An app launch needs about a dozen marketing assets: store screenshots, an icon, a preview video, store copy, a promo video cut for social, launch posts, a landing page, share images, a Product Hunt gallery, a press kit and a launch email. Make the store assets first, because they go through review. Everything else is built from them.
Below is the order we'd make them in, week by week, with links to the full spec guides.
The short answer
- 4 weeks out: store screenshots, app icon, feature graphic, store descriptions and keywords. Start Google Play testing if your developer account is new.
- 3 weeks out: the promo video and the App Store preview video.
- 2 weeks out: social posts and covers, landing page, share images, Product Hunt gallery, press kit.
- Launch week: submit for review, schedule everything, write the launch email.
- Launch day: release, post, send, reply.
- After: recut the best clips, refresh screenshots, test what works.
Why the order matters
Two things set the pace: store review and reuse.
Store review is out of your hands. Apple says it reviews at least 50% of submissions in under 24 hours and 90% in under 48. Google says some apps take up to seven days, or longer in exceptional cases. And if your personal Google Play developer account was created after November 13, 2023, you need at least 12 testers opted in to a closed test for 14 days in a row before you can even apply for production access. Plan for that first.
Reuse is in your hands. Your screenshots become social posts. Your promo video becomes the store preview, the Product Hunt video and the landing page hero. Make the source assets first and the rest is cutting, not creating.
4 weeks out: the store listing
Your store listing is the one page every launch link ends on. Get it right before you make anything that points at it.
- App icon. 1024 × 1024 for the App Store, 512 × 512 for Google Play. Check it at small sizes, next to your competitors' icons.
- Screenshots. For the App Store, one 6.9-inch iPhone set and one 13-inch iPad set if you support iPad. For Google Play, at least four phone screenshots at 1080 × 1920. Full specs: App Store screenshot sizes and Google Play screenshot sizes.
- Feature graphic. 1024 × 500, required on Google Play. It is the cover of your Play preview video.
- Store copy. App name, subtitle or short description, full description, and the App Store keyword field. Write them around the words people actually search for, not your internal feature names.
- Privacy details. The App Privacy details in App Store Connect (the "nutrition labels" on your product page) and the Play Data safety form. Count what your analytics and ad SDKs collect too, and have a live privacy policy URL. Not marketing, but they block submission, and they take longer than you expect.
If you want a pre-launch signup inside the store, now is the time. On the App Store, a first release can go up for pre-order between 2 and 180 days ahead. On Google Play, pre-registration runs for up to 90 days, and pre-registered users get a notification at launch. Both need finished store listings.
3 weeks out: the videos
Make one promo video, then cut it down. It's cheaper than making four videos and it keeps your launch looking like one campaign.
- Promo video. 20 to 45 seconds, vertical 9:16 first, because most of it will be watched on a phone with the sound off. Show the app in the first three seconds and caption everything. See how to make an app promo video for structure, and what an app promo video costs if you're deciding whether to hire it out.
- App Store preview. 15 to 30 seconds, captured from the app itself, at the exact sizes Apple lists. It has stricter rules than an ad, so it is usually its own cut. The details are in our App Store preview video guide.
- Google Play video. A YouTube link. Your promo video usually works as-is, as long as there are no black bars.
- Extra formats. 1:1 or 4:5 for feeds, 16:9 for YouTube, Product Hunt and your landing page.
2 weeks out: everything built from the source
By now you have screens, a story and footage. This week turns them into the assets people will see before they ever reach the store.
- Social posts and carousels. Six to nine posts is enough for launch week: a teaser, the problem, three or four features, the launch announcement, a thank-you. Build carousels from your screenshot captions. Make a cover image for every video so the grid doesn't show a random frame.
- Landing page. One headline, the promo video, both store badges, three or four features with screenshots, and a waitlist or email signup until launch. Keep it short.
- Share images. Open Graph images, usually 1200 × 630, for the landing page and any launch blog post. This is what shows up when someone pastes your link into a chat.
- Product Hunt gallery. Product Hunt recommends 1270 × 760 images and needs at least two before the gallery shows. The first image matters most. Add your promo video and a short first comment. The full list is in our Product Hunt launch assets guide.
