Mobile and App Store launch

For apps built from a web codebase, by far the most common reason is guideline 4.2, minimum functionality — the app does not offer anything a website cannot. After that: privacy declarations that do not match what the binary sends, missing privacy manifests or required-reason API declarations, no in-app account deletion when the app allows sign-up, crashes or placeholder content under guideline 2.1, and using external payment for digital goods. The rejection notice gives you a guideline number, and that number tells you which of these it is.

Since 31 August 2026, new apps and updates must target Android 16, API level 36. Existing apps must target at least API 35 to remain available to new users on devices running a newer Android version than the app targets — below that the app stays in the store but stops being offered to most new users, which is easy to miss because nothing looks broken. Developers who requested an extension had until 1 November 2026.

Yes, if you are submitting anything. Since 28 April 2026 App Store Connect will not accept an app or update that was not built with the iOS 26 SDK, which means Xcode 26 or later. The rebuild itself is usually straightforward; what takes the time is the interface changes the newer SDK applies to native components by default.

No, and nobody can — approval is Apple’s decision and Google’s decision. What we cover is everything on our side of that line: packaging, SDK floors, privacy manifests, data safety answers, metadata, and a written response to each rejection until the app is through or the remaining objection is one only you can answer, such as the nature of the product itself. Three resubmission cycles within thirty days are included in the price.

Two to three weeks of work, plus store review. Review is days rather than hours and can repeat. In practice we plan for a submission in week three and a live app somewhere between a few days and two weeks after that, depending on whether anything comes back.

Expo, unless something specific argues against it. It gives real native modules, over-the-air updates for JavaScript changes, and a build pipeline that does not need a Mac on every desk. Go native when the product is the platform experience — heavy animation, sustained background processing, deep OS integration — or when you already have native teams. Capacitor is worth considering when you have a large existing web app you intend to keep as the product.

If you sell digital goods or subscriptions consumed inside the app, yes, and the stores take a commission. If you sell physical goods or real-world services, store billing does not apply and you can use your own checkout. The rules on linking users out to an external payment page are narrow and specific, and getting them wrong risks removal rather than rejection.

Repository access, your Apple Developer and Google Play accounts (or a decision to create them), and store listing copy and artwork if you have it. If you do not have artwork we can ship placeholders to get through review and swap them later, but icons and screenshots at the required sizes are the most common thing that holds up a submission.

It happens every year, on a published schedule. A care retainer includes tracking those dates and doing the SDK bumps they require before they become urgent. Without one, you will get a notice in your console and a deadline, and the work is the same — it is only the timing that is worse.