I'm developing an app for my company, using firebase where I store some important business data.
My question is, can I publish the app on the App Store for free and create a login page where only the employees with specific account create from me can enter?
will apple accept an app like this?
otherwise how can I publish the app only for the company iPad?
my company have around 50 employees, I read about this Enterprise Development program but apparently require more than 100 employees.
thanks in advance for the help, sorry not I don't have much experience with app for private business.
An app with a limited audience like this won't be accepted for the App Store.
Your company will need to set up an Apple Business Manager account (which is free).
You can then make the app available only to their Apple Business Manager ID in App Store connect. The app will still go through review but it won't be visible on the public App Store.
There is a WWDC 2020 session on this subject.
There is now (since a while back) another alternative to this problem: Unlisted app distribution
https://developer.apple.com/support/unlisted-app-distribution/
It makes it possible to publish your app on the App Store, but the only way to find the app is by a direct link.
And an important difference of this to Apple Business Manager is that you can distribute the app to both managed and unmanaged devices which makes it possible to let users buy there own devices.
I think that Unlisted app distribution is pretty new but will become more and more common when Apple now (2022) do not let companies with less than 100 employees renew their Apple Enterprise Developer Programs and force those companies to other distribution models.
unfortunately there is no other way than to subscribe to the Enterprise Program, since it's easier to distribute the App to all the Devices via a URL/Profile. Otherwise you have to manually take all the Devices and export the App via Xcode on the Device (launching the App). Afaik there is minimum requirement of employees. greets
Related
I need to distribute an Apple iOS app which has been developed internally to the phones of our employees via "Private App Store". Is there a way?
Our app was rejected on the public app store. We were also rejected from Enterprise Program. Ad-hoc is very complicated as requires UDID of each phone.
We were advised to go via Apple Business Manager. The thing is that ABM does not distribute apps. Apple is not able to provide adequate support. They could not answer my question and just keep rejecting our app and advising us ABM that in my opinion will not help us in no way as employees use their personal phones. Last agent told me that distribution is done via MDM software.
It is possible!
App should be published under Apple Developer license on a public App Store but for private distribution.
Before sending to review I enrolled into Apple Business Manager under new Apple ID.
In Pricing and Availability section I designated this app via organization ID to the Apple Business manager account created before (3rd option). Also had to accept agreement for paid apps inside AppStore connect account in order make this 3rd option tickable.
Also had to enable Custom Apps inside ABM account. My app appeared in ABM several hours later after Apple approval.
I picked option to buy licenses as Redemption codes (instead of MDM). Then Download button appeared on the right. I downloaded xls file with codes and links.
I sent links to employees. App installs without any questions by link. Also their is option to manually enter redemption code in the App Store app on the phone and the app installs as from public App Store.
I have read many articles including this article and this article and here is what I think I have gathered so far:
There are two means of distributing your app, via Ad-Hoc and via App Store.
Ad-Hoc distribution is LIMITED TO 100 downloads (mainly from registered "beta" testers)
App Store is the only location for unlimited public distribution of any app.
So, I am asking for clarification on #'s 2 and 3. The main reason for this post is because the company I am working for would like to distribute their app to their customers (potentially thousands) without going through the App Store, and so far, it seems as though this won't be possible.
Please help clarify, thank you. :)
With an enterprise account you can:
... export your app for distribution to your employees and outside the store
To achieve that you requested your company needs to have the ENTERPRISE account.
Having the such kind of account allows you to sign the app with special certificate and then this app runs on any device with no limit (not limited by provisioning profile up to 100 devices).
Then you can put the download link on site and distribute it outside the AppStore.
Is it possible to deploy an APP to apple app store, but only allow internal company user to download the APP by their own? Thanks.
Yes it is possible with Apple Enterprise Developer Program.
The Apple Developer Enterprise Program allows large organizations to develop and deploy proprietary, internal-use apps to their employees. This program is for specific use cases that require private distribution directly to employees using secure internal systems or through a Mobile Device Management solution.
