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. Enroll in the Apple Developer Program ($99 a year) and create a Google Play developer account ($25 once) today. Apple enrollment can take a few days, and companies also need a D-U-N-S number.
- 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. On Android, upload a build to a closed testing track first, then create subscriptions. If Android is part of launch, recruit 12 testers into that closed test now: Google Play’s 14-day clock for new personal accounts starts when they opt in.
- 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. The first build you send to external testers goes through Beta App Review, so submit it today. - Day 18–19: once the build is approved, invite 5–10 people from your waitlist as external testers by email or public link. Collect feedback through TestFlight and fix what they report.
- 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. Search the app for placeholder text. Submit for App Store review. Apple reports that 90% of submissions are reviewed in under 24 hours on average.
- 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 at launch, unless Google Play’s 14-day closed test was running by Day 12.
- 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.
- One genuinely useful notification, if your core action is something people repeat.
- 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.
Where a 30-day plan usually slips
- New features in Week 3. Freeze features at the end of Week 2. New ideas go on a list for the first update.
- Accounts started late.Apple enrollment can take days and Google’s closed test takes 14. Neither can be rushed in Week 4.
- Store assets left to the end. Screenshots, privacy details, and a working privacy policy URL take longer than the code changes around them.
- No buffer. One rejection without a buffer day moves the launch.
- Treating launch as the finish. Replying to reviews and fixing the first crashes in the week after launch matters more than launch day itself.