From Feature Complete to Live: A Legal Launch Guide for Mobile Apps

44 questions on from feature complete to live, answered and cited by the UpLaw editorial team.

• Does the ADA apply to my mobile app?
• Does the vacated Click-to-Cancel Rule mean I can relax about cancellation?
• How did the 2025 COPPA amendments change things?
• How does the EU Digital Markets Act change app distribution?
• How do I audit my app's third-party code before launch?
• If California's ARL has no private right of action, why does it drive class actions?
• If I paid a freelancer to build my app, do I own the code?
• In what order should an app team address its legal obligations?
• Is a privacy policy legally required for my app?
• Is publishing an app to a global store really "exporting"?
• Is violating an open-source license just a breach of contract?
• Should an app be owned by a company rather than an individual?
• Should an app company be an LLC or a corporation?
• Should my app serve children at all?
• What accessibility standard should an app build to?
• What advertising rules apply once my app starts marketing?
• What counts as "personal information" under COPPA?
• What did Epic Games v. Apple actually decide?
• What does a compliant subscription checkout look like?
• What does California's Automatic Renewal Law require?
• What does ROSCA require of online subscriptions?
• What do the Apple and Google developer agreements actually require?
• What happens in diligence when a contractor never signed an assignment?
• What is a negative option and why is it so heavily regulated?
• What is sign-in wrap and why should an app use it?
• What is the difference between a EULA, terms of service, and a privacy policy?
• What is the launch-readiness runbook in sequence?
• What is the risk of making health claims in a wellness app?
• What makes an online agreement actually binding on users?
• What must a COPPA-covered operator do?
• What payment-card obligations apply if I bill on my own website?
• What privacy obligations scale beyond the baseline?
• What should I do about platform rules in the pre-launch window?
• What two chores belong alongside forming the entity?
• When does COPPA apply to my app?
• When do export rules actually bite for a software company?
• When should employees and contractors sign IP assignments?
• Why are copyleft open-source licenses dangerous for a proprietary app?
• Why are data minimization and storage limitation the cheapest security strategy?
• Why do captions matter for an audio-first app?
• Why does documentation matter more than anything else in a dispute?
• Why does "hereby assigns" beat "agrees to assign"?
• Why is a misbehaving SDK a legal risk?
• Why should I build a software bill of materials before launch?