Organisation or personal account
Both stores offer two account types. For a company the choice is simple: enrol as an organisation.
Apple shows the account holder's legal name as the seller. On a personal account that is your own name under the company's app. For apps in banking, healthcare, gambling, air travel, crypto or anything that handles sensitive data, Apple's guideline 5.1.1(ix) says the app should come from the legal entity that provides the service, not from an individual developer.
Google adds a practical reason. Personal accounts created after 13 November 2023 must meet testing requirements and verify access to an Android device before release. Organisation accounts skip that step, and Google displays the company's legal name, address, email and phone on the store.
What you need before you start
| Item | Apple | Google Play |
|---|---|---|
| Fee | USD 99 per year | USD 25 once |
| D-U-N-S number | Required for companies | Required for organisations |
| Company documents | Checked through D&B | Trade licence or certificate of incorporation |
| Person who enrols | Owner, executive or someone with signing authority | Authorised representative with photo ID |
| Website | Public, on a domain tied to the company | Organisation website in the payments profile |
| On the company's domain | Contact and developer emails verified by one-time code |
Apple refuses a website that is only a social media page, a page with minimal content or a registrar's parking page, and it wants your work email on the company domain, per its enrolment rules. If you don't have a site yet, build it first; our website cost guide shows what that costs in Dubai. Google does not accept prepaid cards for the USD 25 fee.
The D-U-N-S number
A D-U-N-S number is a nine-digit business identifier from Dun & Bradstreet. Both stores use it to confirm that your company exists as a legal entity at the address you give. It costs nothing: you check whether your company already has one and, if not, request it free.
Where the sources disagree
The two stores give different waiting times for the same number.
- Apple: D&B issues the number within up to 5 business days, and Apple receives it up to 2 business days later. Apple says paying to expedite does not shorten the wait.
- Google: the process can take up to 30 days, so plan ahead.
We plan for the longer figure and request the number in the first week of development, not the week before launch.
If Apple answers 'Your organization is not listed as a legal entity', D&B has your company listed under another status, for example as a sole proprietorship. You then email D&B with your registration documents; Apple says profile updates reach it within two business days.
Name and licence: what has to match
Google names unsupported documents as the main reason verification fails. The name is the field to check first.
- Apple enrols only the legal entity. It does not accept DBAs, trade names, fictitious names or branches, and it displays the legal entity name as the seller.
- Google says submitted documents must match the payments profile exactly: personal details, organisation name and address. Fake or edited documents can get the account and its apps removed.
So write the company name exactly as the trade licence prints it, in the D&B profile, the Apple enrolment and the Google payments profile. 'Sunrise Café' on the shopfront and 'Sunrise Restaurant & Cafe LLC' on the licence are two different names to a verification team. The person enrolling also needs real first and last names on their Apple Account; Apple says aliases or a company name in those fields delay approval.
Payments inside the app
The store rules depend on what you sell.
| What the user pays for | Apple | Google Play |
|---|---|---|
| Digital features, subscriptions, content | In-app purchase, guideline 3.1.1 | Google Play billing, Payments policy |
| Physical goods, services used offline | Your own gateway or Apple Pay, guideline 3.1.3(e) | Play billing must not be used |
A restaurant that sells delivery, a clinic that takes deposits or a salon that sells bookings uses its own payment gateway in both stores and pays them no commission on those sales. An app that sells a premium subscription or paid content goes through the stores' billing.
Commission on store billing: Apple's standard rate is 30%, cut to 15% for developers with up to USD 1 million in annual proceeds who join the Small Business Program. Google charges 15% on the first USD 1 million a developer earns each year outside the EEA, UK and US, and 15% on auto-renewing subscriptions.
Links to outside payment for digital goods are restricted. Apple's guideline 3.1.1(a) grants link-out entitlements only in specific regions, and the US storefront needs none. We found no entitlement that covers the UAE storefront, so assume in-app purchase for digital goods sold to UAE users.
VAT: the two stores treat a UAE developer differently
This is the point people get wrong.
- Google Play. If you are located in the UAE, you are responsible for determining, charging and remitting VAT on paid apps and in-app purchases bought by UAE customers. Google remits the 5% itself only for developers based outside the UAE. You set the rate in the Google Payments Center.
- App Store. Apple's developer agreement lists the UAE in Exhibit B to Schedule 2, the list of regions where Apple collects and remits tax on App Store sales.
You may see a 'VAT ID' field for the UAE in App Store Connect. Apple's help page ties it to business-to-business status for commissions on external purchases and alternative distribution, not to ordinary App Store sales. Ask your accountant how both flows appear in your VAT return; neither store gives tax advice.
Arabic in the listing and the app
Neither store requires an Arabic listing. App Store Connect supports Arabic metadata, and Google Play lets you add translations per language.
The law is stricter than the stores. The federal consumer protection law, article 26 of Law 15/2020, says data, advertisements and contracts related to the consumer must be in Arabic, with other languages allowed alongside. If your app sells to consumers, put the terms, prices and checkout screens in Arabic as well as English. We cover the details and the fines in Arabic language requirements in the UAE.
Review times and launch plan
Apple reviews around the clock and typically clears 50% of submissions in under 24 hours and 90% in under 48 hours. Over 40% of unresolved issues fall under guideline 2.1, app completeness: crashes, placeholder text, missing demo logins.
Google gives no average. Its help page says some developer accounts get a more thorough review that can take up to seven days or longer.
Our order of work for a new company account:
- Week 1: request the D-U-N-S number and check the licence name.
- Week 1–2: put the company website and domain email in place.
- As soon as D-U-N-S arrives: enrol with Apple and Google.
- During development: prepare English and Arabic listings, privacy policy and a demo account for reviewers.
- Two weeks before launch: submit to both stores, leaving time for one rejection.
Budget is the other half of the plan. We break down build and running costs in how much an app costs in the UAE.
