Arrk purple paper ios App store submission guide A guide to preparing and submitting ios apps to the Apple itunes store. Andreas England (andreas.england@arrkgroup.com) 25 th June 2014 imagination technology results www.arrkgroup.com talktous@arrkgroup.com @ArrkGroup Arrk Pencroft Limited, Way, Greenheys, Pencroft Way, tel: tel: +44 +44 (0) (0) 161 161 227 9900 227 9900 fax: +44 +44 (0) (0) 161 161 227 9966 227 9966 Arrk Millennium Solutions Pvt. Business Ltd., Park, Millennium Business Park, tel: tel: +91 +91 (0) (0) 22 2778 22 2778 4200 4200 fax: +91 +91 (0) (0) 22 2778 22 2778 4210 4210
Introduction Authoring an application for the ios platform is relatively straightforward. Web based (Html, JavaScript etc.) skills can be used with a third party framework such as Titanium or Phonegap to develop the application. The issues emerge when the bundled application (a proprietary zip based format with the suffix.ipa http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.ipa_(file_extension)) is uploaded to the app store. This guide is Macintosh centric. Key tools used such as Xcode or the Uploader app are Macintosh only. Many of the elements covered in this document are described in detail within the Apple developer documentation (https://developer.apple.com/library/ios/navigation/) and website. This document is intended to illustrate the issues that Arrk have encountered and how we resolved them. Copyright content quoted in this document is intended to illustrate a point or provide a shortcut through the wealth of information provided. itunes Connect https://itunesconnect.apple.com Apple developer itunes Connect overview (http://bit.ly/1lmrr1o) itunes Connect is a suite of web-based tools created for developers to submit and manage their apps for sale using the App Store or Mac App Store. It organizes your portfolio of store content, documents, and contact information so that you can easily find and add to the material. itunes Connect also collects status information, feedback, and earnings information that comes from Apple. This means that you can manage your app sales progress from a single place. 1 Itunes Connect is the first element that must be completed to enable the upload of the app to the store. Once signed in, choose Manage Your Apps and then the select Add New App in the top left of the screen. The following items must be completed on the screen; Default language The primary language you will be using to enter app details for display on the App Store. App name Your app name plays a critical role in how users search and discover your app. A name that is simple and easy to remember can yield more successful search results. Choose a descriptive app name that 1 http://bit.ly/1lmrr1o
reflects what your app does and is distinct and appropriate. Keep app names as short and concise as possible. Pay particular attention to how app names appear when viewed on the App Store on ipad, iphone, and ipod touch. Keep it short. For best results on the app product pages on the App Store, use no more than 25 characters. For the Mac App Store, use no more than 70 characters. The length of the name isn t the only consideration, though. Note that where the words wrap in the app name may change how the name appears in the App Store. Keep it simple. Don t append descriptive text to your app name. For example My Weather real-time radar, temperature, wind and cloud patterns is too long. The app name is better as simply My Weather instead. Reserve descriptive text for your app description. Consider copyrights. Ensure that your app name doesn t violate the trademark or rights of a third party. For example, iphone Sports News would be inappropriate, because iphone is an Apple trademark. If you enter an app name that is trademarked or already in use on the App Store or Mac App Store, Apple can remove your app from the store. Make it easy to find your app across ios platforms. If you provide an app on more than one platform, consider using the same name on each platform and including compatibility language for example, [app name] for ipad. This makes it clear to users that it s the same app with similar functionality. To make sure your compatibility language uses Apple marks correctly, see Guidelines for Using Apple Trademarks and Copyrights (http://www.apple.com/ legal/intellectual-property/guidelinesfor3rdparties.html). Make it distinct. Don t choose an app name that is substantially similar to an existing app name. Adding or removing spaces, exclamation points, or other characters isn t enough to distinguish your app. If you include compatibility language in your app name for example Breaking News for ipad this compatibility language isn t considered for purposes of restrictions on duplicative names or intellectual property rights. That is, if someone else has the wording Breaking News on the App Store, you can t submit Breaking News for ipad as an app name. Make it match. Most importantly, a customer should instantly associate the name and icon in the App Store with the name and app icon that installs on their devices after purchase or download. Ensure that the text that appears below the icon is derived from the app name. For example, if your app s name in itunes Connect is Coraline s Creative Cajun Cooking, good choices for short names for the name that appears after download under your icon might be CreativeCajun or CajunCooking or Coraline s, because they directly evoke the long name but not Good Eats, Louisiana, or Comfort Food, which don t. 2 SKU A unique ID for your app. You can use letters, numbers, hyphens, periods, and underscores. The SKU cannot start with a hyphen, period, or underscore. 2 http://bit.ly/ujcmqn
The Stock Keeping Unit identifier is an internally used reference for the application. Its aim is to provide a unique identifier for the application. This identifier is useful when there are several similar apps within the collection and a differentiator is required for analytics or when maintenance is required. Bundle ID An identifier used by ios and Mac OS X to recognize any future updates to your app. Your Bundle ID must be registered with Apple and unique to your app. Bundle IDs are app-type specific (either ios or Mac OS X). The same Bundle ID cannot be used for both ios and Mac OS X apps. 3 The bundle id is defined during the app development process & should be available from the drop down menu. It is critical that the correct id is selected, as this is fixed to the application submission permanently. Once these items are correctly completed, continue onto the next screen. Availability date & price tier Generally these will have been determined as part of the customers marketing & release strategy. Setting the current date will ensure that the app is launched upon approval. Once these items are correctly completed, continue onto the next screen. Version number Apple use a different standard to accepted version numbering methods. For compatability with xcode, it is recommended that this method is used; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/software_versioning - Apple Copyright The apps rights will generally rest with the customer. Apple content descriptions Entering anything other than none will introduce age and distribution restrictions. Embedded unrestricted web browsing should also be indicated here Category The category that best describes the app you are adding. Adding the app to the secondary category does not increase its chances of being popular, it should be used as a method further describing the app. 3 http://bit.ly/uirldg
