Deploying to the App Store
The documentation is so convoluted and frustrating, at least it felt that way to me. Hope this helps others out. I am doing this retroactively, so some pages may look different if you don’t have the membership yet.
- Purchase Apple Developer membership
Enroll as individual.
Just documentation, but no submission form. You need to actually enroll in the Apple Developer Program first, before you get access to the App Store Connect:
App Store Connect
The App Store Connect is where you actually see the process of submitting an app. The main Apple website itself is not all that useful in terms of understanding the process and seems to only serve as marketing.
Go to My Apps.
2. Start App Submission
Go to App Store Connect and click “Add Apps”.
Find the Bundle ID:
3. Fill out app details
This is quite a work of labor, filling out all the details takes a good 1–2 hours.
You might see this page, but it basically is a beautified staging of what the app’s page will look like on the App Store.
The actual page where you fill in the details is in App Store Connect and looks like this:
Fill out the information (unless it explicitly states Optional) under each page in the General section (left bar).
4. Generate app archive from Xcode and export to App Store Connect
For some reason, the Archive option in the Xcode Product menu was greyed out. After some frustration, I stumbled upon how to enable it…
Select Build.
Now Archive is available as an option:
After the app archive is generated, you can “Validate” the app, to check if it passes a subset of Apple’s tests.
After validating, select “Distribute App”.
Select “App Store Connect” (recommended) to directly show up in your App Store Connect submission application. Alternatively, select “Development” to export the source code locally.
If Development is selected, the exported source code files look like this:
The .ipa (iOS App Store Package) file is the file format used to distribute and install iOS applications on iPhones, iPads, and iPod Touch devices. It is essentially an archive file that contains the compiled binary of the iOS app, along with other assets and resources needed to run the app on an iOS device.
Final window before distributing the app archive in desired method.
5. Submit for Review
App has been submitted for review!
In App Store Connect, you can view the history:
To access the app archive later, open Xcode > Window > Organizer:
Here is a more developer-friendly documentation:
High-level overview:
Step 1:
- change password/update password
- data privacy statement
- user settings
- compatible with all iPhones, scrolling, etc.
Requirements:
- Get Apple developer account/pay $99
- D-U-N-S Number [not sure]
- Legal Entity Status [business]
- Legal Binding Authority [not sure]
- Website [good]
Step 2:
- unique bundle id (cannot change)
- app version number and build string — [Major].[Minor].[Patch], such as 9.12.1.
- app category: Productivity
Step 3: https://developer.apple.com/app-store-connect/
- https://developer.apple.com/programs/enroll/
Step 4 — Capture App Store Screenshots
- screenshots, then mockup template
Step 5 — Upload the App Using Xcode
- version should be set to 1.0.0
1. creating a full app archive: Go to your list of simulators in Xcode and click “Generic iOS Device” > “Product” > “Archive.” > Xcode to bundle your app (LONG TIME)
2. “Archives” tab, and click “Distribute App” on the right side of your screen > “iOS App Store” as method of distribution
Step 6 — Submit the App for Review
- get an email when the archive is officially processed and ready for you
- select archive, click the “Submit for Review” button at the top right
- 50% of apps get reviewed within 24 hours and 90% are reviewed in 48 hours
https://developer.apple.com/app-store/review/
https://buildfire.com/how-to-publish-an-app-to-the-app-store/
