I am pretty new to iOS development so I apologize if I will ask something obvious. I have uploaded a Unity game to App Store Connect and successfully published it to the App Store. Over time I have fixed some bugs and I would like to upload a new version. I have created a new version in App Store Connect but I somehow struggle to upload the new build from Xcode. There is a couple questions I have:
Should Bundle ID stay the same when it is the same app only different versions or should it be different every time?
When I create a new build from Unity and open it in Xcode I have to set everything up again (AppIcon etc.). It is not a problem but I believe there is a better way. How should I do this?
Thank you.
Should Bundle ID stay the same when it is the same app only different versions or should it be different every time?
Bundle ID should be same if it's a same app in app store
When I create a new build from Unity and open it in Xcode I have to set everything up again (AppIcon etc.). It is not a problem but I believe there is a better way. How should I do this?
When you build xcode project from Unity, you may use append option to avoid your xcode project being overwritten.
Related
I think this is not required, at my personal experience only new iOS specific features in my application will require a new release, but a personal client is asking me to confirm this.
With every new XCode release, do I have to rebuild and publish my application in order to make it available at the AppStore of new iOS Release?
If there is any official documentation that proves this will be appreciated!
You do not need to re-publish. Apps remain in the App Store until the developer pulls it (or very rarely, Apple pulls it due to policy violations).
There is likely not any documentation that explicitly states this, but consider a scenario where somebody gets the new iPhone 13 and opts to restore it from iCloud. Data is pulled from iCloud, but apps are restored by re-installing them from the App Store. If apps disappeared from the App Store because they haven't been re-compiled, then anybody who upgraded their phone would discover that a large number of their apps had disappeared.
Anecdotally, my company has apps in the App Store that haven't seen a new submission in over 2 years (since iOS 12). Those apps are still in the store.
You can test your iOS app using the new Xcode 13 and if you got some bug using the new iOS SDK, you can fix it and submit a new version to App Store using the new Xcode.
Its prudent to test your apps on each new OS (preferably before the public release) but in most cases no new release is necessary. Over time you may want to update your app to take advantage of new features or to better support new devices. No app will never last forever but you will likely be able to go some time before having to update.
I have a Universal iOS app that has been in the App Store for two years now. I am working on a massive update for it. I have learned a lot since then and I feel that the best thing for me to do is to rewrite the app from the ground up. I can just strip out the app but I would rather start from scratch with a new Xcode project and submit it as an update.
However, I'm not sure if this will work. What do I need to change in the plist and other settings so that this new project will be recognized as an update to the existing one? Is it even possible?
You should just be able to use the App ID/Provisioning profile of the existing app when you develop the new one.
In XCode, you'd set the Bundle ID to whatever the app's identifier is, and update CFBundleVersion and CFBundleShortVersionString to reflect the current version of the app.
Keep in mind that you can't add to the required device capabilities (meaning make it more restrictive), so it has to match what they were for the old version.
I'm fairly new to app development, and I just recently put my first app in the App Store. I noticed some bugs after it was released, and when I tried to test it, it overwrote the version I had downloaded from the app store. I have the app connected to Game Center, so I want to avoid setting a high score while I am testing. Normally, in the test version I am logged out, and it has my ID saved for the App Store version, so it auto logs in for that version. However now that the new version has been overwritten, I can't login at all.
How do I keep them separate?
Change the bundle id like com.company.game to com.company.game2 or so
I have an app on AppStore that I would like to improve with StoryBoard. I was recomended to build a new app from scratch instead of trying to add storyboard to an old app. So I have done that and now I would like to upload it to the AppStore and replace the old one.
I understand that the bundle identifier and app name must be the same. Do I have to make sure any other stuff is the same?
Yes, you can do this no problem.
Just make sure to use the same App bundle identifier i.e. com.companyname.appname as in your original app.
Then use the same distribution license that you would normally use.
You have to release the new app as an update to the old app but apart from that you can change anything else.
You also have to make the new version number greater than the current apps version number.
To the users it will look like a normal update but in the background you will have essentially replaced the entire app.
You could consider this as an update of you app.
Bundle version should be higher then before (for example 1.1 or 2.0 if the previous one is 1.0) - this usually depends on how big the difference will seem to the users.
And also: if you are saving anything to documents folder make sure that the new version is compatible with the old data.
New version should be able to run on device:
if there was (any) previous version installed
if there was no previous installation of your app
For reasons too convoluted to get into, I had to switch to a completely new project to update an app in the App Store.
Is there anyway to get access to the sandbox of the old app or will the new one just create a completely separate sandbox? In testing my dev builds of the old and new app they are completely different document directories so my archived info doesn't survive the update.
Does going through the app store effect this in any way or am I just out of luck?
I've matched Bundle ID's and provisioning profiles and that hasn't helped anything.
If you are submitting the completely new version as an update, the data in the NSDocumentsDirectory and NSLibraryDirectory will be preserved. If you are creating a new app in iTunes Connect, the data will not be available and there's no way of getting it back (because you can´t access the sandbox of other apps).
To test this, the best thing you can do is to install the old version of the app on your device and run the new one to update it. If you matched the bundle id correctly, instead of creating a new app on the springboard it should update the existing one. Data should be preserved in this update.
Remember to set your version number to something higher than before. For example, if your old app is version 1.0 you should try with 1.1 or 2.0.