Guide for App Owners: How to Submit Your App to the App Store in 2021

6 min readAug 30, 2021

If you want as many people as possible to learn about your application and download it, then you should take care of placing it in the official stores. Today, the two most in-demand platforms for app promotion are the Apple App Store and Google Play.

In this guide app owners, we’ll talk about the rules for placing apps in the Apple App Store in 2021 and what to keep in mind when developing.

Actions to Take Before Submitting an App

Before you host the Apple App Store, you need to prepare well. This applies not only to the mobile app development stage but also to prepare for it. Let’s take a look at 3 steps to take before placing your app in the store.

Please be aware of the submission checklist before posting to the Apple App Store.

1. Developer account

Downloading the application is only possible after registering with the Apple Developer Program. In addition to publishing your application, you also get access to various features of Apple software, including its testing tools.

2. Application assembly uploaded to App Store Connect

Before submitting for moderation, the application must be compiled. Your account must have a certificate to sign the app verification.

Important! Starting April 2021, all iOS and iPadOS apps must be built using Xcode 12 and the iOS 14 SDK.

3. Compliance with legal requirements

Whichever country you publish an iOS app in, it must comply with legal regulations. In particular, consider the GDPR directives that are in effect from May 25, 2018. They relate to the handling of user data and the application’s compliance with the Apple Developer Program License Agreement.

4. Compliance with Apple instructions

In the App Store, there are a number of instructions for every occasion. You can get a detailed guide and optimize processes.

The Mobile App Publishing Process to the App Store

So, after you have prepared the application, you should proceed to the publishing process app. Next, we will describe the process of publishing an application to the App Store.

1. First you need to create a new application in the App Store Connect. You will be required to enter some information about your product, such as whether the app is native, name, primary language, app availability, etc.

2. Create a product page with a description of the product. This is exactly the information that will be visible to users. The page has several sections: iOS App, General and In-App Purchases.

Here you need to fill in the following data:

App / iOS version information regardless of an app update.
Application preview — for example, a video up to 30 seconds or a preview.
Application screenshots — up to 10 with the functional display.
Publishing to the App Store — preparing for submission to the platform.
Advertising text — this field is optional, and all information that you did not specify in the description is added here.
Description — all information about the application’s capabilities and functions that may interest the user is entered here.
Keywords are an important part of optimization for App Store search.
Support URL — You should enable users to get advice or help. It could also be a link to a site with additional guides.
Version information of the product page in the app store.
You may also need to fill in the information in the App Clip for iMessage and Apple Watch if your app works with them.
IOS App / Build — There are three steps here: uploading reports, submitting to the App Store, and publishing directly. You will be notified of each step by the corresponding screen.
App for iOS / General information about the app — support by country, age restrictions, and all other information is indicated here.
App Store Review Information — This information is for a tester at Apple. All notes and presentation data fit here.
iOS App Version-Release — This can be done automatically or manually.
General / Application Information — Application category, links to third-party sources, and application subtitles are written here.
General / Check Pricing & Availability — As a reminder, Apple has a commission of up to 15% (assuming less than $ 1M in revenue per year).
iPhone and iPad Applications on Apple Silicon Mac Computers is a new feature for running applications on Macs with an M1 chip and macOS Big Sur.
General / Application Privacy — All information about collecting user data should be listed here. You also need to indicate how the selected data is used by you or your third party partners.
In-App Purchases — This includes individual purchases and different types of subscriptions.

3. Submitting for verification

Immediately after clicking this button, you will receive the status “Awaiting verification”. You may also be asked to answer some questions about adherence to platform rules.

4. Waiting for approval and release on the platform

On average, it takes 24 to 48 hours for pre-publication validation, after which it appears in the list of available apps. Then you can start tracking your app’s progress in the Analytics tab

App Store vs Google Play Market: The Difference in the App Publishing

Since the Google Play Store is also quite popular, we decided to host a small Google Play Store and App Store.

Free and paid apps in stores

The App Google Play Store and the App Store have almost identical terms for placing apps, although the App Store is offering significantly more promotions and has recently lowered the percentage charged on apps with less than a million dollars a year.

Application Description

In the Google Play Store, the expanded description button is opened significantly more often than in the App Store. Therefore, in the second case, the first two lines of the description are critical.

Screenshots

Since in the Google Play Store all galleries are at the very bottom, they receive less attention. While in iOS, screenshots are heavily emphasized and they are prominently displayed.

Video content

Google Play Store users watch videos much less often than App Store users. Apple should post videos that are 15–30 seconds long.

Instant and Beta Testing Apps

In the App Store, there is no push notification system at all, with a proposal to install the application. In this sense, the Google Play Store gives users more options and is even testing the instant launch option for Android users.

Application types

IOS has different applications for different devices, although there are universal ones. In Android, this is more difficult to implement due to a large number of devices. Additional settings are required here in order to be able to scale and refine.

Categorization

The Google Play Store has a more advanced categorization system compared to the App Store. But in iOS App Store, it’s easier to find the app you want using keywords.

Feedback & Returns

The App Store has added a Google+ feature, so you can now find reviews for the app right away. In the Google Play Store, the Google search engine is automatically integrated.

Security

The App Store can be called truly safe because it places more emphasis on app validation. In the Google Play Store, the download and verification process is much easier, which also affects the security level.

Convenience for app developers

The Google Play Store is more developer-friendly than the App Store. But the App Store gives a guarantee of quality, but the Google Play Store simply has high usability.

How Much Does It Take & Cost to Publish a Mobile App to the Store

App stores have their own rules for posting apps on their lists. So, placement in the Apple App Store is $ 99 per year. You will be given an iTunes Connect account, which allows you to provide iOS app development and publish multiple applications under the same account.

Also, factor in Apple’s mentioned 30% commission.

Conclusions

So, it’s not enough just to make a great app, because users need to know about it. Using resources in the form of stores, you can distribute an iOS apps to even more people.

Use the recommendations published on the official resources, and your users will never encounter difficulties in using your application. You can also use the advice of a professional app development company.