How to hang an app on the APP Store

November 15, 2018
Antevenio
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Apple Store is a distribution channel for apps for iOS apps of iPhone and iPad. Currently, it has more than two million apps. And every day more than 3,000 new apps are uploaded. The process to put an app in the APP Store requires a process.

Many businesses that usually choose to leave in the hands of others a somewhat complicated system to publish an app in the Apple Store or iTunes. But, if you don´t want to delegate the publication of your app, in this post we show you how to hang an app on the APP Store.

Steps to hang an app on the App Store

For your users to enjoy your app, it is crucial that you follow the following stages. It´ll take you a while. And, also, it´s likely that you will have to wait several days to receive Apple’s validation. But once you control the whole process it is better that you do it by yourself. This way you can control all the factors.

To put an app in the App Store you must complete the following 4 stages:

  1. Register as a developer.
  2. Get ready the graphic materials.
  3. Upload the app in iTunes Connect.
  4. Validate the app.

1.- Register as a developer

The first step you must take to put an app in the App Store is to register an account as a developer or app developer. To achieve this, it is necessary to have an Apple ID or create one.

You must sign up in the iOS Developer Program from where you can buy your developer license for Apple:

  • Access the Enroll section of developers.apple.com.
  • Select if you are an organization or a person and click on “Start your Enrollment”.
  • Enter your Apple ID and complete the form. You need to select the type of Apple developer license you prefer:
    • Individual: If you are an independent developer. The registration has a cost of $99 per year
    • Company: If there are several developers in your company. It will have a higher cost.
    • Government Organization: If you are part of a public entity.

Create different Apple certificates


The next step is to create 3 certificates through the Member Center. This is a laborious process that includes a series of certificates, identifiers, and profiles to be able to compile the app. The steps to take are:

  1. Once inside the Member Center enter “Certificates, Identifiers & Profiles”.
  2. Click on Certificates
  3. Click on Download in the iOS distribution type certificate. You must open it to be stored in your “Keychain”.
  4. Click on Identifiers.
  5. Click on the + Add button. Enter a name for the identifier and, subsequently, the identifier (Bundle ID). Later you´ll have to put this Bundle ID in your xCode project (the code with which the apps for the App Store are made). Next, click on Continue and, finally, on Submit.
  6. Click on Provisioning Profiles -> Distribution.
  7. Click on the + Add button and select the Distribution, App Store. Click on Continue. Then, select the Bundle ID created in the previous step and click on Continue.
  8. Select the certificate for iOS Distribution and click on Continue. Enter a profile name (Provisioning) and click on Generate.
  9. Finally, click on Download to download the provisioning and open it to be included in your list of xCode profiles.

2.- Get ready the graphic materials

During the process of loading the Apple app, you will be requesting some elements that are fundamental to your app success. Before continuing, you´ll need to take the necessary time to create these files.

The elements that you have to prepare are:

  1. The icon of the app.
  2. Promotional screenshots.
  3. A promotional video

1.- The app icon

This is the image that defines the app. You must create an image of size 2048 x 2048, then upload it in Xcode to the project. The app icon must be completely square without rounded edges. It is Apple itself that is responsible for putting the rounded edges.

2.- Promotional screenshots

Besides the icon its necessary to prepare the screenshots that will serve to promote the app. These are the images that appear below the icon and the name of your app in the Apple Store. It is recommended to create images in .jpg format with minimal compression to avoid problems when putting an app in the APP Store.

You need to be very careful with the size of the images of the promotional screenshots. The resolutions for the different devices are:

  • For iPhone:
    • 480×320 (iPhone 3GS).
    • 960×640 (iPhone 4S).
    • 1136×640 (iPhone 5/5C/5S).
    • 1334×750 (iPhone 6).
    • 2208×1242 (iPhone 6 Plus).
  • For iPad:
    • 1024×768 (iPad 2 /iPad Mini).
    • 2048×1536 (iPad Retina 3/4, iPad Mini Retina 1/2 and iPad Air 1/2)

If you are going to put a universal app it will be mandatory that you upload the screenshots with all the resolutions.

3.- A promotional video

It´s not an obligation, it´s advisable that you prepare a promotional video so that users can see it in the Apple Store. And help them decide to download your app. Except for the iPhone 4S that doesn´t support promotional videos, in the rest of devices, the supported formats are mp4, mov in H264 and ProRes 422 HQ. The resolutions must be:

  • For iPhone:
    • 1136×640 (iPhone 5/5c/5s). Full HD 1920×1080 videos are also allowed.
    • 1136×75 (iPhone 6).
    • 1920×1080 or Full HD (iPhone 6 Plus).
  • For iPad:
    • 2048×1536 in 4: 3 for all models. Is also allowed video of 1200×900 in resolution 16: 9.

3.- Load the app in iTunes Connect

The process of loading the app in iTunes is done from iTunes Connect where you have to access your username and password. Once inside, you have to follow the following steps to hang an app in the APP Store:

  1. Click on “Manage your apps”.
  2. Click on Add New App.
  3. Include the information about the app and click on Continue:
    • Language.
    • App name.
    • Identifier of the app.
    • Select the Bundle ID of the app
  4. Select the date on which your app will be available in AppStore once Apple approves it. Include the price of the app. Then, click on Continue.
  5. Indicate the version number, Copyright and two categories that describe the app you have developed.
  6. Write a description of the app and a series of words that describe it. These two aspects are fundamental since it will depend on them that users find you in the AppStore search.
  7. Enter a support website
  8. Include contact information.
  9. Upload the pictures of the app: the icon and the different screenshots. Save the settings.
  10. Enter the description of the app and click on Ready to Upload Binary. You must select NO and click on Save and then on Continue.

At this moment you have the app ready to be uploaded. Now it’s time to upload it from Xcode.

Prepared to Upload. Now we have to upload it from Xcode, which is the integrated development environment (IDE) created by Apple and which works together with Interface Builder, the graphical tool for creating user interfaces. You can download it from the Mac App Store.

In Xcode you can define the following values ​​for your app:

  1. Version: It is the version of your app.
  2. Build: version number of the file that you are uploading. To put an app in the APP Store you can upload several files to iTunes Connect and then select the one you want to send for review. This value is invisible to the user that your app is downloaded.

4.- Validate the app

To close the loading process of the app you must follow these steps:

  1. Open your XCode project and check that your Bundle Id is the same that you created in Apple Developer identifier
  2. Select your provisioning profile.
  3. In the project general options in the Build Settings tab, look for Code Signing Identity, and select the provisioning created for the Release field.
  4. Click on the Product and Archive tabs. If it doesn´t detect any error it´ll generate our your file in the correct way.
  5. Select the Validate option. A window will appear with the data that has been loaded from your iTunes Connect account. Otherwise, you must enter your username and password.
  6. If the app passes the test it will indicate you.
  7. Once the app is validated click on Distribute and then Submit to the iOS App Store.

At this moment you have the app loaded and you only have to wait for the Apple team’s review process to end. If, for whatever reason, there is something in the app that doesn´t work correctly; will indicate it. This may be due to an error in your programming or because Apple doesn´t allow any functionality that you´ve incorporated.

To finish the process of hanging an app in the APP Store you must correct the errors and redistribute it. In this case, to upload a new file, you must change the Build number. If the first one was 1.0, the second file could be 1.1.

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