Just to augment what others have said there. The Enterprise program is what you want. It allows you to distribute your app to as many devices as you like. But as it's not going through the Apple app store, you will have to work out how you want to do it. There are third party servers out there for doing this sort of thing.
You can also simply "roll your own" by simply creating a web page on your LAN with a like to the downloadable app. The Apple documentation has the details on doing that.
Also note one difference between an Enterprise app and a app store app, is that the Enterprise app certificates will need to be renewed every year. Which means that you will need to update the app every year or it will stop working.
I was asked to do a recruitment app that will recruit people for the company, so of course it will be free. When I released it, it got rejected for being very basic.
Now the client want to just release it through their site if apple don't want to accept it.
I know how to create the .ipa file through adhoc disribution which is what I use to give them copy and test it by putting it on a test site so that they can download it on their iphones.
But this is only for testing purposes, only the phones registered as devices on the dev account can download the file successfully.
So is it possible to release an app that will be used by users successfully without submitting it to apple?
With an Enterprise account you can more or less host your own private app store for an unlimited amount of devices and distribute in-house without Apple.
With a Developer account you can run ad-hoc installs via TestFlight or comparable services for up to 100 devices.
The new iTunes TestFlight integration announed at WWDC14 allows for 1000 devices.
The only solution that will look truly professional is the Enterprise App Store and it requires you to have a DUNS and an approval from Apple, but generally with a DUNS you're set. It's $299 instead of $99, but that's not so much money for most companies that have a DUNS. Also you can't use that account for publishing apps to the public App Store.
In general, yes it is possible: you can release an enterprise app outside the app store, provided that your company has the requisite enterprise agreement.
However, this is intended for internal use, and while I haven't read the agreement myself, I believe that distribution to the public at large would likely be in breach. (EDIT: As Zaph points out, this is in fact explicitly disallowed.)
The situation you're describing would fall outside this.
Moreover, from a user experience standpoint, it's unreasonable to expect prospective employees to download an application from outside the app store.
This is not only technically difficult for a lot of people, but it would look incredibly unprofessional, which is the opposite of what you're after in a recruitment app.
No. Apple restricts the apps available to users only to those on App Store.
(Actually, not 100% true - you could release the app on Cydia and target only jailbroken phones, but I suspect this is not what you mean to do.)
Alternately, make a web application, using JavaScript/HTML/CSS. Anyone can use a web application, it can be installed on the launcher screen, and it does not require App Store, just a web server somewhere. If you need persistence, you might also want to look into manifest files and offline apps. Especially if your app is basic, you can make it look and feel almost as a native app using one of the very nice web frameworks such as jQuery Touch.
However, you might just leave it as a webpage - why would you restrict your recruitment pool only to people willing to install your app?
tl;dr: You can't release an ObjC app except on AppStore.
There are already multiple answers to this question, probably because it is not specific enough.
Let's gather all the information that's necessary here:
If you want an app for a company (given that you recruited people through the app, i.e. people who used the app would join the company), you should use the Enterprise Program.
If the app is meant for the general public (in this case, possibly, you would like the app as a branding, promoting app for the company), you cannot use the Enterprise account, since it violates Apple's terms. As an example, see this funny case: http://www.imore.com/how-gameboy-emulator-finding-its-way-non-jailbroken-devices
AdHoc and TestFlight should not be used for a release app. AdHoc only is meant to be used for testing purposes. Introducing non-developer related devices into your AdHoc profile would mean termination of your dev account (e.g. this aggressive and also funny case: http://www.intomobile.com/2012/07/09/apple-goes-after-sites-selling-activations-ios-6-beta/).
Finally, two interesting notes:
There is no limit to the number of devices in an Enterprise Program app. It's not 1K, at least the information out there says the opposite (e.g. the case with the link in 1). The 1k device limit will be for beta testers with TestFlight (according to http://www.neglectedpotential.com/2014/06/testflight/).
An Enterprise account cannot publish apps to the public on the AppStore (see this FAQ: https://developer.apple.com/support/ios/enterprise.html -if it doesn't work, you can load the cached version from Google, etc.). Thanks to Departamento B for this information I didn't know about.
