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Gantt Chart for Mobile App Launch

Plan a mobile app launch with a Gantt chart covering discovery, iOS/Android dev, QA, App Store review timelines, ASO, and post-launch monitoring.

Gantt Chart for Mobile App Launch

Mobile app launches have a deceptive structure. The development work feels like the whole project — design, build, test — but the actual launch involves a second set of dependencies that most teams don't schedule rigorously. App Store review takes 24 to 48 hours for Apple and up to 7 days for Google. Marketing assets (screenshots, preview videos, app descriptions) need to be produced and reviewed before submission. Beta testing needs to close and feedback needs to be actioned before you submit for review. ASO (App Store Optimization) copy needs to be written, localized if you're launching in multiple markets, and approved.

Every one of these is a real task with a real duration and a real dependency on something before it. A Gantt chart makes all of them explicit — and makes it nearly impossible to accidentally submit to the App Store two weeks after your planned launch date because someone forgot to start the screenshot production.

Phase 1: Discovery and Scoping (Weeks 1–4)

Before a line of code is written, the project needs clear scope, validated assumptions, and a technical foundation.

Key tasks:

  • Stakeholder interviews and goals definition
  • User research: who is this for, what problem does it solve?
  • Competitive app analysis
  • Feature prioritization (MVP vs. post-launch roadmap)
  • Technical architecture decision: native (Swift/Kotlin), cross-platform (React Native, Flutter), or hybrid?
  • Backend services inventory: existing APIs, third-party services, new backend work required
  • Project scope document and sign-off milestone

The scope sign-off milestone is a gate. Design cannot start until scope is approved. Make this explicit on the Gantt — design tasks have scope sign-off as a dependency.

Phase 2: UI/UX Design (Weeks 3–8)

Design and development often want to overlap, but design must lead — developers need finalized screens to build from.

Design Gantt tasks:

  • Brand and visual language definition (if new brand, not an existing product)
  • Information architecture and user flow mapping
  • Wireframing — low-fidelity screen layouts for all key flows
  • Design critique and revision (internal)
  • High-fidelity mockups in Figma (or equivalent)
  • Prototype and user testing (at least one round)
  • Design revision based on testing feedback
  • Final design handoff milestone — all screens, components, assets, and interaction specs ready for developers

The design handoff milestone gates development start. If developers start before design is final, they'll rebuild screens. Some overlap is acceptable for non-UI work (API integration, data layer), but screen implementation must wait for final design.

Phase 3: iOS and Android Development (Weeks 6–20, Parallel Tracks)

If you're shipping to both platforms, iOS and Android development run as parallel Gantt tracks. Each has its own developers, its own build, its own release artifacts.

Per-platform Gantt structure:

  • Platform setup (project scaffolding, CI/CD pipeline, environment configuration)
  • Authentication and account management implementation
  • Core feature development — structured by feature, not by sprint number, on the Gantt
  • Backend API integration
  • Push notification setup
  • Analytics instrumentation (events and properties for all tracked actions)
  • Third-party SDK integration (payment, maps, social, etc.)
  • Accessibility implementation (dynamic type, VoiceOver/TalkBack)
  • Deep linking and universal link setup
  • Code freeze milestone (all features complete, only bug fixes allowed)

Show iOS and Android as separate swimlanes. Where they depend on the same backend API endpoint being ready, draw that dependency explicitly — both platform tracks have a successor relationship to the API completion milestone for that feature.

Phase 4: Backend API Development (Weeks 5–16)

Backend development is a third parallel track, often the constraint that determines platform development pace.

Backend Gantt items:

  • API schema and endpoint design (produces a spec the platform teams can mock against)
  • Core data model implementation
  • Authentication and authorization
  • Business logic per feature
  • Third-party integrations (payment processor, email, push notification service)
  • Performance testing and optimization
  • Security review (before QA begins)
  • API documentation
  • Backend code freeze milestone

The API spec, delivered early in this track, lets iOS and Android developers mock backend responses and build UI without waiting for the real backend. When the real backend is ready, they swap the mock for the live implementation. This reduces the sequential dependency and shortens the overall timeline.

Phase 5: QA Testing (Weeks 15–20)

QA runs in two forms: ongoing throughout development (developers test their own work) and a structured QA phase at the end of development.

Structured QA Gantt tasks:

  • Test plan creation (all test cases written before QA begins)
  • Functional testing: every user flow on every supported device and OS version
  • Regression testing: existing functionality not broken by new code
  • Performance testing: app launch time, screen transitions, battery impact
  • Network testing: behavior on slow connections, offline mode (if supported)
  • Accessibility audit (screen readers, font scaling)
  • Security testing (certificate pinning, token storage, input validation)
  • Bug triage: severity classification, fix assignment
  • Bug fix development and re-test cycles (plan for 2–3 cycles)
  • QA sign-off milestone: all P0 and P1 bugs resolved

The QA sign-off milestone gates beta testing. Don't send a bug-laden build to beta testers — you'll exhaust their goodwill on issues your team should have caught internally.

Phase 6: Beta Testing (Weeks 19–23)

Beta testing with real users catches issues no internal team ever finds.

