Activities / How software is offered

Ships a mobile app

ships_mobile_app

Your app is distributed as a native application for a phone or tablet, through an app store or a direct install.

scope deployment
in the registry since 1.0
177 laws in 109 jurisdictions name it

What triggers it

The lint's definition. It distributes an app through somebody else's store, Apple's, Google's or another; running the store is operates_app_store.

This covers an iOS or Android app listed in an app store, and a sideloaded app installed directly onto a device.

What does not

A browser-based site with no installable app does not count on its own.

Often confused with Operates an app store and Distributes a software product.

The law it brings into scope

The kinds of law that name this activity in the LexLint law library, with the number of laws and jurisdictions in each, as of 19 Oct 2026. The examples are chosen by rule, laws in force first and the widest jurisdiction first; each section's page lists every law.

Area of law	Laws	Jurisdictions
Cybersecurity law Build software securely, handle reported flaws, and report incidents on a deadline. In Vitro Diagnostic Medical Devices Regulation, Software Development, Information Security and IT Security Information Requirements European Union Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch (BGB), Section 327f Updates, Including Security Updates, for Digital Products Germany National Cybersecurity Incident Reporting Measures China	107	72
Product and AI liability law Answer in damages when defective software or an AI system causes harm. Product Liability Directive 85/374/EEC, producer liability for defective products European Union Consumer Protection Act 1987, Part I, strict liability for defective products United Kingdom Codice del consumo, Articles 114 to 127, Product Liability (Directive 85/374/EEC) Italy	54	37
Privacy law Have a legal basis for personal data, honor people's rights over it, and report a breach. Data Act, User Access to Connected-Product Data and Sharing with Third Parties (Articles 3 to 5) European Union Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) Canada Ley para la Protección de Datos Personales, cross border transfer of personal data El Salvador	17	11
Age gating law Check or estimate a user's age, or design for the children likely to use the product. Estatuto Digital da Criança e do Adolescente (ECA Digital) Brazil AB 1856 (2026), Digital Age Assurance Act amendments (operating systems and application stores) California from 1 Jan 2027, in 2 months SB 26-051 (2026), Age Attestation on Computing Devices Act Colorado from 1 Jul 2028, in 1.7 years	5	5
Scraping law Stay within computer-access law, a site's terms, and the copyright in what is copied. Penal Code, creation, provision and use of unauthorized command electronic records (computer viruses) Japan	1	1

Counterparties that usually come with it

Apple's App Store or Google Play

A component that cannot run as documented without one of these names it in its ACTIVITIES.md under talks_to, with required: true. That party's jurisdiction then joins the run of every product that uses the component, and the finding says why it is there. A default the deployer can change is asked about, never added. Talking to a party never makes a product that party.

In a declaration

This activity is a property of how software is offered, so only an application or a service declares it, and only as performs.

For an application

activities: - id: ships_mobile_app mentioned: performs enabled: by_default note: <one sentence: what it does, and the kind of law it attracts>

History

In the registry since version 1.0, 16 Oct 2026.

In the glossary: Ships a mobile app.

The activity registry is LexLint's open list; this page's text is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0.