You need a Chinese entity
WeChat Pay, Mini Programs and every major Android store require a mainland business license. Without one, there's nothing to submit.
Do I need a Chinese company? →
China market launch · For international products
Get your product
Get your product
live in China.
The App Store in mainland China. Six major Chinese Android stores. WeChat Mini Programs.
We handle the three things standing between your existing build and a live listing — China-readiness changes, filings, and store reviews.
A free 20-minute assessment. No sales deck. If your category isn't viable in China, we'll say so.
Scope
This is not a marketing service. We make your product legally live in China — the step that has to happen before any storefront, KOL campaign or ad spend.
Live in China
AApp Store
HHuawei AppGallery
HHONOR
XXiaomi GetApps
OOPPO
Vvivo
MTencent MyApp
Client launch — six Android stores live. App Store submission in review.
The problem
Most Western teams get stuck before they write a single line of code.
You're not blocked by engineering. You're blocked by three things that have nothing to do with code.
You need filings that don't exist in your market
ICP registration, software copyright, app filing. Each runs on its own clock — software copyright alone takes 60 to 90 days.
The filings, explained →Six Android stores, six sets of rules
Huawei, HONOR, Xiaomi, OPPO, vivo and Tencent MyApp each run independent registration, privacy review and push infrastructure.
The major Android stores →
Services
Three ways in.
Two ways in — bring an app you already have, or have us build for China from zero.
Launch your iOS app in China
You already have the app. We handle everything between your build and a live App Store China listing.
- Adaptation guidance for your dev team — Google SDKs out, China SDKs in
- Chinese UI and store-listing localisation
- App Privacy declarations and ICP filing support
- Submission, review follow-up, rejection remediation
6–12 weeks
From $3,000
Launch across China's major Android stores
Six accounts, six privacy templates, six review queues — Huawei, HONOR, Xiaomi, OPPO, vivo and Tencent MyApp.
- Developer account setup on every store
- Software copyright materials and per-store privacy adaptation
- Vendor push channels — HMS, MiPush, OPPO Push, vivo Push, TPNS
- Submission and review follow-up, store by store
8–16 weeks
From $4,000
Build and launch a WeChat Mini Program
The one platform we build from scratch — a storefront, booking flow or membership system inside WeChat.
- Mini Program development — storefront, booking, membership
- WeChat Pay integration and mainland cloud deployment
- Verification and category qualification guidance
- Submission and rejection remediation
10–20 weeks
From $10,000
Two starting points
Already have an app? Or starting from zero?
What we do depends entirely on what you already have. Here's the split — decide which one you are before you talk to anyone.
You already have an app
Your source code stays with your team — most clients don't hand it over, and they shouldn't. We run the launch, the filings and every store review, and we direct the China adaptation instead of writing it.
- Adaptation — guided. We deliver the replacement plan for Google dependencies, the China SDK selections and every review gate. Your developers implement.
- Filings — ours. ICP registration, public security filing, app filing and software copyright coordination.
- Stores — ours. App Store China plus the six major Android stores, submitted and followed up one by one.
- Rejections — ours. Diagnosed and resubmitted until they clear.
You don't have one yet
Then there's nothing to adapt — we build the China-market product for you, from the first line of code, the way the Chinese platforms expect it. No Google dependencies to unpick later.
- WeChat Mini Program — built by us, end to end. Storefront, booking or membership system, WeChat Pay wired in.
- China-market build. Scoped to Chinese platforms and stores from day one — including a native iOS / Android build when that's what the project needs.
- The full launch. Entity, filings, store submissions and remediation once the build is ready.
- Category check first. We'll tell you upfront if your category can't be licensed in China at all.
Path A add-on
China Readiness Adaptation — what we hand your team
Google dependencies mapped
A written replacement plan for every Google SDK — maps, Play Services, Firebase, FCM — with the China services that actually operate on the mainland.
China SDK picks, guided
Vendor push channels and WeChat Pay or Alipay selections for your stack — chosen with your developers, not handed over as a PDF.
Privacy compliance reviewed
We review your team's implementation against PIPL — policy wording, permission rationales, SDK disclosure list and the opt-out Chinese reviewers look for.
Rejection remediation
When a store rejects the build — and the first submission usually is — we diagnose it and resubmit until it clears.
Guided advisory — your developers implement · 3–8 weeks, in parallel with software copyright
$500 flat. The advisory isn't where our work is — the launch is. We'd rather be paid for the part that actually gets you live than mark up a document.
Process
Five steps. One of them is the one everybody underestimates.
Step 01
Readiness check
We review your category, your build and your entity situation. Straight answer on viability, timeline and cost.
Step 02
Entity and filings
You register or designate your Chinese entity. In parallel we start the filings.
