The four weeks
Week 1: idea, prompt, scaffold. Week 2: backend, auth, payments. Week 3: polish, TestFlight, feedback. Week 4: submission, launch prep, ship. Budget 2–4 hours/day. Protect weekends. One buffer day for App Store rejection.
Week 1: idea to working preview
- Day 1–2: pick the niche, validate with a quick post in the relevant community. Sign up for Apple Developer ($99), Google Play ($25), domain.
- Day 3: write the scaffold prompt using the 5-step framework.
- Day 4: generate with ShipNative. Preview, iterate 10–15 times. Export the Expo project.
- Day 5–7: core feature polish in Cursor. First EAS development build on your device. No backend yet — mocked data is fine at this stage.
Week 2: backend, auth, payments
- Day 8: set up Supabase — tables, row-level security policies. Follow Connecting AI-Generated App to a Real Backend.
- Day 9: wire Clerk (or Supabase Auth). Test sign-up and login.
- Day 10: replace mocked data with Supabase queries, screen by screen.
- Day 11–12: integrate RevenueCat for subscriptions (or Stripe for physical/service). Set up products in App Store Connect and Play Console.
- Day 13: wire expo-notifications for reminders. Any other native features your app needs (widgets, camera, HealthKit).
- Day 14: end-to-end smoke test. Sign up as two test users, confirm RLS isolates their data, confirm paywall flow works in sandbox.
Week 3: polish, TestFlight, feedback
- Day 15: App icon (Figma or App Icon Generator). Splash screen. Font polish. Accent color final decisions.
- Day 16: write the privacy policy from the template. Host at
/privacy. - Day 17: build production via EAS, submit to TestFlight via
eas submit. Submit for beta review. - Day 18–19:invite 5–10 internal testers from your waitlist. Collect feedback via TestFlight’s built-in tool. Fix reported bugs.
- Day 20–21: second TestFlight build with fixes. Expand external testing to 20–50 users if ready.
Week 4: submission, launch prep, ship
- Day 22: App Store listing — title, subtitle, description, keyword field. Follow the keyword research guide.
- Day 23: design 5 App Store screenshots + optional preview video. Fill App Privacy labels.
- Day 24: final QA pass on device. Submit for App Store review.
- Day 25 (buffer): reserved for rejection + resubmission. If approved, start pre-launch content.
- Day 26–27: draft Product Hunt listing, launch email, social posts. Tell your waitlist to expect the launch.
- Day 28: launch on Product Hunt at 12:01 AM PT. Email list 15 min after. Reddit / niche community posts. See the PH playbook.
- Day 29–30: reply to every comment, fix incoming bug reports, ship OTA updates via EAS Update. Recap post on day 30.
Daily time budget
| Schedule | Weekday hours | Weekend hours |
|---|---|---|
| Full-time | 4–6 | 6–10 |
| Part-time (day job) | 1–2 | 6–8 |
| Nights-and-weekends | 0–1 | 6–10 |
Part-time founders add 7–14 days to the total timeline. Same plan, same order — just stretched.
What to skip in v1
- Android in v1 — save for a 10-day add-on post-launch.
- Custom animations beyond the basics.
- More than 5 screens.
- Multi-language support.
- Dark mode + light mode. Pick one for v1.
- Admin dashboard. Use Supabase dashboard as admin in v1.
What to commit to in v1
- Row-level security on every table. Data leaks kill apps.
- A real paywall (even if the trial is generous). Free forever trains users not to pay.
- At least one push notification. Retention depends on it.
- App Store screenshots that don’t look AI-default. First impression matters.
- A real privacy policy at a stable URL. Reviewers check.
- Reply to every TestFlight feedback. Early supporters are your Day-1 reviewers.
Lessons from founders who ran this plan
- Scope creep on day 18 is the #1 killer. Freeze features after Week 2.
- Apple Developer enrollment on Day 1 — don’t wait until Week 3 and find out it takes days.
- TestFlight feedback is gold. Actually read it; actually respond.
- The buffer day on Day 25 is not optional. Every founder needs it.
- Launch day is less magical than you expect. The compounding comes from the weeks after.