App submission checklist: every asset, both stores

You've built the app. Both stores now want a stack of assets and answers before they'll let it through, and the two stacks are different. This is the superset: every asset and every field App Store Connect and Google Play Console ask for, grouped by store, with the 2026 build rules that block an upload before review even starts.

We already have a screenshot-only checklist (linked at the bottom). This one is the wider list — screenshots are a single item here, sitting next to icons, feature graphics, listing text, privacy forms, ratings, and the build requirements that gate the upload itself.

Requirements and deadlines shift. Treat any dated rule below as a pointer to confirm against the store's own documentation on submission day, not a fixed fact.

Step 0: the two developer accounts

You can't submit anywhere without an account on each store, and they're priced on different models:

• Apple Developer Program — $99 per year (USD, charged in local currency). It's a recurring membership. Let it lapse and your apps come off the App Store until you renew.
• Google Play Console — $25, paid once at registration. One-time, non-refundable, no renewal.
• Identity verification either way. Personal and organization accounts both go through verification. Organization accounts on Google need a D-U-N-S number; Apple verifies the legal entity for organization enrollment. Budget a few days for this before you plan to ship.

Apple: what App Store Connect asks for

The build:

• App binary built with a current SDK. Since April 2025, iOS and iPadOS apps must be built with the iOS 18 SDK (Xcode 16) or later to upload. Apple has announced that from April 28, 2026, uploads need the iOS 26 SDK or later — confirm which SDK is in force on your submission date.
• App icon inside the build. Apple pulls the icon from the app's asset catalog; there's no separate icon upload in App Store Connect. A missing or malformed icon fails validation at upload.
• Unique bundle ID, valid signing, and export-compliance answers. The encryption/export questions come up at upload — most apps answer with a standard exemption, but you have to answer.

Visual assets:

• Screenshots for the 6.9-inch iPhone. At least one, up to ten. Accepted sizes include 1320 × 2868, 1290 × 2796, and 1260 × 2736 (portrait). Apple scales this set down to smaller iPhones automatically, so the 6.5-inch set is only needed if you skip 6.9-inch entirely.
• iPad screenshots if the app supports iPad. The 13-inch set is 2064 × 2752 or 2048 × 2732 (portrait). Required when your app runs on iPad.
• Optional App Preview video per device size, 15–30 seconds.

Listing text:

• App name (up to 30 characters) and subtitle (up to 30).
• Keywords — a single 100-character, comma-separated field that never shows to users but drives search.
• Description (up to 4,000 characters) and promotional text (up to 170, editable without a new build).
• Support URL, and a marketing URL if you want one.

Legal, privacy, and rating:

• Privacy policy URL. Required for every app.
• App Privacy answers — the "nutrition label." You declare what data your app and its third-party SDKs collect and how it's used. These answers are required to submit, and they render as the privacy label on your product page.
• Age rating. Answered via a questionnaire. Apple moved to a more granular age-rating system (with 13+, 16+, and 18+ tiers) that shows on devices running iOS 26 and later, so re-check your answers if you last rated an app under the old scheme.
• Primary category (and optional secondary), plus an account-deletion path in-app if your app supports account creation.

Google: what Play Console asks for

The build:

• An Android App Bundle (.aab), not an APK, for new apps.
• Target API level. New apps and updates must currently target Android 15 (API level 35) or higher. Google has said that from August 31, 2026, new apps and updates must target Android 16 (API level 36) — verify the level in force when you submit.
• Signed release build, typically via Play App Signing.

Visual assets:

• App icon — 512 × 512 px, 32-bit PNG, under 1 MB.
• Feature graphic — 1024 × 500 px, JPEG or 24-bit PNG with no alpha. This is a required listing asset on Play, with no Apple equivalent, and it's the banner shown at the top of your listing.
• At least 2 phone screenshots (up to 8). JPEG or 24-bit PNG, each side between 320 and 3,840 px, aspect ratio 16:9 or 9:16. Tablet and other form-factor screenshots are optional unless you target those devices.
• Optional promo video as a YouTube URL.

Listing text:

• App name (up to 30 characters).
• Short description (up to 80) — the first line users read.
• Full description (up to 4,000).

Legal, privacy, and rating:

• Privacy policy URL. Required.
• Data safety form. Google's counterpart to Apple's privacy label — you declare what data you collect, share, and how it's handled. Required before you can publish, and it must match your actual app behaviour.
• Content rating questionnaire (IARC). Generates region-specific age ratings from your answers.
• App category, plus target-audience and ads declarations. If any part of the audience is children, extra requirements apply.

The 2026 rules that reject a build before review

These aren't about polish — they block the upload or the release outright, so they're worth confirming first:

• Apple's minimum SDK. Uploads have needed the iOS 18 SDK (Xcode 16) since April 2025, with the iOS 26 SDK becoming the floor around April 28, 2026 per Apple's announcement. Build with an old SDK and App Store Connect rejects the binary on upload.
• Google's target API level. New apps and updates target Android 15 (API 35) today, moving to Android 16 (API 36) from August 31, 2026 by Google's stated timeline. A too-low target level blocks the release.
• Google's closed-testing gate for personal accounts. Personal developer accounts created after November 13, 2023 have to run a closed test with at least 12 testers opted in for 14 consecutive days before they can apply for production access. (Google lowered this from 20 testers in late 2024.) Verified organization accounts are exempt. This one surprises solo developers most — it adds two weeks minimum between "app is ready" and "app is live," so start the closed test early.

The shared pre-flight (both stores)

A few checks apply on either side and are easy to skip in the rush to ship:

• Screenshot captions in each locale's language. English captions in a German or Japanese listing get flagged. Caption language and listing locale must match.
• Assets and text agree with the app. If a screenshot or description shows a feature, the shipped app must actually have it. Both stores reject on metadata that overstates the app.
• No pricing or off-store URLs baked into screenshots. Prices belong on the store page, not in the artwork; "visit our site" overlays draw rejections.
• Privacy declarations match reality. The Apple privacy label and Google Data safety form both have to reflect what your code and SDKs actually do.
• A working test account, if the app is behind a login, handed to the reviewer in the review notes.

Where Mokbi fits

Most of this checklist is yours to handle — the account, the build, the privacy answers, the ratings. Mokbi covers the visual and text assets, which is the part that eats the most hours when you're doing it by hand for two stores and many languages.

• The visual assets. It produces the screenshots for both stores at the required sizes, and the Play feature graphic, from one project — so you're not re-cropping the same artwork across device classes.
• The listing text. It drafts your name, subtitle, description, and short description, then translates the whole listing into 50 languages so each locale ships with matching captions and copy.
• Publishing the finished listing. Mokbi pushes the finished assets and store text for you: straight to Google Play through the Play Developer API, and staged in App Store Connect as a version ready for you to submit. Apple requires that final Submit and review step from you — that's an Apple rule, not a Mokbi limit.

The point isn't to replace the checklist — it's to take the asset-and-translation columns off it so the rest is a shorter afternoon.

What to read next

• Google Play listing requirements, asset by asset
• What you can change without a new version
• The screenshot-only checklist before you submit

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