I understand that Apple consolidated some services and now calls this consolidation the these services the Apple Business Manager. There is also the Apple Enterprise Program.
Do you need to be part of the enterprise program to be part of the business program? Why would I choose one over the other?
Apple Business Manager is used by organisations to deploy Apple devices and obtain both App Store apps and B2B apps using the Volume Purchase Program:
Apple Business Manager is a simple, web-based portal for IT administrators to deploy iOS, macOS and tvOS devices all from one place. When used with your mobile device management (MDM) solution, you can configure device settings and buy and distribute apps and books.
The Enterprise Developer Program allows organisations to develop and distribute apps to their own devices without uploading them to the App Store and without going through Apple App Store review:
Distribute proprietary, in-house iOS, watchOS, and tvOS apps within your organization. Securely host and deploy apps to your employees' devices.
You do not need have an Apple Enterprise Developer Program membership to use Apple Business Manager.
In summary:
You would choose Apple Business Manager if you want to manage devices using the Device Enrolment Program and to obtain apps developed by others using VPP
You would choose the Enterprise Developer Program if you want to develop apps for in-house use that are not suitable for the App Store or should not be available on the App Store.
You would use one or the other or both depending on your needs.
Update
Apple now allows organisations to "sell" B2B apps to themselves; This means that in many cases a B2B app can be used in place of an Enterprise app. Enterprise apps require periodic refresh of their provisioning profiles and certificates and also need Internet access to verify their signatures. Unless you are creating an app that will not pass Apple review (e.g. private API use), Apple now recommends B2B apps over enterprise program apps.
In recent WWDC 2019, Apple has explained the process - https://developer.apple.com/videos/play/wwdc2019/304/
Enterprise program is not required for business program. One can published in-house app to their employees either through enterprise program or (developer program + business program).
Related
I have gone through this solution here. I am confused between B2B apps and enterprise apps. Does both are same? I am distributing my enterprise app using https(itms-services) link to other users.
So, how to do this with Apple Business manager? Does Apple Business manage has any store like AppStore where we have to upload the IPA file or anything else that I have to do?
Enterprise apps are signed using an enterprise program key and can be distributed directly to that enterprise's devices. There is no Apple review of enterprise apps.
B2B apps are submitted to App Store Connect using a corporate or company developer program membership. They are reviewed by Apple. They are ether made available for specific Apple IDs to "purchase" (they can be free, with payment made directly to the developer) using the Volume Purchase Program.
Apple Business Manager provides a portal where organisations can:
Perform Volume Purchase Program purchases (which may be regular App Store apps or B2B apps)
Enrol devices in the Apple Device Enrolment program to force association with an MDM "out of box".
Apple Business Manager is not involved in actually distributing apps.
An MDM can be used to distribute both Enterprise and B2B apps.
Our requirement is to distribute iOS app for more than 1000+ users within the Organization.
My question : Can we make Distribution iPA using iOS Developer Provisioning Profile (As We have $99 Apple Account Not Enterprise Account) and share it with VPP and Apple MDM (Memory Device Management) or should i opt for Enterprise Apple account ?
**Note1 - Dont want to use Adhoc Provisioning Profile as it require all devices registered in apple account and we have 1000+ Apple Devices.
**Note2 - Already gone through other related post but dint find the steps to disbtribute the iOS using VPP , all post suggest to use Enterprise Distribution (Our requirement is to use VPP since Our business customer have already have VPP )
**Note3 - We have developed an iOS app , not want to share purchased app through VPP .
Kindly Suggest any reference which guides me to deploy App through VPP.
If the one organisation is both the developer and the consumer of the app, then an enterprise program membership is a possible approach. With an enterprise membership you can:
Develop apps
Sign those apps for private distribution
Distribute those apps, without going through the Apple approval process
Distribute those apps via a private app store/intranet/MDM system etc.
If you want to provide apps to one or more enterprise customers that are independent of the developer then an individual membership and B2B distribution is the correct approach. The steps are outlined here but in summary:
You develop your app as you normally would
You create an entry for that app in iTunes connect, specifying Available privately as a custom B2B app in the Pricing and availability section
You can also specify the price tier that applies to this app. You can select the free tier and arrange payment directly with the customer if you prefer.
