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Questions to ask your app development company:
In our latest series, we look at the most important questions to ask your app development company and what their answers should look like. But before we dive into submitting your app in more detail, here’s how Puff thinks developers should go about answering this question.
How should developers submit your app to the app stores?
There are a few things to mention when it comes to submitting your app to either the Google Play or App Store, while working with app development companies this stage could take up to two weeks and will usually involve the following:
Collate App Store information
Create the App Store listing
Submit version for review
Before your app can be submitted to the Store however, your mobile app development company will need to ensure that the app passes the App Store Review Guidelines and that they or you have an Apple developer program account.
We have a developer account and can submit the app on your behalf, or we can utilise your developer accounts, it depends on what best suits you. Puff, Chief-Changemaker, 3 SIDED CUBE
What do you need to submit your app to the store?
App developers should cover the majority of what’s needed to submit to the store, but you should always provide input and get involved to make sure you’re best reflecting your brand, project and app itself.
Name: The name of your app that end users will see.
Description: Detailing the features and functionality of what your app does.
Category: The type of app you want to be listed as, you can also have secondary categories, these are a main way users will find your app in the store.
Keywords: Separated with a comma, these are a way of indexing your app to describe how it differs from other apps in that category.
Screenshots: Screenshots should promote your app by giving visual designs and demonstrating how it’s interacted with.
App Icon: Your app icon will be shown in the store, make it rememberable and represents your brand.
Rating: Based on Apple’s questionnaire, you can decide upon a rating for your app depending on the maturity of its content.
Google Play vs the App Store:
Comparing Android to iOS, the Google Play Store is far more lenient when it comes to their apps, (operating on so many different devices that all need to be accounted for) so the process of submitting your app is a lot easier and less time-consuming.
You’ll need to use either you or your developer’s account before submission, but the rest is pretty simple. One important thing to remember is that you’ll have the option to change a paid app into a free one, but not the other way around; if you want your app to be paid for, you’ll also need a merchant account.
How much does it cost to submit your app to the Stores?
Although both Stores will take 30% of revenue and give the other 70% to developers, it’s important to note the difference between the cost of submitting your app to Google Play and the App Store.
Google charges a one-off payment of $25, while Apple takes an annual fee of $99. Although this is a small cost to your overall project, it makes more sense when you consider the amount of money iOS users spend on apps and on in-app purchases.
You can actually expedite the submission to make it go through more quickly, if you have a good enough reason. Puff, Chief-Changemaker, 3 SIDED CUBE
ASO (App Store Optimisation)
This is the process of making your app rank higher in search results in the store, the importance of out-ranking your competitors is obvious, but to gain traffic to your page your developers will need to fully-understand your audience before looking at how to best implement ASO:
Title: Use primary keywords that describe your app and have the highest search traffic.
Keywords: These should be the things your users search for, make sure developers consider language and tone of voice as well as phrases and terminology.
Description: A common area for mistakes; your app description should never solely focus on keywords as this is detrimental to search visibility and user experience.
Downloads and ratings also play a huge part in optimising your app, however they should be a knock-on effect after people have found and used it. Meaning that if your app provides a great experience, you’ll be rewarded by the store in search results.
Questions to ask your app development company:
Published on 23 April 2018, last updated on 22 May 2019