Chattr is a social platform built for the Twitch community. It's a React Native app with a Laravel backend, and over the past few months, I've published it to Google Play, the Apple App Store, and the Microsoft Store.
Each store had its own set of challenges. Here's what I ran into and how I worked through it.
Google Play Store: The 14-Day Testing Requirement
Google requires new developer accounts to run a closed testing program with at least 12 testers for 14 consecutive days before you can apply for production access. That sounds straightforward until you realise you actually need to find 12 people willing to install your app and keep it on their devices for two weeks.
I ended up using Testers Community to fill the testing group. They provide real testers who will install your app and use it throughout the testing period. On the tenth day, they sent back detailed reports covering their findings, which was genuinely useful for catching edge cases I'd missed.
More importantly, the reports included the information I needed to complete the questionnaire that Google presents at the end of the testing period before you can move to production. If you've never done this before, Google asks specific questions about your testing results, and having structured feedback from real testers made that process significantly easier.
The closed testing track itself was straightforward to set up with Fastlane and GitHub Actions — push a tag, build the AAB, upload to the alpha track. The hard part was purely the human side: getting enough testers opted in and keeping them engaged for the full 14 days.
Apple App Store: The Twitch Login Problem
The Apple review process was the painful part, and the issue wasn't technical — it was authentication.
Chattr uses Twitch as its sole authentication provider. There's no email/password login. When the Apple review team tried to test the app, they needed to log in with a Twitch account, and Twitch sends a verification code to the email address associated with that account.
The first submission was rejected because the reviewers couldn't get past the login screen. We provided demo account credentials, but Twitch's verification flow required access to the email inbox to retrieve the code.
The solution was to create a throwaway email address specifically for the review team and attach it to a dedicated Twitch account. We included the email credentials alongside the Twitch credentials in the review notes so they could retrieve the verification code themselves.
Even then, it wasn't smooth. Not every reviewer read the instructions carefully, and we had to respond to rejection notices explaining the login flow step by step. It took a few rounds of back-and-forth before the review finally went through.
If your app uses a third-party OAuth provider that requires multi-step verification, plan for it. Write the review notes as if the person reading them has never heard of your auth provider, because they probably haven't. Include every single step, every URL, and every credential they'll need. Don't assume anything is obvious.
Microsoft Store: Easy Approval, Broken Tooling
The Microsoft Store was by far the easiest from an approval standpoint. The review was fast, the requirements were reasonable, and the listing went live without drama.
The problem was getting the build packaged in the first place.
Chattr has a web version, so the plan was to wrap it as a PWA for the Microsoft Store using PWABuilder. Except PWABuilder's conversion service was down when we needed it. We tried the VS Code extension as a fallback, but ran into issues there too.
With the official tooling unavailable, we ended up building our own GitHub Actions workflow to replicate what PWABuilder does: take the PWA manifest, generate the MSIX package, and sign it. It took some trial and error to get the packaging and signing right, but once the workflow was in place, it was actually more reliable than depending on an external service.
In hindsight, having the conversion as a CI step rather than a manual tool turned out to be the better approach anyway. Now every release is automated and reproducible.
What I'd Do Differently
Start the Google Play testing period immediately. Don't wait until your app is "ready." The 14 days are a hard gate, and every day you delay is a day your launch slips. Get the closed testing track set up early, even if the app still has rough edges — that's what testing is for.
Prepare Apple review credentials from day one. If your app uses any kind of third-party auth, set up the demo account and throwaway email before you even submit. Write the review notes like a tutorial. The less friction the reviewer has, the faster you'll get approved.
Don't depend on external packaging tools for your build pipeline. If a third-party service is a single point of failure in your release process, build a fallback. CI/CD workflows that you control will always be more reliable than someone else's web tool.
Chattr is live on all three stores now. You can find it here:
The app itself was the easy part — navigating each store's requirements and review processes was where the real work happened. Hopefully this saves someone else a few rejection cycles.
