Submit an iOS app to the AppStore

If you want your users to download their app from the Apple® AppStore, you must submit your app for approval.

You must be a member of the Apple Developer Program. Membership is required to request, download, and use signing certificates issued by Apple. See http://developer.apple.com/programs/.

This procedure provides you with the steps for submitting an app to the AppStore. It includes steps for:

  • Creating an App ID
  • Obtaining a distribution certificate
  • Creating an iOS Distribution Provisioning Profile
  • Delivering an app to the AppStore
  1. Go to http://developer.apple.com/ web site and sign in to the Member Center using your Apple ID.
  2. Go to the iOS platform page and register an App ID by providing a description and a Bundle ID.
    The Bundle ID must be explicit.
  3. Create and download an iOS Distribution Certificate.
    1. Go to the Certificates page.
    2. Click the plus (+) icon.
    3. Select iOS Distribution (App Store and Ad Hoc) under the Software section.
    4. Follow the instructions to create and upload your Certificate Signing Request (CSR).
    5. Download your iOS Distribution Certificate and open it in Keychain® Access, Apple’s password-management application.
    In Keychain Access, you should see your iOS Distribution Certificate with the private key.
  4. Add a new iOS Distribution Provisioning Profile
    1. Go to the Profiles page.
    2. Click the plus (+) icon.
    3. Select the App Store under the Distribution section.
    4. Select your App ID (previously registered)
    5. Select your iOS Distribution Certificate.
    6. Set a profile name.
    7. Generate and download your iOS Distribution Provisioning Profile.
  5. Create an environment set to use when creating an App Store package.
    1. Open the Genero Configuration Management window.
    2. Create a copy of the iOS environment set, rename it to identify it as the environment set for creating an App Store package, and ensure it is selected.
    3. Set the IDENTITY property to your iOS Distribution Certificate's User ID.
    4. Set PROVISIONING_PROFILE property to the path to your Distribution Provisioning Profile (*.mobileprovision) file.
  6. Build your iOS package.
    1. Edit the ID property of the iOS package to match the suffix of the iOS App ID previously created.
    2. Build your iOS Package
  7. Create your application on App Store Connect.
    Refer to Apple's documentation for information on App Store Connect.
    Note:

    Only an member of the Apple Developer Program can connect to the App Store Connect.

    1. Go to the App Store Connect.
    2. Select My Apps.
    3. Click the plus (+) icon.
    4. In the form, choose your iOS App ID from the Bundle ID combobox.
    5. Complete all other fields to meet your requirements.
    6. Select Create
  8. Upload the app for submission to Apple using Transporter.
    You must have Transporter installed on your system. Refer to Apple's documentation for information about using Transporter.
    1. From Genero Studio, select Tools > iOS Tools > iOS App Store deployment > Launch Transporter.
      This opens the Transporter application.
    2. Select your iOS App Store Package (.ipa) created in step 6.
      The transporter will validate your application. Issues can be viewed at the end of the validation process.

At this stage, the app has been submitted to App Store Connect for preview by Apple. For more information on how the app moves through the Apple validation process, please refer to the Apple Developer Program.