A solo builder's App Store Connect checklist

I've shipped four apps to the App Store, and I'm getting the fifth ready now.

Now, for the good news.

It's the same list every time. Once it's written down, launch day gets boring. Boring is good.

Here's mine, with the mistakes that put each line on it.

1. Before anything: the agreements

This one is easy to miss.

App Store Connect showed a banner: review the updated Paid Applications Schedule.

Until the Account Holder accepts it, you can't update existing apps, create new in-app purchases or submit new apps.

Only the Account Holder can accept it. Not an admin. Not a teammate.

Funny thing: it didn't stop me editing promo text. So you can work around it for days without noticing it's blocking the real stuff.

2. The listing: six boxes and their limits

Limits from Apple's app information and version information pages.

2.1 Name and keywords

• Put the phrase people actually search in the name. On my apps the name did almost all the ranking work (the numbers are here).
• Keywords: single words, commas, no spaces.
• Don't repeat words from your name or subtitle. Apple says your app is already searchable by its name and company name.
• No other apps' or companies' names. Apple doesn't allow them. My ramen app's first draft had "tabelog" and "michelin" in it. Both came out.

2.2 Promo text is the free one

It's the only box you can change without shipping a new version.

I rewrote it on four apps in one afternoon in October. No build, no review.

2.3 Every language is its own listing

This one's easy to miss.

100 Bites' main language in App Store Connect is UK English, not US. YenPocket has 20 localizations.

When I updated promo text, I did the main languages. Australian and Canadian English kept the old text. Each one is a separate box.

2.4 Keep the old text

Before I change anything, I write down the old text next to the new. Every field, every language.

If a change goes badly, putting it back takes a minute.

For YenPocket the store text lives in the app's code repo too: What's New, description, promo text, keywords and the version number. Every change has a date.

3. Screenshots and the product page

• Get the sizes right first: Apple's screenshot specs.
• Retake them from a clean build. No test buttons, no debug gear icon in the corner.
• One short headline per screenshot. Tell the story in order.
• Do them for each language you list in.

App Store Connect also has product page tests, custom product pages and in-app events. Free.

When I went through all my apps in October, only one of them was used: a screenshot test on YenPocket, showing two versions of the page 50/50, running Oct 8, 2026 to Jan 6, 2027.

The rest is sitting there. I'm not saying you need it on day one. Just know it exists.

4. Privacy and review notes

Your App Privacy answers and your review notes have to match what the app actually does.

When I was writing YenPocket's store text for version 1.1.0, I noticed the review notes understated the analytics and crash reporting the app uses.

That's exactly the kind of thing you want to catch before a reviewer does.

Go through every SDK in the app and answer App Privacy for each one. Then read your review notes out loud.

5. Purchases

• Test a sandbox purchase and a restore on a real iPhone. Restore is the one people forget.
• Submit the purchases together with the build, so they're reviewed at the same time.
• After launch, strip out testers, sandbox purchases and gift codes before you read any numbers. My dashboard once showed 11 trials on one app. Every one was a gift code I'd handed out.

Apple's in-app purchase overview has the setup steps.

6. Release and launch week

6.1 Pick your own day

Choose manual release. When the app is approved, you press the button.

My launch plan has one line I like more than any other: "Approved? If not, move every date below."

Don't book a launch day around an approval you don't have yet.

6.2 Ask Apple to feature it

You can nominate your app for featuring inside App Store Connect. Apple asks for at least two weeks' notice, and suggests up to three months ahead for wider consideration.

So nominate before you submit the build, not after.

6.3 Tag every link

Every App Store link on your own sites should carry a campaign token. Mine look like ct=shop-page or ct=x-launch. Max 40 characters.

App Store Connect then shows impressions, page views, downloads and proceeds per tag.

Without them you'll never know which page sent the installs.

And put a Smart App Banner on your website, so iPhone visitors see a "Get" bar at the top.

6.4 Launch directories need weeks, not days

I submitted my four live apps to free launch directories in October. The free queues are long:

• One said about four months.
• One needed its badge on my site first, then had a 72-day queue.
• One only gives a free launch slot if you add its badge or join in on the site first.
• One had already listed my apps on its own, straight from the App Store.

So submit those weeks before launch day.

6.5 Apple Ads, capped

Set a total cap, raise the bids enough to actually show up, run it for a week. I wrote up my one-week test: ¥751 for 2 installs, and a clear answer on which app had pull.

7. The whole checklist

Copy this. It's the list I run every time.

Account

1. Agreements in Business all accepted (by the Account Holder).

Listing

1. Name: best search phrase in it. 30 characters.
2. Subtitle: the next most useful words. 30 characters.
3. Keywords: single words, commas, no repeats, no other brands. 100 bytes.
4. Promo text written. 170 characters.
5. Description and What's New: plain words, nothing the app doesn't do.
6. Every language checked, not just the main one.
7. Old text saved before any change.

Screenshots

1. Right sizes, from a clean build, every language.
2. Product page test planned for later, if you want one.

Privacy and review

1. App Privacy answered for every SDK.
2. Review notes match what the app collects, and explain anything a reviewer can't see on their own.

Purchases

1. Sandbox purchase and restore tested on a real iPhone.
2. Purchases submitted with the build.

Release

1. Featuring nomination sent, at least two weeks ahead.
2. Manual release chosen.
3. Launch dates set only after approval.
4. Campaign tokens on every App Store link. Smart App Banner on the site.
5. Directory submissions done weeks ahead.
6. Apple Ads test with a hard cap, ready for release day.

After launch

1. Testers and gift codes stripped from your numbers.
2. Keyword ranks snapshotted before the next change.
3. One box per version. Compare after about four weeks.

Resources:

• App Store Connect Help: Apple's own docs. Dry, but the source.
• App Review Guidelines: read them once, properly, before your first submission.
• Apple's product page guide: what goes in each box, in Apple's words.

Final thoughts

None of this is exciting. That's why it gets skipped.

But every line here is on the list because I missed it once, or nearly did.

Make your own list, and add to it every time something catches you out. Mine started on YenPocket, 100 Bites, Japan Food Allergy & Celiac and Daruma. The ramen one is next.