App Launch Checklist: Every Store Asset You Need to Ship a 1.0 (2026)
The complete asset and metadata checklist for a first App Store and Google Play release: exact sizes, character limits, the required items people forget, and the rejection traps that cost you a week.
Quick answer: For an App Store 1.0 you need 6.9-inch iPhone screenshots (1320 x 2868), a 1024 x 1024 icon with no alpha channel, iPad screenshots (2048 x 2732) if you support iPad, a 30-character name, 30-character subtitle, 100-character keyword field, a description, a privacy policy URL, a completed App Privacy questionnaire, and a demo account if anything is behind a login. For Google Play you need at least 2 phone screenshots (1080 x 1920), a required 1024 x 500 feature graphic, a 512 x 512 icon, a 30-character title, an 80-character short description, a privacy policy URL, and a completed Data safety form. New personal Play accounts also have to run closed testing before they can request production access, which takes weeks, so check that requirement before you plan your timeline.
Most launch checklists are written for the second app, by someone who has forgotten what they got stuck on the first time. This one is ordered by what actually blocks a submission.
I am going to be specific about numbers, because "optimize your assets" is not a checklist item. Where something is a policy rule rather than a dimension, verify it against Apple's and Google's current documentation before you rely on it. Those change; pixel dimensions rarely do.
Part 1: the two things with a lead time
Do these first, because unlike everything else on this list you cannot do them in an afternoon.
A paid developer account. Apple's Developer Program is an annual fee; Google Play charges a one-time registration fee. Both involve identity verification, and for Play that verification has taken people days rather than minutes. If you do not have an account yet, start today and build while it processes.
Google Play's testing requirement for new personal accounts. This is the one that ruins timelines. Personal (non-organization) developer accounts created after Google introduced the rule have to run a closed test with a minimum number of opted-in testers for a continuous period before they can apply for production access. In practice that means weeks of calendar time, plus recruiting real testers, before your app can go live at all. If you are shipping to a deadline (a hackathon like Shipaton, an investor demo, a launch date you announced), find out which category your account falls into now, on Google's current policy page, not in week seven.
If that requirement applies to you and the clock is tight, ship iOS first and treat Play as the follow-up release.
Part 2: App Store assets, with exact specs
| Asset | Size (px) | Required? | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6.9" iPhone screenshots | 1320 x 2868 | Yes | Apple scales this set down to smaller iPhone classes, so one set covers modern iPhones. Up to 10 per localization. |
| 6.7" iPhone screenshots | 1290 x 2796 | No | Accepted, but covered by the 6.9" set if you skip it. |
| 13" iPad Pro screenshots | 2048 x 2732 | Only if you support iPad | If your build runs on iPad, you need these. Dropping iPad support is a legitimate way to save a day. |
| App icon | 1024 x 1024 | Yes | No alpha channel, no transparency, no pre-rounded corners. Apple rounds it. |
| App preview video | 886 x 1920 | No | 15 to 30 seconds, 30 fps, up to 3 per localization. Skip it for a 1.0 unless the app is visually complex. |
Full per-device breakdown, including legacy sizes, is in the App Store screenshot sizes guide.
The two mistakes worth naming: exporting at the wrong dimensions (App Store Connect rejects uploads that are off by a single pixel, so generate at spec rather than resizing by hand in the screenshot generator), and shipping an icon with an alpha channel, which fails validation at upload.
Part 3: App Store metadata, with character limits
| Field | Limit | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| App name | 30 characters | Your strongest indexed field. Brand plus one head keyword. Names are reserved first-come. |
| Subtitle | 30 characters | Weighted nearly as heavily as the name, and users read it. A specific promise, not a slogan. |
| Keyword field | 100 characters | Invisible to users. Comma-separated, no spaces after commas, no words repeated from name or subtitle. |
| Promotional text | 170 characters | Updatable without a new build. Good place for launch news. |
| Description | 4,000 characters | Barely affects iOS ranking. The first line affects conversion, so sell the outcome there. |
| Privacy policy URL | Required | A real, reachable URL. A 404 here is a rejection. |
| Support URL | Required | Can be a simple page with a contact method. |
| Primary category | Required | Affects which charts you appear in. Pick where your app can rank, not where it sounds most impressive. |
Also required and easy to overlook: the App Privacy questionnaire (the data-collection disclosure that generates your privacy label), your age rating questionnaire, and export compliance answers about encryption.
Decide your keywords before you write the name, not after. Which keyword goes in which field covers how the three iOS fields differ, and you can find winnable terms with our free ASO tool.
Part 4: Google Play assets, with exact specs
| Asset | Size (px) | Required? | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Phone screenshots | 1080 x 1920 recommended | Yes, minimum 2 | Maximum 8. Each side between 320px and 3840px. JPEG or 24-bit PNG. |
| Feature graphic | 1024 x 500 | Yes | Exactly one valid size. Shown at the top of your listing. The single most-forgotten required asset. |
| App icon | 512 x 512 | Yes | 32-bit PNG with alpha. |
| 7" tablet screenshots | 1200 x 1920 | No | Needed if you want tablet visibility. |
| 10" tablet screenshots | 1600 x 2560 | No | Same. |
Details in the Play screenshot sizes guide and the feature graphic spec, including the safe zone (Play crops and overlays this image in places, so keep text away from the edges).
