Publishing your app with a developer in India: whose accounts, whose name, and what Apple requires

When you hire a developer in another country to build your app, one question matters more than the code: whose accounts is it published under? Get it right at the start and everything else is routine.

The accounts are yours

• Apple Developer Program: 99 USD per membership year, enrolled in your name and your country. A company enrolment needs a D-U-N-S number, which Apple provides free.
• Google Play developer account: a one-time 25 USD fee, again in your name.

Open both before the build starts, then add your developer as a team member with the role they need to upload builds. They can do all the work inside your account without owning it. If a developer offers to publish under their own account "to save you the hassle", decline: the listing, the reviews, the revenue and the ability to fire the developer all live in that account.

What Apple will check

Two of Apple's App Store Review Guidelines catch first-time publishers most often.

A privacy policy is not optional. Guideline 5.1.1 requires every app to include a link to its privacy policy in App Store Connect and within the app, and the policy must identify what data the app collects, how, and all uses of that data, confirm that third parties the app shares data with give equal protection, and explain data retention and deletion and how a user can request deletion. Your developer will draft the technical part; the policy is published on a web page you control.

Social login needs a private alternative. Guideline 4.8 says that apps using a third-party or social login such as Facebook Login or Google Sign-In to set up the user's primary account must also offer an equivalent option that limits data collection to name and email, lets users keep their email private, and does not collect interactions for advertising without consent. In practice that means offering Sign in with Apple alongside Google or Facebook login on iOS. Plan it in; it is a common reason for a first rejection.

What Google will check

New personal Google Play accounts must run a closed test with at least 12 testers opted in continuously for 14 days before they can apply for production. Recruit your testers in week one. Google also asks for a data safety form that must match what the app actually does.

Who does what

After launch

Both stores raise the minimum SDK version apps must target roughly once a year and warn before removing non-compliant apps. Keep the accounts paid and the contact email monitored, and budget a small amount of engineering each year for updates and resubmission. That is part of the ongoing retainer most clients abroad keep with UgeWorks after launch. The store publishing guide covers the full path in more detail.

Questions people ask

Sources

1. Apple Developer Program enrollment — 99 USD per membership year
2. Google Play Console registration fee — US$25 one-time
3. App Store Review Guidelines — guidelines 4.8 (login services) and 5.1.1 (privacy)
4. Google Play closed testing requirements — 12 testers, 14 days