Section 02
Accounts you need before you start
Five accounts. Two cost money. Get these open before touching the CLI, because approval on the Apple side is the slowest step in the whole process and can take days.
| Account | Cost | What it gives you | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apple Developer Program | $99 / year | Certificates, provisioning profiles, the right to ship to the App Store. | Enrolling as a company needs a D-U-N-S number and a legal entity. That can take a week or more. Enrolling as an individual is instant but puts your personal name on the listing, and converting later is painful. |
| App Store Connect | included | The app record, TestFlight, review submission, and the API key leas uploads with. | Comes with the Developer Program — same login, different site. |
| Google Play Console | $25 once | The Play listing, release tracks, and Play App Signing. | New personal accounts may face additional identity and testing requirements before public release. Check current policy when you enrol. |
| Google Cloud | free | Hosts the service account that leas authenticates to Play with. | Creating it here is only half the job — you must also grant it access inside Play Console. |
| GitHub | free tier works | Your build fleet and your secret store. | macOS runner minutes bill at a multiple of Linux minutes on private repos. |