I have developed an enterprise app and its ready to use for my client.
My company bought an account and provides me with the credentials. So i created the ad-hoc distribution profile to distribute the app to my client's testing team during development using testflight.
But as i read somewhere, the account type iOS developer program can not distribute the app to any one,
If you want to distribute your app, you need to enroll for iOS developer [enterprise] program account. But that was not in my case, I was able to distribute my app to the client using the iOS developer program account.
I know, if you want to submit your app to the app store, you need to have an iOS developer program and,
iOS Developer Enterprise Program only allows you to distribute your applications to employees or members of your organization through Ad Hoc distribution.
Now my doubt is,
Is it really mandatory to submit our app to the apple for review to
ensure that our app is free of explicit OR else we can use it without
review? Why do we need an approval from apple when we are not
submitting to app store.
The client is telling they just want to get approval then they can sell it within In-House or B2B use.
Because my client asked me to submit our app to apple for just review, but do not want to put on app store. Once they approved, then they will distribute by using ad-hoc distribution profile.
Thanks.
You dont need to submit an enterprise app to the app store for review.
Your client's request is weird. It doesn't make sense. You can tell your client that Apple does not review enterprise apps.
Update:
your doubt:
Is it really mandatory to submit our app to the apple for review to
ensure that our app is free of explicit OR else we can use it without
review?
Answer: NO. Its not mandatory
Why do we need an approval from apple when we are not
submitting to app store.
Answer: You dont need an approval.
Now, there is a case where your client's request will fail for sure:
Assuming (for the sake of explanation) this app is a porn video viewer app, it'd never be approved by the Apple App Store reviewer. And if the enterprise build deploy is contingent upon AppStore approval, even that wouldn't happen (since the client is adamant)
Note: Enterprise accounts are not meant to circumvent Apple's pay wall. i.e., you should not distribute the app outside your organization.
Hope this answers your question. (if it didn't feel free to add a more specific question to the original post.)
3rd Update:
FYI Enterprise Developer account are not easy to obtain. If Apple Developer Center thinks your client is shady, they may have to manage with the regular developer account. The question you are asking has no credible sources for answers because no one would insist on doing something like this.
Is it really mandatory to submit our app to the apple for review to ensure that our app is free of explicit OR else we can use it without review? Why do we need an approval from apple when we are not submitting to app store. The client is telling they just want to get approval then they can sell it within In-House or B2B use.
You do not need approval, once you are enrolled on the enterprise scheme you will not need to get approval from apple for any applications created as an enterprise application.
However if you then want to sell it on the normal app market it will need to be done from a totally separate account and will need approving.
The enterprise license is a way of making sure that rogue apps do not start making the rounds as they do not need to be installed via itunes, they can just be hosted on a website and downloaded directly from there to the device.
I assume your client may be worried that you aren't going to provide a stable, malware free application and would like apple to authorise & test it first, even though it is not going on to the app store so they have peace of mind that if it's good enough for apple its good enough for them. Or that the MD once heard that Apple HAS to authorise it and they are just jumping through hoops for them.
Companies that are enrolled in the iOS Developer Enterprise Program (currently $299 / year) do not need to submit apps to Apple for approval or distribution. These companies can host and wirelessly distribute their in-house apps without Apple acting as gatekeeper.
If you are an external contractor who has been hired to code an app, you may need to hand the app over for them to sign with their Enterprise key so that they can then distribute in-house.
It would be (very) unusual for an Enterprise Program member to submit their app to Apple for review because it is unnecessary. And so far as I know there is no option to do this without setting up all the app details in iTunes Connect and pretending you were going to sell the app.
Update 1:
#Praveen-K: What doubt is there? If you want to have Apple "test & approve" your Enterprise app (a really bad idea) then you will need to:
Create a fake Apple store app
Fill in fake info in iTunes Connect
Provide an on-sell date a long way onto the future
Provide all the login info and access to your servers that the real app requires
Assist the Apple app approvers in accessing your own data to get approval
Then, after approval, delete the app from iTunes Connect and the App Store
If this does not answer your question then perhaps you need to make sure your question is very clear.