Tips To Quick Submit Your App To The Apple App Store The Right Way

When it comes to submitting an app in the Apple App Store in 2021, four unique aspects require your attention. These include learning technical and legal prerequisites, the requirements of the store, the metadata you must prepare, and more. This topic will elucidate those aspects.
 
App stores are platforms that distribute mobile applications among users. Google and Apple are the two major players in the field, and both of them have an individual platform through which to distribute apps. The Apple App Store is the second-largest store of applications, after Google Play Store, with almost 1.96 million apps. The exact number of apps can fluctuate because both Google and Apple get rid of low-quality content from their stores frequently, but the number of applications has been increasing steadily every year.
 
The ultimate objective of the App Store is to offer the best experience to every end-user. Naturally, it does everything to ensure that only the apps of the highest standards earn a position in the store. An app has to offer something new; otherwise, the App Store will remove it in time or won’t even grant entry. In doing so, Apple reassures every user that an app they download won’t affect their devices.
 

Here are a few points to consider:

• Apple device users get to choose whether to share data or not.

 

• More than 500 experts go through almost 100,000 apps every week to review them.

 

• Apple rejected 150,000 apps recently because they violated privacy guidelines. Similarly, it removed more than 1 million apps as they offered inadequate content.

 

• Every app comes with a page containing detailed information. The app owner has to fill this page during publication.

 
You worked tirelessly with an iOS app development company for weeks to create an excellent application that can attract hundreds and thousands of users. You know it and so does the agency you partnered with. However, you have to prove to Apple that your app is worthy. That’s why this topic deserves your attention. Here you’ll learn how to publish your app on the App Store without hitches:
 

The prerequisites

Before releasing your app on the App Store, you should take care of the following matters:
 

 

(1) Technical requirements

The first thing to consider while submitting an app incorporates specific technical fundamentals.
 

• The app build uploaded – Before sending the app for review, you’ll need an app build. You have to assign the same to your developer account. The development team can prepare the assignment that will generate an appropriate certificate needed by Apple on the developer account and attach the app build with it.

 

• The developer account – For submitting an app to the App Store, you have to enrol in the Apple Developer Program. The yearly cost of this account is $99. Apart from the availability to publish an app, you’ll gain access to several benefits, including access to the beta version of the software program or specific tools.

 
Just remember that from April 2021, Apple has been accepting only the ones built using iOS 14 SDK and Xcode 12. Whether the app is for iOS smartphones or iPadOS, this requirement is unbendable.
 

(2) Legal requirements

The next point of consideration includes the legal requirements associated with submitting an iOS app to the App Store. For those who reside in EU/EEA countries, one example worth adhering to is the well-renowned GDPR directives that have been in effect since 25th May 2018. Apple will analyze the way your app handles user data and whether it meets the Apple Developer Program License Agreement or not. This license explains the agreements for data accumulation and storage, data usage and sharing, data collected from children, and health research data protection. Your app should only have content you created or something you have a license to use. If you use someone else’s content, Apple Store will remove your app sooner rather than later. Make sure that your iOS app development company doesn’t include anything you don’t want them to. You shouldn’t add anything by mistake, either.
 

(3) Go through the official guidelines

As already mentioned earlier, Apple gauges every app submitted to the App Store, as well as the information visible on the Product Page. The company created its own guidelines concerning the aspects related to the publishing process.
 

The publishing process

Every genuine provider of iOS app development services knows the publishing process from top to bottom. It’s time for you to learn it too.
 

 

(1) Creating an app in App Store Connect

Everything starts in App Store Connect where you have to open the My Apps section and tap the “plus” button to create the new application. While creating an app, you have to fill out a form containing the following clauses.
 

• Platforms – You have to specify the platforms of Apple your app will work on.

 

• Name – The name of the app has to be within 30 characters.

 

• Primary language – Here you will specify the main language for the app’s information. If translations for a specific language are missing, it will use the primary language.

 

• Bundle ID – At this juncture, you will select from the app identifiers registered in the Developer Account. If the app build is ready for deployment, remember to choose the same ID used by your app developers in the Xcode while archiving.

 

• SKU – This abbreviated term stands for Stock Keeping Unit. It’s an optional value that may turn out to be helpful if you want to connect the app sales with the internal SKU number you’re using for accounting purposes.

 

• User access – You must specify whether your app will be accessible to all members in the App Store Connect organization or not. You can choose to stick to specific groups or individuals.

