How long a China launch really takes
Plan for three to five months. Anyone promising six weeks has either not counted the filings or is quietly assuming you already have a Chinese entity, a granted software copyright and a China-ready build.
Where the time goes
| Item | Duration | Can it overlap? |
|---|---|---|
| Entityregistration or designation | 2–6 weeks | Everything else waits on it. This is the first domino. |
| Software copyrightthe hard floor | 60–90 days | Start it day one. It runs in the background while you do everything else. |
| ICP filingwebsite and app content | 7–20 business days | After ICP is approved, the public security filing follows within 30 days. |
| App filingMIIT, per app | Follows ICP | Can run while adaptation is happening. |
| China-readiness adaptationyour developers | 3–8 weeks | Yes — this is the item to overlap with the filing queues. |
| Developer accountsper store | Days to weeks | Yes, once the entity and app filing exist. |
| Store reviewsApp Store plus six Android stores | 2–6 weeks | Each store is its own queue with its own clock. |
| Remediationif something is rejected | 1–3 weeks per cycle | The variable that turns a plan into a range. |
The two things you cannot compress
- Software copyright. Sixty to ninety days is a processing time, not a queue you can pay to skip. It is the single reason a China launch cannot be fast.
- Store review. You are one submission in somebody else’s backlog. There is no escalation route that works reliably for a first-time developer.
The best realistic case
If your entity already exists, your software copyright has already been granted, and your build is already China-ready, the remaining work is filings, accounts and submission — weeks rather than months. That is the combination that makes a two-month launch possible, and it is rare because the copyright is usually the item nobody started early.
The worst realistic case
Entity not yet decided, copyright not started, build still wired to Google services, and a category that turns out to need a qualification certificate. In that situation the honest answer is that this is a next-quarter project, and starting the copyright and the entity this week is what stops it becoming a next-half project.
How to plan backwards from a launch date
Take the date you want and subtract, in this order:
- Store review and remediation: 4–8 weeks to be safe
- Submission preparation and app filing: 3–4 weeks
- ICP and public security filing: 4–6 weeks
- Software copyright: 12 weeks
If the result is before today, the date is not achievable — and the earlier you know that, the cheaper it is. This is the calculation we do on the first call, with your real dates rather than a template.
Want this applied to your product rather than in general?
A 20-minute call and a written readiness check will tell you which of these applies to you, in what order, and what it costs. No cost, and no obligation to proceed.
Prefer to talk it through? Message us on WhatsApp — usually answered the same day.