Your Google Play listing and test track set your launch date, so they come first. Other stores, press and early testers each publish what they need, and this guide sums up their own pages as read on 9 October 2026.
Google Play listing: fields and limits
Play Console takes an app name of up to 30 characters, a short description of up to 80 and a full description of up to 4,000. Google warns that repetitive or irrelevant keywords in the name or descriptions can get an app suspended. To publish, you need a 512 by 512 pixel icon, a 1024 by 500 pixel feature graphic and at least two screenshots. Google says apps need at least four screenshots of 1080 pixels or more to be eligible for recommendations in screenshot-led formats.
- Icon: 32-bit PNG with alpha, 512 by 512 px, up to 1,024 KB
- Feature graphic: JPEG or 24-bit PNG without alpha, 1024 by 500 px
- Screenshots: up to 8 per device type, JPEG or 24-bit PNG, 320 to 3,840 px
- Preview video: optional, one YouTube URL, public or unlisted, with ads off
Sources: Play Console Help: Create and set up your app · Play Console Help: Add preview assets to showcase your app
Testing tracks and the 12-tester rule
Internal testing takes up to 100 testers and can start before app setup is finished; closed testing starts once setup is complete. If your personal developer account was created after November 13, 2023, Google requires a closed test with at least 12 testers who stay opted in for 14 continuous days before you can apply for production, and open testing only appears once you have production access. Production and pre-registration stay disabled until then. Google says its review of that application usually takes seven days or less.
- New personal accounts also verify a non-rooted physical phone running Android 10 or newer through the Play Console app
- Feedback from test users does not affect your public rating
Sources: Play Console Help: App testing requirements for new personal developer accounts · Play Console Help: Set up an open, closed, or internal test · Play Console Help: Device verification requirements for new developer accounts
Pre-registration before launch
Pre-registration lets people sign up on your Play listing before launch. When you publish, they get a push notification from Google Play, and eligible devices can have the app installed on launch day. A campaign can last 90 days, after which you must launch to production, and you can run it for up to two apps or games at a time. Google strongly recommends testing a release on a test track first, and the new-account testing rule above applies here too.
- Optional reward: one one-time product per campaign, which can’t be edited or deleted once created
- Promote the normal Play listing URL for your package; Google also provides a pre-registration badge
Source: Play Console Help: Build awareness for your apps with pre-registration
Featuring and promotional routes
Google’s Featuring Nomination form covers new app launches. Submit it at least three weeks before the date you want, or eight weeks for a newly launched app, with the build already in Play Console. The listed minimums include a 3.0 rating and a launch within four months of that date, and Google says meeting them does not guarantee promotion. Promotional content is listed as not available to new app titles, and existing apps must meet usage or spend thresholds and sit in a supported category.
- Apps Innovation Corner form: team of 1 to 30, self-funded or small outside investment, 4.0 rating or higher, launched within 2 years, US-based developer
- Indie Games Corner form: team of 1 to 15 and an average rating of 3.8 or higher
Sources: Google Play Help: Featuring Nomination form · Google Play Console: Premium growth tools · Google Play Help: Indie Games / Up-and-Coming Apps Featuring Request
Other stores and developer verification
Aptoide Connect and Xiaomi GetApps each run a developer console with a documented review. Aptoide says manual review typically takes 7 to 10 business days, and a free app that is already on Google Play without in-app purchases is distributed at no charge; anything else needs an active subscription. Xiaomi says automated and manual checks usually finish within 3 working days. For any build you distribute outside Play, register its package name with Google. Google’s developer verification page dates the first protections to September 30, 2026 for participating stores in Brazil, Indonesia, Singapore and Thailand, with a global rollout planned for 2027.
Sources: Aptoide Connect docs: FAQs and common issues · Xiaomi GetApps docs: App review introduction · Android Developers: Android developer verification
Press tip lines and Show HN
Android Police lists an editorial address for topic ideas and a separate PR address for media inquiries. Droid Life’s contact form has an Apps option and invites tips, leaks and apps. Neither page promises coverage, so keep the note short: your Play link, what changed for users, and how to try it. Show HN is for something people can run or hold, wants it easy to try without sign-ups, and rules out landing pages, so post once there is a Play link people can install from.
Sources: Android Police: Contact us · Droid Life: Contact · Hacker News: Show HN guidelines
Facts checked Oct 9, 2026 against the sources linked in each section.
