Playbooks: Reusable Release Checklists

Omar Masad -

Shipping an app to a store involves dozens of steps — from verifying screenshots to writing release notes to confirming compliance requirements. Playbooks in TestApp.io are reusable release checklists that standardize this process so your team follows the same proven steps every time.

What Are Playbooks?

A Playbook is a checklist template that defines the steps your team needs to complete for a release. Instead of keeping release steps in a spreadsheet or relying on tribal knowledge, Playbooks capture your process in a structured, reusable format.

Playbooks are attached to Launches, where your team checks off items as they go. This ensures consistent, repeatable releases with nothing falling through the cracks.

System Templates

TestApp.io provides pre-built Playbook templates that cover common release workflows. These are ready to use out of the box:

  • iOS App Store Submission — Covers all the steps required to submit your app to the Apple App Store, including metadata, screenshots, review guidelines compliance, and submission.
  • TestFlight Distribution — A checklist for distributing beta builds via TestFlight, including build upload, tester group configuration, and beta review requirements.
  • Google Play Store Submission — All the steps for submitting to Google Play, including store listing details, content rating, and release track configuration.

System templates are a great starting point. Use them as-is, or clone them and customize to match your team's specific workflow.

Creating Custom Playbooks

From Scratch

  1. Go to Team Settings in TestApp.io.
  2. Navigate to the Playbooks section.
  3. Click New Playbook.
  4. Give your Playbook a name (e.g., "Internal Beta Release" or "Enterprise Distribution").
  5. Add items to the checklist (see the next section for item types).
  6. Save your Playbook. It is now available to attach to any Launch.

By Cloning

If an existing Playbook is close to what you need, clone it and modify:

  1. Open the Playbook you want to duplicate.
  2. Click Clone.
  3. A copy is created with all the same items.
  4. Rename it, add or remove items, and adjust as needed.
  5. Save your customized version.

Cloning is especially useful when you want to start from a system template and tailor it to your team's process.

Adding Items to a Playbook

Playbooks support two types of items:

Checkbox Items

These represent things to verify or complete. When your team works through a Launch, they check these off as done.

Examples:

  • Screenshots updated for all required device sizes
  • App Store description reviewed and approved
  • Privacy policy URL is current and accessible
  • Build has been tested on minimum supported OS version

Text Fields

These are items where your team needs to fill in specific information during the release process.

Examples:

  • Release notes for this version
  • What's New text for the store listing
  • Build number being submitted

Required Items

Any item — checkbox or text field — can be marked as required. Required items must be completed before the Launch can proceed. This acts as a safeguard to ensure critical steps are never skipped.

Tip: Mark compliance-related items (like privacy policy verification and content rating confirmation) as required to enforce quality standards.

Platform-Specific Playbooks

When creating a Playbook, you can set its platform scope:

  • iOS only — The Playbook is designed for Apple platform submissions (App Store, TestFlight).
  • Android only — The Playbook is designed for Google Play submissions.
  • Both platforms — The Playbook applies to any submission regardless of platform.

Platform-specific Playbooks help you maintain separate, focused checklists for each store's unique requirements while keeping shared steps in a cross-platform Playbook.

Using Playbooks in Launches

Playbooks come to life when attached to a Launch:

  1. Create or open a Launch from your version.
  2. Attach one or more Playbooks to the Launch.
  3. The Playbook items appear as a checklist within the Launch.
  4. As your team works through the submission process, check off items and fill in text fields.
  5. Required items must be completed before moving the Launch forward.

You can attach multiple Playbooks to a single Launch. For example, attach both a platform-specific Playbook and a general compliance Playbook to cover all your bases.

Tips

  • Start with system templates. They cover the most common release scenarios and save you time building from scratch.
  • Customize for your team. Every team has unique steps — add items for your internal review process, legal sign-off, or marketing coordination.
  • Use required items strategically. Mark the items that are genuinely critical. Too many required items can slow down your process; too few can let important steps slip.
  • Review and update regularly. After each release cycle, revisit your Playbooks and refine them based on what you learned.

Need help? Contact us and we'll get back to you shortly.