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Your app launch checklist

Answer five questions about your app and get the checklist for its launch: product, legal and privacy, payments, search and analytics, app stores and launch day. Tick items off as you go and copy it into your own tracker.

What are you launching?
Do people sign up for an account?
Does it take payment?
Where are your users?
Does it use AI?

Your launch checklist

0 of 14 done

Product

  • Sign up, the core action, payment and cancelling, start to finish, on real devices and slow connections.

  • Hear about crashes and downtime from a tool such as Sentry before you hear about them from users.

  • Redirect the bare domain and the www version to one address.

  • Link back to the home page and to support, so a dead end is not the end.

Legal and privacy

  • UK GDPR requires one whenever you collect personal data, including analytics and contact forms.

  • What people can and cannot do, your liability and how disputes are handled.

  • PECR requires consent for any cookie that is not strictly necessary. Cookieless analytics avoid the banner.

Search, AI and analytics

  • They are what people see in Google, in AI answers and when your link is shared.

    Run the free SEO Check

  • Bing's index also feeds ChatGPT search and Copilot.

  • Allow AI search crawlers in robots.txt, add an llms.txt and serve content without JavaScript.

    Run the free Agent Readiness Check

  • Page views alone will not tell you where people drop out.

Launch day

  • Early users who get a quick answer become the ones who tell others.

  • A short question after the core action beats a survey nobody opens.

  • Your waiting list first, then the communities and channels your users already read.

A starting point, not legal or tax advice. Check the legal and VAT items with an adviser for your situation.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

Want the detail? Read Web app or mobile app first?.

What do I need before launching an app in the UK?

A privacy policy and terms of service, consent for any non-essential cookies, the ICO data protection fee if you handle personal data, error tracking and backups, and analytics that track sign ups and payments. Payments, subscriptions, mobile apps and AI each add their own steps.

Do I need a cookie banner?

Only for cookies that are not strictly necessary, such as most analytics and all advertising cookies. A log in cookie needs no consent. Cookieless analytics tools let many apps launch with no banner at all.

Do I need to register with the ICO?

Most UK businesses that process personal data, including user accounts and customer emails, must pay the ICO data protection fee. The ICO has a short online check that tells you whether you are exempt.

How long does app store review take?

Usually a day or two for Apple and a few hours to a few days for Google, but first submissions are often rejected once. Allow a week, and run a TestFlight and Play internal test beforehand.

Is this checklist legal advice?

No. It covers what a typical UK app launch needs so nothing is missed, but the legal, privacy and VAT items depend on your business, so check them with an adviser.

Rather talk it through with a developer?

Book a free 30 minute discovery call. You get straight advice on scope, stack and cost, and a written estimate before any build starts.

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