Critical path · 60–90 days
Step 03
Adaptation — or build-out
Existing app: your team does the rework, we supply the plan, the SDK picks and every review gate. No app yet: we build the China-market product — Mini Program, or a native build scoped to Chinese stores.
Step 04
Submission
We prepare every artefact the stores require and submit on your behalf, tracking each review separately.
Step 05
Remediation
Rejections get diagnosed and resubmitted. Included, not billed extra.
How it runs in parallel
20 weeks
Software copyrightthe gate on everything
Filingswebsite, police, app
Mini Program filingonly if you need one
Adaptationyour developers, our direction
Submissions7 platforms
Remediationincluded
Week 0Week 5Week 10Week 15Week 20
Filings
Four filings, not one.
Most teams know about ICP. China actually requires four separate registrations on the way to a live app — each with its own portal, its own timeline and its own number to display.
01
ICP website filing
Your front end and back end must run on mainland servers. 7–20 business days. The ICP number goes in your website footer.
02
Public security filing
Filed with the police within 30 days of ICP approval. A separate portal and a separate number — also displayed in the footer.
03
App filing
One per app, tied to the app name and package name. Both must match the software copyright exactly — mismatches block the release.
04
Mini Program filing
WeChat Mini Programs require their own filing plus category qualification before the platform will release them.
Checklist
Your side of the paperwork.
Everything the stores and regulators will ask you to provide. We review every item before submission and flag problems early — nothing surfaces halfway through the project.
Android — six major stores
- Developer accounts ×6 — Huawei, HONOR, Xiaomi, Tencent MyApp, vivo, OPPO, with credentials
- App name — must match the software copyright exactly, including the name users see after install
- App icon — 512 × 512 px; JPG renders cleaner on device
- One-line description — 10–30 characters
- Full description — 50–500 characters
- Software copyright — PDF source file of the certificate
- Install package — 32/64-bit compatible or 64-bit only · targetSdkVersion ≥ 30
- Test account — for the store review team to log in
- Privacy policy + user agreement URLs — China-specific drafts; lawyer review recommended
- Preview screenshots — 4 × 1080 × 1920 px
- ICP filing proof — stamped printout, or value-added telecom license where required
- App filing number — displayed in the website footer
- App category — tools, education, and so on
Your filing domain must open normally and show the app introduction, a download button and the filing numbers.
iOS — App Store China
- Apple developer account — with credentials
- IPA file — plus the bundle ID
- App name
- Test account — for App Review
- One-line description — 10–30 characters
- Full description — 50–500 characters
- Privacy policy URL — plus a user agreement / EULA link if the app has accounts or purchases
- Support URL — must show company contact information
- Screenshots — 1–10 × 1242 × 2688 px (add 2048 × 2732 if iPad-ready)
- Contact — name, phone, email
- Countries and regions — where the app will release
- Primary language — Chinese / English
- App category
- Copyright holder — company name
- ICP filing number — mainland China, required for release in China
- Development language — OC / Swift / Kotlin / Flutter / React Native / uni-app
- Function description — features, use cases and target users, in detail
Apple rejects China-region submissions without a valid mainland ICP filing number — this is the step most teams underestimate.
Documents to prepare in advance
- Privacy policy — China-specific (PIPL), at a live URL, naming every SDK and permission the app actually uses. Reviewers read it line by line against the build.
- User agreement / terms of service — accounts, purchases, subscriptions and refunds each need their own clause. Stores ask for the URL at submission.
- SDK and permission disclosure list — what each third-party SDK collects and why. This is where most first submissions fail.
- Support page with company contact details — Apple requires a live support URL; a section on your site is enough.
- Store listing assets — icon, screenshots and descriptions in each platform's required sizes.
Both documents must be live URLs on your filed domain before submission — the same domain as the ICP filing, with the filing numbers in the site footer.
Case study
Yakety Yak — an ESL curriculum, live in China.
Y
Yakety Yak
Xian Laurel Education Technology
Install
- App filingFiled
- ICP filingFiled
- App Store · iOSIn review
Education category
ICP + App filing
Version iteration
A US English-learning curriculum with users in several countries — and no Chinese entity, no filings, and no route into the Android stores.
What we handled
- Chinese entity coordination
- ICP website filing and app filing
- Store submissions across six major Android stores
- Privacy and permission compliance review
- Review remediation and ongoing version updates
Six major Chinese Android stores live — Huawei, HONOR, Xiaomi, OPPO, vivo and Tencent MyApp — with
releases now in routine version iteration. App Store China submission is in review.
Boundaries
What we don't do — and why we're telling you upfront.
Each of these is something a competitor might agree to and then fail to deliver. We'd rather lose the project than take it on badly.