Nominate an AppleID associated with the VPP customer you are going to supply to
Submit the app for Apple approval as per usual
2019 addendum
It is now possible for an organisation to provide B2B apps to themselves. The advantage of B2B apps is that they never expire and don't require periodic provisioning profile validation and refresh. The disadvantage is that there is still a review process, so if you are doing things that won't pass review you can have an issue. The review process also introduces some release delay.
I used to work on an Enterprise iOS product which our company used to sell to big enterprise companies for their employee to use.
The app was made available via the AppStore and the enterprise users were provided company specific profiles (containing app config files) to enable the respective feature that they were entitled to and use the iOS software. This app is only meant for enterprise customers and their employees only.
I would want to know/understand what is the difference between Enterprise iOS app and a normal retail app (an individual publishing an iOS app in store for retail consumers to buy and use) as I was asked this question in one of the interviews.
One thing I know is the for Enterprise apps, you will have tons of paper work, T&C and NDA's to be signed between the Enterprise customer's IT and the app providing organization.
Apart from this is are there any differences? I mean any differences with respect to the way app is submitted to the store? Or any additional security requirements for an app as it is an enterprise app? Is there something that differentiates and enterprise app from an normal app?
Thanks & Regards
Your app cannot have been developed using an Apple enterprise account and Enterprise distribution profiles because Enterprise apps cannot be placed in the app store.
There is no difference in terms of development of an Enterprise app versus a non enterprise app, there's nothing additional to do (there's a little extra to do to distribute it, see last paragraph).
The only differences are you have to have an Apple Enterprise developer account and its gets signed with a different set of certificates and profiles.
As an Enterprise app does not go onto the App store is is not subject to Apple app store review and therefore you can implement more functionality that you could with a regular app (for example, you could use background modes, use private apis etc.).
There is additional work required to distribute the app, you typically might host it on a web site and make it available for download by the Enterprise users, you have to set up a few bits and pieces and create a manifest file to enable all that.
I was aware of the Enterprise iOS program where you effectively run a private app-store, but I only just heard about Volume Purchase Program and custom B2B apps.
For a software company seeking to create bespoke applications for customers' companies, what are the differences between using these two approaches?
Note: I'm not talking about developing apps for my own company in-house, or about offering volume purchasing options for apps I offer in the public app-store. Only about developing private apps for other companies.
The VPP doesn't have anything to do with developing applications, only buying them (from the App Store) and distributing those purchased apps within a company enrolled in VPP.
If you are talking about doing applications for others for use in an Enterprise setting, then you really don't need to join either of them. You just need to be a registered developer (single developer account) and then the organization that you would be developing applications for would need to be enrolled in an Enterprise account. You would get added as a team member on that team and be able to do the certificates and provisioning necessary to develop and deploy applications you write.
I am a single developer as well as a member of several other teams for companies I write applications for.
This same model also works for developing applications for App Store accounts.
EDIT:
Here is some additional information:
https://developer.apple.com/programs/volume/b2b/
(check out option 3)
http://mobiledan.net/2012/03/02/5-options-for-distributing-ios-apps-to-a-limited-audience-legally/
The B2B process is similar to the App Store process except that the App Store is private (the Apple Business Store) and as a developer, you get to choose what VPP customers can purchase the app. The approval process is the same as the iTunes App Store.
I am working on building an application which needs to be distributed to users of different business organization.
So my question is Can I enroll for a iOS Enterprise Program and distribute application to these business users?
No, the enterprise Program only allows distribution among employees of the company.
As clearly state on the iOs Developer Enterprise Program website.
Distribute In-house Apps
Distribute proprietary, in-house iOS apps to your employees. You can also securely host and wirelessly distribute or update in-house
apps to employees, keeping them current anywhere, anytime.
But is will work, with the enterprise account you can install the application without register the UDID. But be aware that allow the app to be installed by none employees is against the license, which if Apple found out could they could retract to the license.
From what I understood from enterprise program, you can distribute applications only to employees of the company you enroll. So if the companies are different you can't, but if they are under the same umbrella you can do it.