How to launch an app: the checklist, dated for your launch day.
A launch timeline for indie developers and small teams, from eight weeks before to the first 30 days after. Pick your date below and get every task with its own deadline, or start the content now so day one has an audience.
Free, no sign-up. Three TikTok slideshow ideas for your app in about 20 seconds.
How to launch an app, in short.
To launch an app, start eight weeks out: open a waitlist, put a beta in testers' hands and start the TikTok account so it has a few weeks of posts behind it. Four weeks out, build the store page and settle pricing. Submit for review about ten days early with manual release, so you choose the day. On launch day, email the waitlist, post everywhere you've prepared and reply to everyone. Then spend 30 days turning a one-day spike into channels that keep running.
Your app launch checklist, with a date on every task.
Pick a launch date, your platform and your team size. You get a dated checklist that saves your progress in this browser, and you can print it or download it as text.
Pick a launch date to see your checklist.
Before launch: what each stretch is for.
The checklist tells you what and when. This is why, so you can cut what doesn't fit your app.
Waitlist, beta and the first posts
A waitlist is the only audience you'll own on launch day. One page, one sentence on who the app is for, an email field. Every post and community thread from now on points there.
The beta on iOS runs on TestFlight; the first build for outside testers goes through a short beta review. On Google Play, a personal developer account created after November 13, 2023 needs a closed test with at least 12 testers opted in for 14 days in a row before it can apply for production access (as of October 2026). Start it early, it can't be rushed.
Building in public (weekly progress posts on X, LinkedIn or a dev forum) collects the people most likely to show up on launch day. See how to build in public for how to keep it up.
Store page, pricing and the people you'll ask
The store page is where every channel ends. Name, subtitle and keyword field on iOS only change with a new version, so get them right before you submit: app store optimization covers the words, App Store screenshots the sizes and the first three frames.
Pricing and paywall: trial length, monthly against yearly, and where the paywall appears. Show it to beta users now; changing it after launch confuses your first reviews.
Apple featuring: nominate the launch in App Store Connect. Apple asks for at least two weeks' notice and suggests up to three months for wider consideration. Line up Product Hunt, a short press list in your exact niche and the communities you'll post in.
Review with manual release
Submit about ten days before launch. Apple says it reviews at least 50% of submissions in under 24 hours and 90% in under 48, but a rejection means a fix and a second wait. Google can take several days for a new app.
Choose manual release. An approved build then waits as "Pending Developer Release" until you press the button, so launch day is yours, not the reviewer's.
Pre-orders or pre-registration are optional. They let the waitlist tap Get before the day, so launch-day downloads arrive at once.
Start the TikTok account three weeks early, because small accounts break out.
came from accounts whose posts usually got under 1,000 views. Their median hit had 3.4M views.
came from accounts that usually got under 5,000 views, 51% of the set. 87% of them passed a million.
Out of 1,332 viral slideshows in the ClonBot library; usual views known for 1,319. The library holds only hits, so it shows where they came from, not the odds.
A new account gets a small test audience and needs a few weeks of steady posts to find the formats that beat its own usual. Start on launch day and those weeks are spent while the spike fades. Start three weeks before and launch day is a post on an account that already knows its best hooks. Post about the problem your app solves, not the app; show the app on screen where it fits. The full plan is in how to market an app on TikTok, and TikTok 0 views covers the first-week zeros.
A starter-pack format made by ClonBot for our own account. Founder formats like this work before there's anything to download.
Launch day, in the order it happens.
Times are your audience's morning. The point is to be reachable all day, not to post everything in one hour.
- Product Hunt goes live
Launches start at 12:01 a.m. Pacific. Post your maker comment straight away. Worth it for developer, productivity and AI tools, less so for most consumer apps; see how to launch on Product Hunt.
- Release the build
Press release in App Store Connect or Play Console, then search for the app in your main countries. It can take a while to appear everywhere.
- Email the waitlist and testers
One direct store link, one sentence on what's new since the beta, one ask: try it today.
- Post on TikTok and your own accounts
A launch post on an account that's been posting for weeks, plus your personal accounts. Reply to every comment in the first hour.
- Communities and press
Post the story of why you built it in the subreddits and forums you've been part of, following each one's rules. Send the press pitches you lined up.
- Reply, fix, ask for ratings
Answer every review and message. Ask for a rating after a good moment in the app, never on first open. First ratings shape the page for everyone after.
The first 30 days, when the spike fades.
Launch traffic drops within days for nearly every app. That's not failure, it's the end of the borrowed audience. The month after decides what's left.
| When | Measure | Do |
|---|---|---|
| Days 1 to 3 | Crashes, onboarding drop-off, first reviews | Ship a fix build if anything blocks the first session. |
| Week 1 | Installs by source, day-1 retention, trial starts | Note which launch channels brought installs that stayed. Drop the rest. |
| Week 2 | Search terms people used, store conversion | Ship the first update and retune keywords with it. |
| Day 30 | Day-7 retention, trial-to-paid, cost per install | Pick two or three channels for month two and run them daily. |
Launch channels (Product Hunt, press, the waitlist email) fire once. What you need after day three are channels that repeat: search on the store page, a short-form account that posts every day, a community you keep showing up in, and later ads when you know what a user is worth. How to market an app compares them on cost and speed, and app marketing strategy turns the choice into a one-page plan.
If week one was quiet, don't relaunch. Look at day-1 retention first: if people who installed came back, the app works and the problem is reach. Fix reach with daily posting, not a second launch day.
Questions about launching an app.
How do I launch an app?
Eight weeks before: waitlist, beta and a short-form account that starts posting. Four weeks before: store page, screenshots and pricing. Ten days before: submit for review with manual release. On the day: release, email the waitlist, post everywhere you've prepared and reply all day. Then measure for 30 days and keep the channels that repeat.
How do I launch an app on the App Store?
Join the Apple Developer Program, create the app in App Store Connect, upload a build from Xcode, fill in the product page (name, subtitle, keywords, screenshots, privacy details, pricing), and submit it for review with manual release. Once it's approved, press release on the day you've picked.
How long does App Store review take?
Apple says it typically reviews at least 50% of submissions in under 24 hours and 90% in under 48 hours. Plan for a possible rejection and resubmission, which is why ten days of slack before launch is a safe buffer.
How do I launch an app on Google Play?
Create a Play Console account, set up the store listing and run testing tracks. New personal accounts must run a closed test with at least 12 testers for 14 days in a row before they can apply for production access, so start that six or more weeks out. Organization accounts are exempt.
When should I start marketing my app?
Six to eight weeks before launch for anything that needs to warm up: the waitlist, communities and a TikTok account. A new account needs a few weeks of daily posts to learn which formats beat its usual, and launch week is too late to start that.
Do I need an LLC to start an app?
No. Both Apple and Google let individuals publish under their own name. A company account shows the company name as the seller instead, and on Google Play it skips the 12-tester closed test.
How do apps make money?
Mostly subscriptions with a free trial, one-time purchases, or ads. Decide before launch and test the paywall with beta users, because the first reviews will judge the price as much as the app.
Keep reading
Launch day lasts a day. The account keeps posting.
ClonBot makes a TikTok slideshow for your app every day from formats that already went viral, with your real app screens. Setup is free; plans from $99 a month for 30 posts.