GuideJanuary 30, 2026·12 min read
The Complete Mobile App Launch Checklist for 2026
80+ action items across 10 categories. Everything you need to ship a mobile app that passes review, retains users, and actually grows. No fluff, no filler — just the checklist.
Launching a mobile app in 2026 is harder than it has ever been. App Store review guidelines are stricter, users expect polish from day one, and the competition for attention is fierce. Most apps that fail do not fail because the idea is bad — they fail because they shipped too early, missed critical pre-launch steps, or got rejected and lost momentum.
This checklist is built from real audit data across dozens of apps we have reviewed at SquadOps. Every item is something we have seen cause a rejection, a crash, a bad review, or a missed growth opportunity. It is organized by phase so you can use it as a progressive guide from planning through post-launch.
Bookmark this page. Come back to it before every major release.
📋1. Pre-Development Planning
- ☐Define your core value proposition in one sentence
- ☐Identify your target user persona with demographics and pain points
- ☐Research top 5 competitors — features, pricing, App Store ratings
- ☐Choose your tech stack (native, React Native, Flutter) based on team skills and requirements
- ☐Set up project management (Linear, Jira, GitHub Projects)
- ☐Define MVP scope — cut ruthlessly to ship faster
- ☐Set a launch date and work backward to create milestones
- ☐Budget for Apple Developer ($99/year) and Google Play ($25 one-time) accounts
⚙️2. Development Essentials
- ☐Set up CI/CD pipeline from day one (GitHub Actions, Fastlane, Bitrise)
- ☐Implement crash reporting (Sentry, Firebase Crashlytics)
- ☐Add analytics with privacy-compliant SDK (PostHog, Mixpanel, Amplitude)
- ☐Configure environment variables — never hardcode secrets
- ☐Set up automated testing: unit tests (target 25%+ coverage minimum), integration tests, and E2E smoke tests
- ☐Implement proper error handling and user-facing error messages (no raw error codes)
- ☐Add loading states for every async operation
- ☐Design empty states that guide users to take action
- ☐Use TypeScript strictly — avoid any and untyped patterns
- ☐Set up linting and formatting (ESLint, Prettier, SwiftLint) enforced in CI
🎨3. UX and Design
- ☐Onboarding flow: 3 steps or fewer to first value moment
- ☐Include a skip option on non-essential onboarding screens
- ☐Touch targets minimum 44x44pt (Apple HIG requirement)
- ☐Support Dark Mode — both platforms expect it in 2026
- ☐Consistent typography scale and spacing system
- ☐Design for the notch, Dynamic Island, and various screen sizes
- ☐Test on smallest supported device (iPhone SE, small Android)
- ☐Add haptic feedback on key interactions (iOS) for premium feel
- ☐Implement pull-to-refresh where users expect it
- ☐Show confirmation dialogs for destructive actions
♿4. Accessibility (Do Not Skip This)
- ☐Add accessibility labels to ALL interactive elements
- ☐Test full VoiceOver (iOS) and TalkBack (Android) navigation end-to-end
- ☐Ensure minimum 4.5:1 color contrast ratio for text
- ☐Support Dynamic Type / font scaling
- ☐Do not rely solely on color to convey information
- ☐Add captions or transcripts for audio/video content
- ☐Test with reduced motion enabled
- ☐Ensure focus order is logical for screen reader users
🔒5. Security and Privacy
- ☐Store auth tokens in SecureStore / Keychain — never AsyncStorage or UserDefaults
- ☐Implement certificate pinning for API calls
- ☐Add biometric authentication option for sensitive actions
- ☐Complete App Store Privacy Nutrition Labels accurately
- ☐Write a real privacy policy (not a template) hosted at a live URL
- ☐Implement data export and data deletion per GDPR and state privacy laws
- ☐Add COPPA compliance gate if your app could attract users under 13
- ☐Remove all debug logs, test credentials, and .env files from production builds
- ☐Audit third-party SDKs for data collection you did not intend
- ☐Set up rate limiting on your API endpoints
🏪6. App Store Optimization (ASO)
- ☐Write a compelling app title (30 characters max for App Store, 50 for Play Store)
- ☐Craft a subtitle/short description that includes your primary keyword
- ☐Write a full description: first 3 lines are critical (visible before 'More')
- ☐Research and include relevant keywords (App Store keyword field, Play Store description)
- ☐Create 6 to 10 high-quality screenshots showing real app functionality
- ☐Design screenshots with captions that highlight benefits, not features
- ☐Create a 15 to 30 second app preview video (highly recommended for conversion)
- ☐Design an icon that stands out at small sizes — test at 29x29pt
- ☐Choose the most specific category (avoid generic ones like Utilities)
- ☐Prepare What is New text for your first version — set expectations
- ☐Set appropriate content rating via the App Store questionnaire
- ☐Localize metadata for your top 3 target markets (even just title and screenshots)
🧪7. Pre-Submission Testing
- ☐Test on at least 3 real devices (not just simulators)
- ☐Test on the oldest OS version you support
- ☐Test offline behavior — does the app crash or degrade gracefully?