(2) Creating the Product Page

After completing the previous process, you’ll move on to the next one to create a Product Page. On this page, you will provide detailed information about your application. This data will be visible to every user of the App Store. You can use this page to your advantage by encouraging people to download your app, but you have to have to be creative in crafting the metadata. The product page contains multiple tabs, including iOS App, General, and In-App Purchases.
 
(i) iOS App or Version info – In this section, you will enter information concerning the current version of the app, whether it’s the first version or just an update. This section has a few subsections.
 

• App previews: It’s an optional short video through which you can demonstrate the core features of your application.

 

• App screenshots: As the name suggests, you can display screenshots of your application in this subsection.

 

• Promotional text: It’s yet another optional field through which you can inform users about a feature that you neglected to mention in the description section.

 

• Description: Here you’ll provide detailed info about the features of your application.

 

• Keywords: This place is for keywords that will make your app more searchable.

 

• Support URL: This subsection is for you to add the URL to the support page of your website. Put your website link here if you have one.

 

• Marketing URL: This URL will direct your users to any marketing info you wish to share about your application.

 
(ii) iOS App/App Clip – This section requires you to fill in details on App Clip, Apple Watch, and iMessage App. You have to bother with this section only if your providers of iOS app development services added support for these features in your application.
 
(iii) iOS App/Build – This section usually has three states. The first one doesn’t include uploading the app build. It will simply show you a message to upload the same. If you select the build, however, you will run into another dialogue box that will ask if your app uses encryption. Finally, after selecting the app build, the section will lead you to the third and final state where you will select build information.
 
(iv) iOS App/General App Information – General information concerning the app will be here.
 

• The App Store Icon pulled from the app build of your choice will be visible in the App Store.

 

• The version of the app will be visible, and it has to be higher than the previously entered value. Of course, it’s applicable only when you release an update for an existing application.

 

• The age rating subsection will ask about the frequency in which specific content pieces appear in the app. Most of the questions will concern adult content, such as nudity, violence, strong language, etc. Based on the answers, Apple will ascertain the age group for which the app is suitable.

 

• The copyright subsection will allow you to enter the name of the person or entity that owns the rights to the application.

 

• Finally, the routing app coverage file section will require you to specify a certain geographic location supported by your app.

 
(v) iOS App/App Review Information – This section will contain additional data for the reviewer of Apple for testing. A real person working with Apple will inspect every new app or a new version of an existing one. Here you should specific testing credentials to let the tester log in to the app and fill in Contact Information. This Contact Information is for Apple if it has a question for you. You can also add notes for the reviewer here combined with an attachment.
 
(vi) iOS App/Version Release – Here you’ll choose the way you will release the app. There are three options for you to explore.
 

• You can click on the Release button manually.

 

• Apple will release the app automatically if you get a positive review.

 

• Apple will release the app automatically if you get a positive review but only on the date, you specify.

 
(vii) General/App Information – This tab contains the app information filled during creation, along with a subtitle for the app and a place to select the category. There’s also an additional subsection here concerning Content Rights. If you will be displaying third-party content, you have to choose the right option.
 
(viii) General/Pricing and Availability – Check out what you have to add here if you hire dedicated iOS app developers.
 

• Price schedule: This section will allow you to specify the app’s price. It will determine how much a user has to pay to be able to download and use your app. Apple will charge a commission and taxes.
   

• Availability: This section will let to specify the countries and regions where your app will be available. All countries remain selected by default.

 

• iPhone and iPad Apps on Apple Silicon Macs: This one is a relatively new feature. Apple lets users run applications designed for iPhone and iPad on the latest silicon Mac computers with M1 chip and MacOS Big Sur.

 
(ix) General/App Privacy – In this tab, you have to add the URL of your app’s Privacy Policy. You can all put the URL to the privacy choices. Users can alter the data collected by the app.
 
(x) In-App Purchases – Finally, if your app will allow users to purchase virtual products or redeem points, gain access to specific features, or other content pieces, you have to define them here.
 

Wrapping it up

It’s of the utmost importance for every entrepreneur to contemplate the complicated submission process enforced by Apple App Store, and this fact should be clear to you if you have been going through this write-up from the beginning. There’s still the matter concerning submission for review, but if you wish to learn about it, you have to hire dedicated iOS app developers. Get in touch with an agency at the earliest to find out about the submission process.