Beta testing Gantt:

  • TestFlight setup (Apple): Configure external testing group, add beta testers
  • Google Play Internal Testing / Closed Testing track setup
  • Beta build distribution (milestone)
  • Beta testing period: typically 2–4 weeks for a meaningful signal
  • Beta feedback collection and triage
  • Critical bug fixes from beta feedback
  • Final beta sign-off milestone

Manage beta recruitment on the Gantt too. You need to invite testers, wait for them to install, give them time to use the app meaningfully, and collect feedback before the testing period ends. If you open beta on a Tuesday and close it Friday, you'll get shallow feedback. Plan for at least 2 weeks of active beta usage.

Phase 7: App Store Optimization (Weeks 18–24)

ASO work starts while development is finishing — not after. App Store Optimization affects discoverability from day one, and the assets take time to produce.

ASO Gantt tasks:

  • Keyword research (title and subtitle keywords for iOS; title, short description, and keywords for Android)
  • App title and subtitle / short description drafting
  • Long description copywriting (keyword-rich but user-readable)
  • App category selection
  • Screenshot design (5–8 screenshots per platform, per device size — iPhone 6.7", iPad 12.9", etc.)
  • Preview video production (optional but recommended for complex apps; 15–30 seconds, device-framed)
  • App icon finalization (must be ready before submission)
  • Localized versions (if launching in multiple languages — each locale needs its own screenshots and copy)
  • ASO copy review and approval milestone

Screenshot and video production is the most time-consuming ASO task. Plan for 2–3 weeks of design and revision. App icons need to look sharp at 1024×1024 before the platforms scale them down — any fuzziness in the master file becomes a problem.

Phase 8: App Store Review (Weeks 24–25)

Review timelines are outside your control, but you can plan around them.

Apple App Store:

  • 24 to 48 hours for most apps
  • First submission for a new app account sometimes takes 3–5 days
  • Rejections are common — plan for one rejection and a 2–3 day cure cycle
  • Common rejection reasons: incomplete review notes, broken login (always provide test credentials), misleading screenshots, missing privacy policy

Google Play Store:

  • New apps: approximately 7 days for first review
  • Updates to existing apps: 2–7 days
  • Rejections: less common than Apple, but policy violations can result in removal (not just rejection)

Gantt structure for review:

  • App submission milestone (iOS and Android submit on the same day if possible)
  • Review period (iOS: 2 days; Android: 7 days)
  • Response to rejection (if applicable): fix and resubmit within 2 days
  • App approved milestone
  • Staged rollout or scheduled release

Don't schedule your marketing launch for the day you expect App Store approval. Add a 5-day buffer. If Apple rejects and you need to resubmit, you'll miss your own launch by a day if you haven't built in buffer time.

Phase 9: Marketing and Launch Coordination (Weeks 20–26)

Marketing assets must be ready before the apps are published — press coverage, social posts, and email campaigns should drop at the same time the app becomes available.

Marketing launch Gantt:

  • Press kit production (press release, screenshots, founder photos, product videos)
  • Press outreach embargo setup (journalists receive assets with a strict publish embargo until launch day)
  • Email to existing list or waitlist (scheduled for launch day)
  • Social media content production and scheduling
  • Influencer/creator partnership coordination
  • Paid social campaign setup (creative, targeting, budgets)
  • ASA (Apple Search Ads) and Google UAC campaign setup
  • Product Hunt listing (draft prepared, not submitted until launch day)
  • Launch day coordination call milestone (everyone knows what to publish at what time)

Phase 10: Post-Launch Monitoring and Hotfix Reserve (Weeks 25–28)

Launch is not the end. The first two weeks after launch are the highest-risk period for critical bugs.

Post-launch Gantt:

  • Crash monitoring setup active (Crashlytics, Sentry, etc.)
  • Day 1 monitoring: track crash rate, ANR rate, ratings
  • Day 3 review: first meaningful App Store review data
  • Week 1 hotfix decision: are any critical bugs present that warrant an expedited fix?
  • Hotfix build and submission (if needed)
  • Week 2 performance review: retention D1/D7, funnel analytics, support ticket themes
  • 30-day post-launch retrospective milestone

Reserve developer capacity for hotfixes during the first two weeks. Don't immediately rotate the entire team to the next sprint after launch. A P0 bug discovered by 10,000 users on day 2 needs immediate attention — if the team is deep in new feature development, the response time suffers.

Building the App Launch Gantt

The app launch Gantt typically spans 20 to 28 weeks for a well-resourced team with a medium-complexity app. Simpler apps with experienced teams can hit 12–16 weeks. Complex apps with backend systems, multiple integrations, and full-platform support run longer.

Build the Gantt starting from your target App Store submission date and work backward: submission date minus review buffer gives you your code freeze date; code freeze date minus beta duration gives you QA start; and so on. When you hit the discovery tasks at the beginning, you'll know whether your target launch is achievable or needs to move.

Use gantt-chart.io to manage the parallel iOS, Android, and backend tracks, assign tasks to specific engineers, and give stakeholders a live view of progress toward launch. When the QA phase reveals more bugs than expected and needs to extend two weeks, the Gantt shows exactly which downstream milestones shift — and lets the team make an informed decision about launch date rather than a panicked last-minute call.

A mobile app launch is complex enough without the added stress of losing track of where things stand. The Gantt keeps the whole team — developers, designers, QA, marketing, and executives — oriented toward the same finish line.