Part 5: Google Play metadata and forms
| Field | Limit | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Title | 30 characters | Indexed. Same brand-plus-keyword logic as iOS. |
| Short description | 80 characters | Shown before the "read more" tap. High conversion impact per character. |
| Full description | 4,000 characters | Play has no keyword field and indexes this instead, so natural keyword coverage matters here in a way it does not on iOS. |
| Privacy policy URL | Required | Same rule: must resolve. |
| Data safety form | Required | Declares what you collect and share. It has to match what your app actually does, including what your SDKs do. |
| Content rating questionnaire | Required | Generates your IARC rating. |
Play's ASO is different enough from Apple's that it deserves separate work rather than a copy-paste, which is why we keep a Google Play ASO guide apart from the iOS one.
Part 6: the rejection traps
These are the ones I see cost people a week, in rough order of frequency.
- No demo account for a login-gated app. If a reviewer cannot get past your sign-in screen, they reject. Provide working credentials in App Review notes, or a demo mode. If you use phone or OAuth sign-in, say explicitly how the reviewer should proceed.
- Screenshots that show content the app does not have. Marketing-style panels are fine. Panels implying features that do not exist, or showing another platform's UI, are not.
- A privacy policy URL that 404s. Ship the page before you submit, not "before it goes live".
- A privacy or data safety declaration that contradicts your SDKs. Analytics, ad, and attribution SDKs collect things you did not personally write code for. Declare what the app actually sends.
- Placeholder content. Lorem ipsum, TODO strings, and obviously fake data read as an incomplete app.
- Broken purchases. If your in-app purchase does not complete in the review environment, you fail on functionality. Test the whole purchase path in sandbox before submitting, especially if this is your first time wiring a paywall.
- Off-spec image uploads. Wrong dimensions, alpha channel in the iOS icon, or a missing Play feature graphic. All mechanical, all avoidable.
Part 7: the order I would actually do it in
- Start the developer account, and check whether Play's closed-testing requirement applies to you.
- Keyword research. Lock the name and subtitle. Reserve the name.
- Write the metadata against the character limits above, so nothing gets butchered at the last minute.
- Ship the privacy policy and support pages.
- Build the screenshot set. Six to ten panels, captioned, benefit-led, exported at spec.
- Play extras: feature graphic, short description.
- Fill in the questionnaires: App Privacy, age rating, Data safety, content rating.
- Test the purchase path end to end in sandbox.
- Submit with days of slack, not hours.
- Pin your keywords in a rank tracker so you have a baseline from day one.
Steps 1 and 5 are where the time actually goes. Everything else is a form.
FAQ
What do I need to publish an app on the App Store? A paid Apple Developer Program membership, a build uploaded through App Store Connect, 6.9-inch iPhone screenshots at 1320 x 2868 (plus 2048 x 2732 iPad screenshots if you support iPad), a 1024 x 1024 icon with no alpha channel, a 30-character name, 30-character subtitle, 100-character keyword field, a description, a reachable privacy policy URL, a support URL, a completed App Privacy questionnaire, an age rating, and a demo account if anything sits behind a login.
What do I need to publish an app on Google Play? A Play Console developer account, an app bundle, at least 2 phone screenshots (1080 x 1920 recommended), a required 1024 x 500 feature graphic, a 512 x 512 icon, a 30-character title, an 80-character short description, a full description, a privacy policy URL, a completed Data safety form, and a content rating questionnaire. New personal accounts may also need to complete closed testing before requesting production access.
How many screenshots do I need to launch? The App Store requires at least one per required device size and allows up to 10 per localization. Google Play requires a minimum of 2 phone screenshots and allows up to 8. Those are floors, not targets: top chart apps average close to 7, and using the slots you are given is one of the cheapest advantages available.
How long does app review take? Both stores are usually measured in days rather than weeks, but neither is guaranteed and a rejection means a full round trip. If you have a hard deadline, submit with several days of slack and treat the final 48 hours as unusable.
Can I use the same screenshots for the App Store and Google Play? Reuse the designs, not the exported files. The dimensions differ, and Play additionally requires a 1024 x 500 feature graphic that has no App Store equivalent. Build once, export per store.
What is the most commonly forgotten Google Play asset? The feature graphic. It is required, it has exactly one valid size (1024 x 500), and it is not a screenshot, so people building a screenshot set routinely finish the set and discover the listing is still incomplete.
Do I need an app preview video for my first release? No. It is optional on both stores. For a 1.0 under time pressure, a stronger screenshot set beats a rushed video, because the screenshots are what appear in search results.
Related Guides
- Shipaton 2026: The Store Launch Checklist for builders shipping between August 1 and September 30
- How to Get Your First App Installs
- How to Pick App Store Keywords Before You Have Any Downloads
- App Store Screenshot Sizes
- Google Play Screenshot Sizes
- How to Upload Screenshots to App Store Connect
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