What Does It Cost to Launch an App?

The step from finished code to a published app looks like a formality in the project plan – but it’s its own phase with its own costs. The fees to the stores are pocket change; what costs money is the assets, the review, and everything that needs to be in place around the app. Here’s the full breakdown of the launch phase.

The store accounts: the only fixed fee

Two accounts are required to publish:

• Apple Developer Program: USD 99 a year. Required for as long as the app stays in the App Store, and should be registered under your company.
• Google Play Console: a one-time USD 25. Paid once per account, after which publishing is free.

That’s all the stores charge for the publishing itself. Everything else on this page is work time – and that’s where the budget gets decided.

Review: timelines and common rejections

Both stores review every app before letting it in. Apple usually responds within one to two days, Google within a few hours to a few days – but the first submission from a new account can take longer at both. The most common rejection reasons are predictable:

• Bugs and crashes during the reviewer’s testing.
• Missing test account – the reviewer needs to be able to log in and see all the content.
• Incomplete privacy information, for example a missing policy or a data declaration that doesn’t match.
• Metadata that promises more than the app delivers, or screenshots that don’t show real functionality.
• The wrong payment path – digital purchases have to go through the store’s own payment system.

A rejection is rarely a crisis, but each round costs one to two weeks of calendar time and a few hours of fix work. Much of it is preventable: test the app on real devices before submitting, prepare a demo account with clear instructions for the reviewer, and read the store guidelines for your specific category – apps with payments, a child audience, or health data get reviewed more strictly. An agency that has launched many apps usually gets it right on the first or second try – ask how many review rounds are included in the price.

Store assets are their own budget line

This is the line item most often forgotten: the app needs to be sold on its store page. A well-executed launch includes screenshots in multiple formats and sizes, ideally with explanatory copy, a description that both convinces people and contains the right keywords, an icon, an optional preview video, and an ASO foundation with keyword choices for your category. Budget SEK 15,000–50,000 in design and copywriting work depending on ambition level. That sounds like a lot for a few images and some text – but the store page is the first thing thousands of potential users see, and it decides whether they tap the download button. If the app is also launching in multiple countries, the work multiplies: every market needs its own copy and sometimes its own screenshots, so budget per country rather than per app.

Worked example: a realistic launch budget

The total lands at roughly SEK 20,000–80,000 beyond development. A simple internal app gets by at the bottom of the range; a consumer app competing for visibility should sit in the upper half. Pushing toward the top end are mainly a preview video, multiple language versions, and a legal review of policies and data declarations.

Plan the launch as a phase, not a formality

The most expensive way to launch is discovering the steps one at a time: the account that wasn’t registered, the policy that was missing, the screenshots in the wrong format, the rejection that pushed the date back two weeks. Instead, build the launch in as its own phase with its own budget in the project’s final month. A good rule of thumb is to freeze new functionality during that month and let the team spend the final stretch on stability, store assets, and review prep. At Weapp we build that stage into our project setups precisely so the final stretch stays predictable – and if you have an app that’s finished but never made it out, get in touch and we’ll take care of the last piece.