Minimum Requirements for Digital Publishing Apps

The minimum requirements for submitting your digital publications as apps will vary between app stores. Below is a checklist to help you get started:

Submitting an iOS App

An “iTunes Connect” and an “Apple Developer” account. Your iOS app will be set up, submitted, and managed ongoingly via these accounts. The iOS Developer Program annual fee is 99USD and covers both accounts.
If your epublishing app is paid or contains in app purchases then you will need to set up a merchant account (if you do not already have one). Please note that Apple will take a 30% cut on any payments you receive for your app.
Metadata: A description, search keywords, support contact website, app category listing. The metadata is supplied for the app listing and will be displayed in the iTunes app store. Apple is very thorough when they review an app so it is a good idea to supply any important information about your app to avoid a rejection notice. Information that should be supplied includes publishing frequency, subscription prices, special features, privacy policy, and any other information that will help a user make an informed decision to download and/or purchase within your app.
Graphical assets: An app icon, background images, splash/launch screens, screen shots. These graphics will be displayed in the app store and/or the app.

Submitting an Android App

A “Google Play Developer” account. Your Android app will be set up, submitted and managed via this account. This account will require a once-off fee of 25USD.
If your app is paid or contains in app purchases then you will need to set up a merchant account (if you do not already have one). Please note that Google will take a 30% cut on any payments you receive for your app.
Metadata: A short description, regular description, search keywords, support contact website, app category listing. The metadata is supplied for the app listing and will be displayed in the Google Play store.
Graphical assets: An app icon, a feature graphic, background images, splash/launch screens, screen shots. These graphics will be displayed in the app store and/or the app.

Minimum requirements for readers

Users will only be able to download an app onto their smart phone, tablet, or kindle device, not a desktop computer.
To download an iOS app users will need to have at least iOS 6 installed on their device. For an Android app there is no minimum version of the Android operating system that a user needs to have installed on their device.
The necessary storage space on the user’s device will depend on how many issues they wish to keep downloaded at any one point.

If you know of any more essential requirements for digital publishing apps, please share them with us in the comments! Or why not try your hand at building your very own app today and adapting these requirements using Realview for free!