who has never seen your app:

Choose a release method before you submit: manual release, automatic release on approval, or automatic release no earlier than a date. Approved apps can take up to 24 hours to appear on the store, so do not schedule a launch announcement for the minute of approval.

For updates, turn on phased release to roll out to users with automatic updates over 7 days. You can pause it if crash reports spike.

Read the first two weeks as one journey

In App Analytics, watch impressions, product page views and conversion rate by source type: App Store Search, App Store Browse, web referrers and app referrers. Then follow the same people into your product analytics: did they finish onboarding, reach the first useful moment, and come back on day 7?

A rising conversion rate is good news only if day-7 retention holds. If installs go up and retention goes down, the listing is attracting people the app does not serve. Fix the promise before you buy more traffic.

Once you have a stable baseline, test one idea at a time with Product Page Optimization, and build custom product pages for audiences that need a different pitch.

Ask AI to help

AI is good at drafting subtitle options and spotting repeated keywords. It does not know your product, your search volume or Apple's current limits, so give it the facts and check its output.

I'm launching an iPhone app. Here are the facts:
- What it does: [one sentence]
- Who it's for: [audience]
- Features that ship in this version: [list]
- Words customers use in reviews or support: [list]

Write 10 App Store subtitle options, each 30 characters or fewer, that say what the app does in plain words. Don't repeat words from the app name "[name]". Don't use superlatives like "best". After each option, show its character count.