The BrainMobi App Store Submission Checklist For Developers

Amit Upadhyay — Thu, 14 Sep 2017 13:24:47 +0000

Apps are changing the world and want designers and developers to innovate and change themselves with the constantly changing trends. With so many apps being developed and uploaded on app store, Apple has now become quite strict with the norms and guidelines. At BrainMobi, we have been continuously pushing new and updated apps to app store since our inception. We test the applications at every interval to make sure that every app uploaded should run as flawlessly as possible. Still, uploading apps on app store have gotten much more complex over the time with many more items added by Apple to check. Since we’ve adhered to the ever changing guidelines and process for app submissions for years, we thought of sharing our app submission checklist that we’ve been using for ourselves and clients for years. Our goal to develop this checklist was to make the developers know how to upload the app on app store without rejection. We’ve tried to cover all the basic items without them the app cannot be uploaded. To ensure we didn’t get lost, we focused on a single platform approach, viz, iOS.

1. App Name, App Icon, App Screenshots, and Application Description

App name is the name of your application you’re going to upload on app store. According to Apple, the length of your app name should be 23 characters or less for optimal presentation on every device. The app icon is the identity of your product. The icon size differs with every device, 180px*180px for iPhone 7, 7 Plus, 6 Plus and 6S Plus, 120px*120px for iPhone 6 and 6S and SE.

Screenshots help the user to figure out your app and convince them to download your app. You can upload maximum of 5 screenshots. These days app owners are using short video tutorials to demonstrate the features and functionality of their applications. Your app description helps the user to better understand your product and make them familiarize with the features and functionalities of the application. Always keep your sentences simple, short and focused.

2. Version Number and Build Number

Apple also requires you to submit the app version number and build number in order to submit your application on app store. Both version number and build number work mutually and help you to identify your app on app store. There are basically two types of versioning, major and minor. For example, you upload an app on app store and name it version 1.0 (where 1 = major and 0 = minor) and build number 1. Now the complete version number is 1.0.1.

Now you encounter some bugs in your last app store build submitted like you forgot to include the app icon. As a result, you have to produce a new build. But the build number will be different in order to differentiate from the other builds submitted. Since there are no major feature changes, so the version number will remain same. In case you include a new feature like in your previous build there was no chat module but in your new version, you included it then in such a case both the version number and build number will be different.

3. Category and Keywords

Apple allows you to select up to two category types Primary and Secondary. Well, Apple also allows you to change the category but doing so will affect your app ranking. Keywords on the other-hand play an important role in getting your app rank higher on app store and search engines. The length of your keywords is limited to 100 characters.

4. Support URL and Marketing URL

Providing support URL will help you to answer the queries that people have regarding your application. Marketing URL is a not mandatory, you can add it with the support URL. Most of the people have a website for their product, in such a case marketing URL is required. This helps the user to easily search for products and solutions, rather than searching on AppStore. This is very helpful in SEO. You can use AppSite, landing page generator to create a perfect well designed responsive landing page for your application within seconds.

5. Copyright, SKU Number and Licence Agreement

Copyright is filled automatically by Apple. However, you can fill on your own like Copyright 2017. SKU or Stock Keeping Unit is a unique identification number assigned by Apple to every app being uploaded on the app store which cannot be seen by normal users. One cannot edit the SKU number after saving the app on app store. A licence agreement is an optional field by Apple which lets the user to enter their terms and conditions related to the product.

During our research, we find out some of the additional checklists that needed to be taken care by the developers before the app is being uploaded on app store. Below are some of the most common issues that lead to app rejection.

Test your app on different devices for bug fixes and crashes.
Test your application on IPv6 connections.
Make sure your app display properly on iPads even if they are built for iPhones.
Make sure there should not be any broken link.
Ensure that you have fulfilled all the required information needed for the review.
Your app screenshots and app description must be clear.
Never submit your app repeatedly as it may result in rejection.
Check that the back-end services are enabled and accessible during a review.

We have tried to organize the items in a way so that developers can decide which items to tackle first. The above items also require proper quality testing. For example, a designer should check for app screenshots, web developers should check for API related issues and so on. Regardless of when you use, make sure that you have a fresh copy of app submission checklist when you upload an app on app store. We will keep on updating it from time-to-time. We welcome comments from app creators and iOS app developers on how we can improve this. Well, that’s it for today, I’ll try to keep you updated on my findings.

The post The BrainMobi App Store Submission Checklist For Developers appeared first on Mobile App Development | BrainMobi Blogs and News.

How Google Play Store Does Better Than The Apple App Store

Shashank Mehrotra — Wed, 26 Jul 2017 05:41:14 +0000

The classic Google vs Apple face-off returns with a new twist, the marketplace showdown, ie, Google Play Store vs Apple App Store. While Apple fans would say that the Apple App Store is a lot better than Google Play Store, Google fans would vouch for quite the opposite. What do we have to say about it? Well, we love both of them dearly. But solely based on facts, Google Play Store does better than the Apple App Store. Here are three main reasons why:

Number of Apps

There is no denying that Google Play Store wipes the floor with Apple App Store and comes out as a clear winner(pun intended) in terms of the sheer number of apps available for the users to download. With about 600,000 more apps, Google Play Store wins when it comes to the number of apps available. While it is true that Apple intentionally keeps the number of apps on App Store low to ensure that only the apps which are of good quality are made available to the users, for mobile app developers, this brings in a lot of pressure to make the app perfect. This makes things difficult for indie developers since more often than not, they can’t afford to meet the quality requirements while launching the initial version of their apps. Google Play Store gives them a platform to reach out to an audience which proactively searches and recommends new apps.

Device Compatibility

Although many of the iOS apps are available on iPads as well as iPhones, there are many apps which aren’t compatible on one of the devices due to the difference in the screen size. This is something you wouldn’t see in Android apps. Android apps are known to be compatible with all the android devices. Android apps are built to withstand scaling to much larger screen sizes. Even though the same OS runs in both, iPads, as well as iPhones, many iOS apps are not scalable which is quite a turn-off. Five points to Google!

App Information

Technically, almost the same amount of information about the app is displayed on both the marketplaces. But the information available on Google Play Store is a lot more organized than the information available on Apple App Store. In addition to a more organized layout of the displayed information, Google Play Store beats the Apple App Store by providing a little more information about the app. While the Apple App Store provides only screenshots of the app for the user to have some degree of experience of the app before downloading the app, Google Play Store provides the option to look at the video of the app. While it is the choice of the developers to upload a video or not, Google Play Store certainly has given the option of adding videos. A video is undeniably better than just screenshots when it comes to showing the users what they can expect out of the apps. Moreover, the information available in Google Play Store is more readable, thanks to the way information are organized on Google Play Store.

These are just some of the ways in which Google Play Store does better than the Apple App Store. Other ways include the social factor present in Google Play Store, its developer friendliness, the fact that apps can be discovered a lot more easily in Google Play Store as compared to the Apple App Store, the robust web interface of Google Play Store etc. This, in no way, undermines the merits of using Apple App Store. There is no doubting the fact that the quality of apps is better in Apple App Store. What Apple lacks in cost and variety, it covers up in quality. Hence, if you are looking for good quality apps, you can certainly bank on Apple App Store.

As a top mobile app development company, we develop android apps as well iOS apps. And we love both the marketplaces dearly. Each has its merits and demerits. Our team of some of the best mobile app developers feels the same about both the app marketplaces. Contact us at sales@brainmobi.com to evolve your app from an idea to a successful app in your favorite app marketplace.

What’s your favorite app marketplace? Let us know in the comments below!

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