What I learned publishing my first Flutter iOS app
Have you finished developing your first iOS app and ready to deploy it to the App Store?
Cool, how much time do you think you need to prepare it to be published? 1 hour? 1 day? It depends…
I’ve recently released my first iOS app and got a better understanding of how this process goes and what you need to be aware of.
If you want to take a look at the app itself, give it a try here.
Here are the things that may be helpful to you to get prepared for your app’s publishing.
1. App’s Website (Landing Page)
If you’ve developed just an app it may not be enough. It surprised me a bit. The thing is that you have to provide ‘Privacy Policy URL’ and ‘Support URL’. So you’d better create an attractive landing page for your app that contains this information.
2. Screenshots
In terms of screenshots, lots of people advise devoting time to localize the screenshots of your app (assuming that you’ve localized the app itself). Moreover, your app will be more eye-catching on the store if you use not the bare screenshots of the app, but insert them into an appealing mockup with a device frame. There are lots of free templates out there, just give them a search.
How many screenshots are required for the app store? If you target phones only, you have to provide the screenshots at least for 6.5″ and 5.5″ displays. If you target tablets, then add two iPads with 12.9″ displays to the list of devices.
Let’s do a quick calculation.
Suppose you’ve localized your app to be available in 4 languages. And you’d like to show 5 screenshots of your app supporting both phones and tablets.
How many screenshots do you have to make?
# of required devices * # of languages * # of screens = 4 * 4 * 5 = 80
80 screenshots! That’s time-consuming! So keep it in mind if you have time constraints for your release date. You can even think of automating this process in advance if you’re going to support lots of languages and make new releases often.
3. App Store Optimization (ASO)
All the fields but ‘Promotional Text’ are not editable after your app is released. To make changes to them you’ll need to create a new app version. So spend some time on thinking them through, use tools like App Annie or SensorTower to come up with the right set of keywords.
Final Words
Also, make sure that you’ve read Apple’s documentation on ‘Avoiding Common App Rejections’.
As soon as you’ve polished everything, press the ‘Submit for Review’ button :)