We don't take on games.
Chinese game licensing needs a publication number that isn't realistically obtainable without a domestic licensed publisher.
We don't register companies for you, and we don't hold your entity.
Your Chinese entity has to be yours. We can introduce corporate registration firms, but we won't operate under our license.
We don't guarantee approval.
Approval belongs to Apple, to each Android store and to WeChat. What we guarantee is a correct, complete submission — and that every rejection gets handled.
We don't take categories that need Chinese pre-approval.
News, publishing, streaming, live commerce, financial services, medical and formal education require licenses effectively closed to foreign-owned entities.
We don't take over your codebase.
If you already have an app, your source stays with your team — we're not here to inherit it, and you shouldn't hand it to a vendor for a launch. We direct the adaptation; your developers ship it. If you have nothing yet, that's the other path: we build the China-market product from scratch.
Pricing
Transparent ranges. No “contact us for pricing”.
Every project is quoted on scope — but you should know roughly what you're looking at before you talk to anyone.
| Service | Timeline | From |
|---|---|---|
| Launch Readiness Audit A written assessment of viability, filings and timeline — credited back if you proceed | 5–7 days | $300 |
| China Readiness Adaptation Guided advisory — your team implements, we plan and review | 3–8 weeks | $500 |
| iOS China Launch App Store China submission and China-readiness | 6–12 weeks | $3,000 |
| Android China Launch Six major Chinese Android stores | 8–16 weeks | $4,000 |
| Full Launch · iOS + Android Both platforms, one project | 8–16 weeks | $7,000 |
| WeChat Mini Program Fully developed by us — build, launch and WeChat Pay included | 10–20 weeks | $10,000 |
| China-Market Custom Build App or Mini Program built from scratch for China — scope-driven, $10,000–$50,000 | 12–24 weeks | $10,000 |
| Full Commerce Kit All platforms plus a Mini Program storefront | 12–24 weeks | $25,000 |
Government and platform fees — software copyright, WeChat verification, entity registration — are paid directly by you and are not included above. We itemise all of them in the quote.
Starting from zero with no app and no Mini Program? Custom China-market development runs $10,000–$50,000 depending on what you need built — the Mini Program line above is the usual starting point, and an app build is scoped the same way.
FAQ
The questions we get asked before anything else.
Do I need a Chinese company to launch an app in China?
For WeChat Mini Programs: yes, without exception. For Android: yes — every major Chinese store requires a mainland business license to register a developer account. For iOS: generally yes, because you need a Chinese entity to complete the ICP filing the App Store requires.
How long does it actually take?
Plan for three to five months for iOS or Android. The limiting factor is rarely development — it's software copyright at 60 to 90 days, ICP filing at 7 to 20 business days, and the app filing that follows. None of them can be compressed.
Isn't ICP filing enough?
No — ICP is only the first of four registrations. After ICP approval you must complete a public security filing within 30 days, the app itself needs its own MIIT app filing, and WeChat Mini Programs file separately. Each registration gets its own number, and all of them have to be displayed correctly.
Can you guarantee my app will be approved?
No. Approval belongs to Apple, to each Android store and to WeChat. What we control is whether the submission is correct — and we handle every rejection until it clears.
Do you build apps?
It depends on what you already have. If you have an app, we don't touch your codebase — your developers keep the source and do the rework, and we direct the China adaptation: the replacement plan for Google dependencies, the SDK selections and every store review gate.
If you have neither an app nor a Mini Program, there's nothing to adapt — we build the China-market product for you from scratch, scoped to Chinese platforms and stores from the first line of code. WeChat Mini Programs are what we build most, and we build them end to end; a native iOS or Android build is quoted separately as a China-market custom build.
My app was already rejected. Can you help?
Yes, and it's one of the most common reasons we're brought in. Usually it's a privacy declaration, a missing category qualification, or a certificate issue. Send us the rejection notice.
Do you work with companies outside the US?
Yes. We work with brands across North America, Europe and Southeast Asia. Our working hours are GMT+8, and we reply within one business day.
What if my category isn't allowed in China?
We'll tell you on the first call, before you spend anything — and point you toward a firm that specialises in that licensing track where one exists.
Do you also do marketing — KOL campaigns, Xiaohongshu, Tmall operations?
No — and we won't pretend to. Marketing in China is a discipline of its own, and it only becomes relevant once your product exists in the Chinese app ecosystem. We handle the launch.
Next step
Find out what your China launch actually requires.
A 20-minute call, no cost. We'll tell you whether your product is viable, what the filings look like and roughly how long it takes. If it isn't a fit, you'll know that too.
Book a call →
Prefer email? hello@launchinchina.com — we reply within one business day.