What is the definitive checklist for Apple app store submittals? [closed]

Question

I have a couple of apps coded up and tested, but can't seem to find out what is the definitive checklist for submitting apps to the app store. There doesn't seem to be an Apple document that spells everything out in a nice easy checklist. I am hoping to generate that checklist from the responses here.

So my question has two parts:

Technical checklist:

1. code the app
2. memory leak checking
3. low memory testing
4. ios4 vs ios3 code - anything here?
5. device resolution checking - anything here?
6. multitasking - anything here?
7. what exact methods in which classes should be overridden?
8. anything else?

Submission checklist:

1. make 72x72 icon
2. make 512x512 icon
3. write up page for iTunes - how do you do this? Is it in the bundle somewhere?
4. build parameters for the submission - what are the settings?
5. what should be in the bundle?
6. anything else?

Note that I am not asking about how to place it or what to charge for it. I just want a nice simple checklist for submitting an app. I will take all of the comments and edit the question so that when we are done, there will be a checklist for everyone.

Developers who have apps already in the app store should have a good bead on this stuff. So please take the time to set up newbies on the right path.

Answer 1

How do we get through the black box? Here are some of my regulars:

• No crashes
• No (big) memory leaks
• Test on several devices with different (minimum and maximum!) OS versions
• Test with different region and language settings
• Consistent UI (use appropriate icons/buttons and expected behavior)
• Artwork: Check default screens, icons. Both in various resolutions
• Check icon pre-rendered state
• Screenshots (without status bar), maybe in several languages
• Description for AppStore, "What's new", maybe in several languages
• If new app: decide on price and categories
• Select Distribution build configuration
• Check signing (distribution profile still valid etc.)
• Check base SDK and deployment target, supported devices
• Submit everything

And probably a thousand things more. :-)

Answer 2

Testpad - iOS App Store Submission Checklist

This is one of the example checklists on the testing tool I'm building. There are some useful comments about its contents over on Hacker News.

Answer 3

Icon size and iTunesArtwork vary for target device.

Icon Size

• iPhone & iPod Tuch - 57x57
• iPhone & iPod Tuch High resolution 114x114
• iPad 72x72 iPad High resolution 114x114

iTuneArtworks size for all device should be 512x512 but 1024x1024 is recommended for high resolution devices

Answer 4

Apple have Human Interface Guidelines that you must abide by. Also your app shouldn't crash and should not use any private APIs.

Answer 5

My paid version of app was rejected by appstore and i learned another reason of app rejection.

After Purchasing and downloading app first screen was "User Agreement" and when user taps on " I agree" only then he was able to continue using app.

Apple described the reason of rejection "when user purchased app from appstore and download in phone then you must not restrict user to Agree with Agreement"

Answer 6

It has become a known fact that Apple has created walls of standards around the App Store. And if any app, no matter which parent company it belongs to, lacks from even a single point, faces rejection or removal from Apple, almost instantly.

Now, to ensure that it doesn't happen with yours too, here's an app submission checklist you should follow for Apple store.

For quick roundup, look out for -

1. Your App should not have any content that is discriminatory, defamatory, or in any way humiliate or intimidate anyone.
2. There should be a process around the user generated content
3. Parental gate for apps in kids category
4. Clear Developer information
5. Proper Metadata
6. App should not be in beta mode.

There are a number of factors that you should consider, all of which have been explained in much detail in the article linked above.

Answer 7

Here's my list that I just updated last night.

Pre-Submission Checklist

1. Update iTunes screen shots
2. Update version number using avgtool
3. Update changelog (spell check it, too!)
4. Update iTunes description
5. Prepare website update text
6. Prepare twitter/blog/tumblr/press releases
7. Compile using ad hoc profile and do one final set of sanity checks
8. Are you sure everything is OK?
9. git tag v1.2 -m 'ready for deployment'
10. build for app store and submit

The list was created because I like use git describe to embed a build number into my app, so I've got to do the final tag before I do the final build, so I need to have all the infrastructure in my project directory before I do that final tag. If you don't care about this, I'd recommend submitting your app and using that 7 days of review time to get everything else (blog updates, website updates) ready to go.