Publish an application to the App Store

The configured and built application is ready to be published to the AppStore. 

The app must pass an App Store review before it can be published. This process usually takes up to 7 days. Once the app has passed the review, it will either be published automatically to the App Store, or you will receive a notification of successfully completed review in your email, after which you will need to go to App Store Connect and publish the app manually.

Before publishing, you need to create your own privacy policy and assign a version to the application.

Privacy Policy

For your application, it is essential to develop your own Privacy Policy. If it is absent, the application may be removed from the App Store at any time. 

To add a privacy policy:

1. Create your own privacy policy. You can create it in multiple languages.

2. Post policy on the website.

3. Open the configuration.json file and find the following code:

    "constants": {
        "policy_url": {
            "base": "en",
            "localized": {
                "en": "https://www.google.com",
                "es": "https://www.google.es"
            }
        },
...

4. In the policy_url field, provide links to the Privacy Policy, which may be different for various localizations (see localization in the configuration file).

Application version

To publish a build to App Store Connect, you must specify its version and build number. To do this:

1. Open the configuration.json file and find the following code:

…     
"identifier": {
     ... 
      "apple": {
        … 
        "version": "1.0.0",
        "build_number": 0 
      }
    },
… 

2. Make changes to the following parameters:

  • version — specify the version of your application, by default, it is “1.0.0”.
    The version is made up of 3 digits separated by a dot. When publishing future versions, it is recommended to change the second (medium logical or cosmetic changes) or third (small cosmetic changes) digits.
  • build_number — specify the build number for the current version. The numbering starts from '0', and with each new build, it increments by +1.

For example, if you publish application version 1.0.0, and you upload the first build, it will be No. 0 in the store. If you upload another build for the same version, then the build number will be No. 1. If you publish version 1.1.0, the build counter will reset to zero, and the first build for it will be No. 0. The next one will be No. 1, and so on.

After making changes, be sure to save the changes to the file, run the fastlane setup command in the terminal, and rebuild and run the build.

Publishing the Application

Preparing the Xcode Build for Publication:

  1. Create a signing certificate for the build and sign the application with the certificate (Certificates).
  2. In Xcode, go to Preferences, select Accounts, choose Signing & Capabilities, and enable Automatically manage signing for code signing.
  3. Select Any iOS Device in the list of device emulators.
  4. Go to Product, and click on Archive to create an archive, which needs to be uploaded to App Store Connect.
  5. Once the archive is created, click on Archive again, and select Distribute App. Choose App Store Connect as the distribution method, click Next, select Upload, and click Next again.
  6. After the build is created, Xcode will display a message indicating success. The ready build will appear in App Store Connect.

Publishing via App Store Connect:

  1. Go to My Apps → + → New App. Fill in information about the application: name, primary language, app ID, and SKU. The name can be up to 30 characters
  2. In General Information → App Information, add a subtitle, select a category, and license agreement. Subtitle can be up to 30 characters
  3. Also in the Application Information, you need to specify the Apple ID (in the format: “com.company.app”, where company is the name of the company, app is the name of the application) and a certificate to sign the application.
  4. In General Information → App Privacy add a link to the Privacy Policy. Read more about filling out the App Privacy section here.
  5. Prepare and add marketing materials for the app's store page: icon, name, descriptions, screenshots, etc.
    • Icon: 1024x1024px
    • Description: up to 4000 characters
    • Keywords: up to 100 characters
    • Screenshots: various device options, 2-10 images
  6. Choose the release version method (manual/automatic), age rating, and monetization.
  7. Go to Prepare for Submission → Build, click +, and choose New App and the desired build, then click Done.
  8. Save all changes and click Submit Build for Review.
  9. Before publication, the application must be reviewed by the App Store, which can take up to 7 days. After passing the review (depending on the previously chosen release method), the application will either be automatically published on the App Store or a notification of a successful review will be sent to the email, and it must be manually released in App Store Connect.

The app must pass an App Store review before it can be published. This process can take up to 7 days. If you haven’t passed the review, please read carefully the reason given by AppStore, make the necessary changes to the application, and repeat the process.

You can contact our support team, we will help you understand the problem.