Store accounts, and the version that is just a link

Two store accounts and one domain name are the unglamorous part of publishing. They are also the part that blocks a launch when nobody claimed them.

Who should own the accounts

Open the Apple Developer account and the Google Play account in the organization’s name, not in a volunteer’s. People leave. Accounts in a personal name leave with them. A web link needs neither account. If you are starting with a link, you can delay the store paperwork until the content has been updated for a month without heroics.

What each store asks

Apple charges a yearly membership to list an iPhone app under your name. Some nonprofits, schools, and public bodies can ask for that fee to be waived, and the waiver has conditions, including what you sell inside the app. Google charges a one-time registration. A new personal Google account may also have to run a closed test before the app can be public. An organization account is the cleaner path. Read the current rules on the store’s own site the week you apply. They move.

The link still matters after the icon exists

Search engines and people sharing a message use a web address. The installed app does not replace it. Put the same week’s notice on the web version. A poster can keep one QR code if that code opens the web version and, later, offers the installed app. Reprinting the poster because the stores finally approved you is a cost you can avoid.