- Press kit. One shared folder with the icon, logo, screenshots, the promo video, a short and a long description, founder photo and contact email. Link it from your landing page.
Launch week: submit and schedule
- Submit for review early in the week. On the App Store, choose to release the version manually so approval doesn't publish it before you're ready. On Google Play, turn on managed publishing for the same reason: changes are reviewed, then wait until you press publish.
- Fill in App Review Information. If your app has a sign-in, Apple asks for a working demo account and password, with your backend switched on. A login the reviewer can't get past gets rejected.
- Schedule the Product Hunt launch. Product Hunt lets you schedule up to a month ahead, and each launch day starts at 12:01 AM Pacific time. It doesn't feature waitlisted products, so launch there once the app is live.
- Schedule your social posts for launch day and the two days after.
- Write the launch email. One subject line, the promo video thumbnail linking to the video, one button to the store. Send it to your waitlist, beta testers and anyone who asked to hear about it.
- Prepare replies. A few lines for common questions, so you can answer fast on launch day without sounding copied and pasted.
Launch day
- Release in App Store Connect and Play Console, then check both listings on a real phone. Screenshots in the right order, video playing, links working.
- Post the announcement on every channel, with the vertical video natively uploaded, not as a link.
- Send the launch email.
- Go live on Product Hunt if you're launching there, and stay in the comments.
- Reply to everything. It's the one launch-day job you can't schedule.
After launch
- Recut the clips that worked. Look at which posts got watched and saves, and make more in that style.
- Refresh the screenshots once you know which features people use. Google Play's store listing experiments let you test icons, screenshots and the feature graphic on real traffic, and App Store Connect has product page optimization for the same job.
- Reply to reviews. Both stores let you post one public reply per review, and the reviewer gets notified. A fast, specific answer can win back a rating.
- Watch day 1, day 7 and day 30. Crashes and reviews on day one, retention and which channel drove installs at a week, then what to fix or refresh at a month.
- Ask for ratings inside the app, at a good moment, not on first open.
- Keep posting. A steady stream of short clips beats one big launch week you never follow up.
Copy-paste checklist
| When | Asset | Spec to check |
|---|---|---|
| 4 weeks out | App icon | 1024 × 1024 (App Store), 512 × 512 (Play) |
| 4 weeks out | App Store screenshots | 6.9" iPhone, 13" iPad |
| 4 weeks out | Google Play screenshots | 1080 × 1920, 4 or more |
| 4 weeks out | Feature graphic | 1024 × 500 |
| 4 weeks out | Store copy and keywords | Name, subtitle, description, keyword field |
| 4 weeks out | Privacy details | App Privacy details, Data safety form, policy URL |
| 3 weeks out | Promo video | 9:16 first, captioned |
| 3 weeks out | App Store preview | 15–30 seconds, captured from the app |
| 3 weeks out | Extra video formats | 1:1, 4:5, 16:9 |
| 2 weeks out | Social posts and covers | 6–9 posts, one cover per video |
| 2 weeks out | Landing page | Video, store badges, signup |
| 2 weeks out | Share images | 1200 × 630 |
| 2 weeks out | Product Hunt gallery | 1270 × 760, 2 or more images |
| 2 weeks out | Press kit | One shared folder |
| Launch week | App Review information | Demo account if your app has a sign-in |
| Launch week | Launch email | One button to the store |
Get your launch assets made in one go
We make the video and social side of this checklist from your app's screens, in your colors and fonts. The Starter plan ($99) is one 30-second 9:16 promo video, three social posts, three App Store screenshots and three Google Play screenshots in phone and tablet sizes, plus share copy, delivered in 1 to 2 days. The Launch Kit ($149) is three videos, six posts, covers and captions for each platform, in 3 to 5 days.
The larger store side is an add-on to either plan: a full App Store and Google Play screenshot set for $99, and an App Store preview cut for $49. Starter already includes a compact six-screenshot set. Extra formats such as 1:1, 4:5 or 16:9 are $29 each. See sample kits, or ask for a free 10-second teaser before you pay anything.