- ☐Test with slow network (Network Link Conditioner or Android throttling)
- ☐Test deep links and universal links
- ☐Test push notification delivery and handling
- ☐Test in-app purchases in sandbox environment (at least 3 full purchase flows)
- ☐Test app backgrounding and foregrounding — does state persist?
- ☐Test force-quit and relaunch behavior
- ☐Run a TestFlight or internal testing track beta with at least 10 external users
- ☐Fix all crashes and critical bugs found in beta
- ☐Verify your app does not exceed cellular data usage guidelines
🚀8. Day-One Operations
- ☐Set up real-time crash monitoring alerts (Slack, email, or Telegram)
- ☐Prepare a support email and response templates for common issues
- ☐Create a simple landing page or website with app links
- ☐Set up App Store review monitoring (AppFollow, Appfigures, or manual RSS)
- ☐Prepare social media announcements for launch day
- ☐Have a rollback plan — know how to push a hotfix build in under 2 hours
- ☐Monitor your API and backend health dashboards
- ☐Set up conversion tracking: impressions to installs to activation to retention
📈9. Post-Launch Growth
- ☐Implement an in-app review prompt (SKStoreReviewController or Play In-App Review API) — trigger after a positive moment, not randomly
- ☐Add a referral or share mechanism with viral content (screenshots, scores, results)
- ☐Set up retention cohort tracking — Day 1, Day 7, Day 30 benchmarks
- ☐Plan your first 3 feature updates before launch (show momentum in the App Store)
- ☐Create an email list or waitlist for announcements
- ☐Monitor and respond to every App Store review in the first 30 days
- ☐Run A/B tests on your App Store screenshots and description
- ☐Track and optimize your conversion funnel: impression to install to activation
🚫10. Common Rejection Reasons to Avoid
- ☐Incomplete information — all metadata fields filled, no placeholder text
- ☐Broken links — privacy policy URL, support URL, and marketing URL all resolve
- ☐Crashes during review — test the exact build you submit on a clean device
- ☐Missing purpose strings — explain why you need camera, location, contacts access
- ☐Login wall without demo account — provide test credentials in App Review notes
- ☐In-app purchase issues — sandbox purchases must complete successfully
- ☐Guideline 4.3 (Spam) — make sure your app is sufficiently different from existing apps
- ☐Missing privacy nutrition labels — declare all data collection accurately
The Meta-Checklist: What Most Teams Miss
After auditing apps across every category — from faith apps to hunting apps to comedy apps — the patterns are consistent. The most common failures are not technical. They are operational:
- No iterative review — Teams do one pass and ship. The apps that score highest in our audits go through 3 to 7 rounds of review and refinement.
- Security as an afterthought — Auth tokens in AsyncStorage, API keys in client code, no rate limiting. These are the most common blockers we find.
- Accessibility ignored entirely — Over 60% of apps we audit have zero accessibility labels. This is both a moral and business failure — 15% of the global population has a disability.
- No growth mechanics — Beautiful apps with no way to grow. No referral system, no share mechanics, no review prompts.
Want This Checklist Run Automatically?
Every item on this checklist maps to one of the 13 domains our AI agent squad audits automatically. Instead of checking boxes manually, you can get a comprehensive score and actionable report in under 24 hours.
Check your launch readiness in 60 seconds
ShipScore scans your App Store listing across 10 dimensions — free, instant, no signup.