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What's in the full guide

  1. 6Build your card app: your collection From the first screen to a working collection app on your phone: exact printings, real card data, search, values, a card page, wishlists, sealed products and slabs, plus a name, an icon, help and a way to report problems.
  2. 7Work safely as it grows The habits that keep a growing app safe: switches, testing before anything goes live, locks, backups you check, helpers in moderation, an honest "done", notes, one to-do list, fresh conversations, and watching usage and disk space.
  3. 8Customer accounts and a server Buy your domain, give your app a server and a database, add sign-in with an email code, Apple and Google, keep data in step between phone and computer, and handle secrets, backups and privacy safely.
  4. 9Outside services (APIs) What an API is, how to choose an outside service and read its terms, where your app's data comes from, and how to keep the bills small.
  5. 10Your card app: prices, deals and shows Licensed prices people can trust, price history for everyone, deals and the customer screen, card show mode, scanning, labels, payments at the table, certificate lookups, a storefront, and the legal check.
  6. 11Extras that make your app feel premium Optional features that make an app feel finished: search, charts, a computer version, team members, sharing in, barcodes, labels, addresses, an opening animation, Lock Screen and Apple Watch extras, Siri, in-person payments, a shop and working offline.
  7. 12Developer accounts and testing Join Apple's and Google's developer programs, put a real build of your app on your own phone and on your testers' phones, send small fixes as instant updates, and write a "What's new" note for every build.
  8. 13Your website Put a simple, honest website on your domain, publish the web version of your app from the same code as the phones, get an email address on your domain, make your emails land in inboxes, and write the privacy policy, terms, support page and help center the stores require.
  9. 14Your owner dashboard A private page only you can open, to run the app as a business: customers and plans, free plans and trials, revenue, bug reports with replies, live switches, health checks, writing to customers by hand, and the rule that you see accounts but never what's inside them.
  10. 15Getting paid Business basics, the stores' rules for charging inside apps, in-app purchases on iPhone and Android, payments on your website, prices and a free trial, test purchases without real money, and a safety check before you charge anyone.
  11. 16Grow your app Free trials with a reminder before they end, a free launch period you can switch off, invite rewards, creator codes, notifications and emails people want, a What's new screen, ratings, finding your first customers by hand, and adding features safely after launch.
  12. 17Launch in the stores Make your store pages, re-check your legal pages and privacy answers against the real app, give the reviewers a test account, submit to the App Store and Google Play, handle a no, and release on a day you choose.
  13. 18After launch Run your app as a living thing: answer every bug report, ship small updates often and safely, listen to your first users, tell more people, and keep the monthly costs in sight.