{"id":7025,"date":"2021-07-02T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-07-02T02:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adtek.agency\/app-launch-checklist-app-store-google-play\/"},"modified":"2026-10-20T23:14:38","modified_gmt":"2026-10-20T16:14:38","slug":"app-launch-checklist-app-store-google-play","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adtek.agency\/en\/app-launch-checklist-app-store-google-play\/","title":{"rendered":"App launch checklist for the App Store and Google Play (2026)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Updated on October 19, 2026: Adtek rewrote the entire article with the latest data, platform features and rules for 2025 to 2026.<\/em><\/p>\n

A successful app launch means that on day one in the store, the app has already passed review, its product page is ready with Vietnamese keywords, screenshots and video, and a group of people is already waiting to download it. Most of that work has to be finished 3 to 4 weeks before release day. This article gives you an app launch checklist for 2026 covering the App Store and Google Play, a 30-day plan around launch day, and the metrics to track afterward. For the build submission itself, Apple and Google already publish their own official guides.<\/p>\n

Review is not a formality. In 2024, Apple reviewed 7.77 million submissions and rejected 1,931,400 of them, roughly a quarter (App Store Transparency Report 2024, published May 2025<\/a>). The most common reason for rejection was performance, with 1,235,471 cases.<\/p>\n

The Vietnam market: launch on both stores<\/h2>\n

In July 2026, Android accounted for 60.4% of mobile usage in Vietnam and iOS for 39.6% (StatCounter, July 2026<\/a>). At the end of 2025, Vietnam had 85.6 million internet users, or 84.2% of the population (DataReportal, Digital 2026 Vietnam<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Skip one store and you give up 40% or 60% of users. You also lose the word of mouth from people who hear about the app but cannot install it because they are on the other operating system.<\/p>\n

\"Phone<\/p>\n

What has changed since 2021<\/h2>\n

The previous version of this article was written in 2021. These are the biggest changes since then:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
In 2021<\/th>\nIn 2026<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
The App Store had no A\/B testing for product pages<\/td>\nProduct Page Optimization: up to 3 variants (treatments), running for up to 90 days<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
One product page for everyone<\/td>\nUp to 70 custom product pages on the App Store and 50 custom store listings on Google Play<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Google Play reviewed apps within a few hours<\/td>\nPersonal accounts created after November 13, 2023 must run a closed test with at least 12 testers for 14 consecutive days before they can apply for production release<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
No way to promote events directly in the store<\/td>\nIn-App Events on the App Store, Promotional content on Google Play<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

App launch checklist for 2026<\/h2>\n

1. Store listing<\/h3>\n

The store listing is your app’s landing page inside the store. Each text field has its own character limit, and not every field counts toward search ranking:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Field<\/th>\nApp Store<\/th>\nGoogle Play<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
App name<\/td>\n30 characters, counts for search<\/td>\n30 characters, counts for search<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Secondary line<\/td>\nSubtitle, 30 characters, counts<\/td>\nShort description, 80 characters, counts<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Hidden keywords<\/td>\nKeyword field, 100 characters, words separated by commas with no space after each comma<\/td>\nNot available<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Long description<\/td>\nDoes not count for search<\/td>\n4,000 characters, counts<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Quick-change text<\/td>\nPromotional text, 170 characters, can be edited without submitting a new version<\/td>\nNot available<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

The Apple limits come from the Apple Developer Product Page guidelines<\/a>. The subtitle can only be changed when you submit a new version, so lock it down carefully before launch day.<\/p>\n

2. Vietnamese ASO<\/h3>\n

ASO (App Store Optimization)<\/a> is the work of optimizing an app’s name, keywords, images and ratings so that it gets found and downloaded more often in the store. For an app aimed at Vietnamese users, the main job is to pick the exact words Vietnamese people type, not to translate English keywords.<\/p>\n

Say I am getting ready to release a spa booking app called Lumi (a made-up name):<\/p>\n