Setting up App Store Connect / Google Play for a new app

Build and publish a Flutter-based app for the App Store and Google Play — updated for 2026 to reflect the current state of both platforms.

Read carefully, and then read again. The decisions you make at this stage will follow your app for its entire lifecycle. Some things genuinely cannot be undone.

TL:DR – Sensible, consistent naming matters across every platform and tool you'll use. If you're managing more than one app or working with clients, you'll thank yourself later for getting this right from the start.

Setting up your apps for publication in 2026

Before we can go much further with Firebase and Cloud Firestore, the app needs to be properly registered in both App Store Connect and Google Play Console. Both platforms have evolved considerably, and there are a few things worth knowing before you dive in.

Here's what we'll cover:

• Create an App ID for your iOS app at developer.apple.com
• Create the app listing in App Store Connect using that App ID
• Create the app listing in Google Play Console using consistent naming

What's changed in 2026

Both platforms have matured significantly since this series began, and a few updates are worth flagging before you start clicking through the setup screens.

On the Apple side, App Store Connect is now fully accessible on web, iPhone, and iPad via its companion app, which lets you monitor sales, respond to reviews, and receive review status notifications in real time. Product pages can now be localised across up to 40 languages and support up to 10 screenshots and three app previews per language — so it's worth having your assets ready. Apple also supports product page optimisation and custom product pages, which are useful once your app is live but worth knowing about from day one.

On the Google side, the Play Console now requires developers with personal accounts created after 13 November 2023 to meet specific testing requirements before their app can go live on Google Play. If you're setting up a brand-new personal developer account today, budget time for a closed testing phase before you can publish publicly. Organisation accounts follow a different path. Google also now strongly favours Android App Bundles over traditional APKs — the Play Console uses these to generate optimised APKs for each device configuration automatically.

One thing that hasn't changed: package names are permanent. On both platforms, your bundle identifier or package name cannot be deleted or reused once registered. Choose carefully.

Create an App ID for your iOS app

Assuming you've already enrolled in the Apple Developer Program, head to Certificates, Identifiers & Profiles at developer.apple.com to register an App ID. This identifier is what ties your app to its provisioning profiles, entitlements, and available services.

1. Under Register a new identifier, select App IDs, then click Continue.

1. Confirm your App ID Prefix is set to the correct developer team.
2. Enter a clear description — your app name works well here.
3. Enter an explicit Bundle ID using reverse-domain notation, for example com.domainname.appname. This value is permanent once your first build is uploaded to App Store Connect, so treat it as final.
4. Enable any capabilities you need now — Push Notifications, Sign in with Apple, and so on. You can add more later, but it's cleaner to enable them upfront if you already know your requirements.

You'll reference this App ID when you create the actual app listing in App Store Connect.

Setting up the new app in App Store Connect

With your App ID registered, go to appstoreconnect.apple.com and create a new app.

1. Select iOS (or the appropriate platform) for the platform.
2. Enter the app name — this is what users will see on the App Store, so it needs to be final and on-brand.
3. Choose a Primary Language. Remember that product pages can be localised into up to 40 languages later.
4. Select the Bundle ID you registered in Certificates, Identifiers & Profiles. Once you upload your first build, this cannot be changed.
5. Enter a SKU — this is for your own internal tracking. It just needs to be unique within your account; the format is up to you.

Listing created

You now have a live destination in App Store Connect: a listing page, a place to upload builds, and a bundle identifier wired into your codebase. Builds can be submitted via Xcode or the Transporter app (which replaced the older altool command-line workflow for most developers).

A couple of things to keep in mind for when you're ready to ship: App Store Connect supports phased releases, rolling your update out over seven days rather than all at once — a sensible default for production apps. You can also set up TestFlight to distribute pre-release builds to up to 10,000 testers via email invite or a public link, which is worth configuring early in your development cycle.

Create an app listing in Google Play Console

Assuming you've enrolled in the Google Play developer program, head to Google Play Console to set up your Android app.

1. Click Create app in the Play Console dashboard.
2. Confirm the default language is correct.
3. Enter your app name — use the same name you registered in App Store Connect for consistency.
4. Indicate whether this is an app or a game, and whether it's free or paid. Note that paid games require a separate release step for Google Play Games on PC if you want them available there.

A note on package names and App Bundles

Unlike the App ID, your Android package name isn't set through the Play Console UI at this stage — it's determined by the package name declared in your Flutter project and embedded in the App Bundle or APK you upload. However, the same rule applies: once a package name has been used in a release, it is unique and permanent and cannot be deleted or reused. Make sure your Flutter project's package name matches your intended reverse-domain convention before you upload anything.

Google Play now works primarily with Android App Bundles (.aab files) rather than standalone APKs. When you upload a bundle, Play Console generates and delivers optimised APKs tailored to each user's device configuration — smaller downloads, less waste. Flutter's build tooling supports this natively, so there's no extra work on your end.

Next steps

With both listings created, you now have everything you need to connect your app to Firebase — a registered bundle ID for iOS and a confirmed package name for Android. That's where we'll pick up in the next part.

If you get stuck, both platforms now offer contextual help directly within their consoles: Apple's support documentation is linked throughout App Store Connect, and Google's Play Console includes a Help panel you can access without leaving the page.