Your First Year With Rork: The Order Your Bills Actually Arrive In
Starting on Rork's free tier doesn't mean the only money moving is Rork's. I lined up the official pricing pages for Rork Pro, Apple, Google Play, EAS and Supabase to show what gets billed when in year one, and what simply stops working instead.
The night the Play Console wouldn't let me submit — release notes cap at 500 characters per language
Google Play release notes are limited to 500 characters per language. Here is how I got unstuck after pasting a long update memo, plus a short check script and what to do when an old draft release blocks a new one.
Before You Promise "Release in a Week" — Break Down the Days You Will Spend Waiting
When your Rork app is ready, the release date still isn't yours to set. Break the wait into Apple enrollment, Google Play closed testing, and first review, then work out the earliest and the late-case date with a small TypeScript script.
A review asks for a refund. Your answer changes depending on the store
On iOS you cannot refund a purchase as the developer. On Google Play you can, from Play Console, and it cannot be undone. Here is how I word each reply, and how I stopped forgetting to revoke access afterwards.
Those 14 Days of Closed Testing Are for Gathering What the Production Form Asks
Google Play production access starts from a closed test with 12 testers opted in continuously for 14 days. Here is how the count actually works, the order the tracks open in, what the application form asks, and the records worth keeping during those two weeks.
Sending user text to an external AI: what actually goes in Play's Data safety form
Classifying user input sent to an external AI as collected, shared, or ephemeral in Play's Data safety form, plus a redaction ordering bug found by running the code.
After the Google Play deadline: which dormant Android apps to raise, and which to leave at 35
Apps you have stopped updating are governed by a different bar than apps you still ship. Here is how to inventory effective targetSdk across your builds and decide which apps to raise, hold, or retire.
expo-doctor passes on API level 35. Here is what its 22 checks actually cover
I opened the expo-doctor 1.20.4 bundle and listed every check it registers. Only one looks at store requirements, and its threshold is still API level 34.
What Android 16 ignores on tablets, and why app.json gives you no way out
Targeting API level 36 means screenOrientation is ignored on displays at least 600dp wide. Here is how to check your project without a tablet, why app.json cannot express a fix, and what the opt-out property actually restores.
Bumping targetSdk to 36 surfaced a 16 KB warning. These are two different deadlines
The August 31 target API 36 requirement and the February 1, 2027 16 KB page size requirement are separate conditions. Here is how to inspect your AAB without installing the NDK, and why a LOAD misalignment and a zip boundary miss need completely different fixes.
The names you can change, and the ones you can't — the 30 minutes before your first Rork release
An app has three names, and only the display name can be changed after release. Here is how I check the identifiers Rork fills in by default, using a dependency-free script, before I hit submit.
August 31 Means Something Different Depending on Whether You Plan to Ship an Update
Two separate conditions land on Google Play's August 31 date: API 36 to submit an update, and API 35 to stay discoverable to new users. Here is how I sorted six apps, and who actually gets the extension form.