Metadata Description A localized description of the app, detailing features and functionality. Descriptions are limited to 4000 single-byte characters. The description should be in plain text, with line breaks as needed. HTML formatting isn t recognized. Make sure to check your text for spelling or grammar errors. This content is editable. Keywords One or more localized keywords that describe your app. Separate search terms with commas. At least one keyword of greater than two characters is required. You can provide up to 100 bytes of content. Your app is searchable by app name and company name, so you do not need to duplicate these values in the keyword list. Names of other apps or companies are not allowed. This content is NOT editable. URLs The requirement for various support & marketing users should link to appropriate content in the customers site. Support may be being managed by a third party, however the key touch point would generally be the customers website. Contact information The app reviewer contact is the one used to register any issues with the apps approval. Generally this contact should be a team member who is capable of directly supporting the apps submission and arguing a case for the apps approval. Review notes Where the functionality of the app is not immediately obvious (e.g an app for a discrete market), comprehensive notes that justify the apps existence, extolls the virtues of the app and re-enforces the apps close alignment with Apples aesthetics & methodology are required. The current guidelines are available here ; http://bit.ly/1erikci Apple does not need your app and has been known to reject apps for arbitrary reasons. Be aware of the Apple user guidelines, again Apple does not need your app, ensuring a strong Apple centric ui will make its passage through testing easier. http://bit.ly/iv9atu Demo account information It is critical that the app avoids the zero data state. An app with no data will have little or no content and will give a poor representation of the app. Where the app is content driven, ensure that the demo account is populated with the best examples of available data.
Apple store contact information This is a requirement for the Korean store only. EULA Apple provides a standard document, a customer should be made aware of this document and be enabled to supply a custom EULA that meets Apples minimum terms (http://www.apple.com/legal/ itunes/appstore/dev/minterms ). Uploads Working in Photoshop, Illustrator or similar and exporting all images as png will ensure best quality is maintained. Large Icon A large version of your app icon that will be used on the App Store. It must be at least 72 DPI, in the RGB color space, and 1024 x 1024 pixels (it cannot be scaled up). The file type must be.jpeg,.jpg,.tif,.tiff, or.png. It must be flat artwork without rounded corners. This Icon should be produced as part of the icon production process that produces all icon variants required. A great resource for icon templates is found here http://appicontemplate.com/ Screenshots It s easiest to create screenshots directly for the hardware, simply press the power & home button to make one. The screenshots can be emailed, or downloaded by physical connection in iphoto. Capturing screen shots of the 4 app, then cropping the image to suit the 3 device will reduce the workload. Once these items are correctly completed, continue onto the next screen.
itunes connect complete Hopefully you should be presented with a screen similar to the one shown above. Check everything is ok. Pay special attention to the identifiers as time can be wasted by submitting an app with incorrect details. Note that some information cannot be edited. Should you need to change this information, then the app must be rejected and the process started from scratch. Once your happy with the app identifiers etc, press the View Details button under the app and the Ready to upload binary button found at the top right of the screen. A screen requesting information around cryptography, 3 rd party content and IDFA use is requested here. Once this information is entered, press the Save button in the lower right of the screen and the app is ready to be uploaded. You are now ready to upload your binary using Application Loader. Application Loader can only be used when your app status is Waiting for Upload. Once the binary is uploaded, your app status will change first to Upload Received and then to Waiting for Review. If we encounter any issues with the binary itself, your app status will change to Invalid Binary and you will receive an email explaining the issues and the steps you can take to correct them. If you have downloaded Xcode 5 (5A1413) or later, in Xcode, choose Xcode->Open Developer Tool- >Application Loader. If you do not find it, download and install the latest version of Application Loader. The final screen gives an overview of the process & software used to upload.
xcode The key advantage of using xcode (and the uploader component) is that immediate feedback as to the uploaded files viability and the tools to immediately fix the most commonly made errors. Process overview Depending on the production method (native/phonegap/titanium) the project will have to be either imported or opened within xcode. Once loaded, the app can be tested using attached hardware or the software simulator. When the build is ready to upload to itunes, and archive needs creating from the dropdown menu Product/Archive. Upon completion a new window is shown with an incremental list of the available archives for the chosen project. Selecting an archive (the latest archive is automatically selected) and choosing either validate or distribute buttons from the top right will start the validation process after testing the validity of the developer account being used as the current identity within xcode. Identity issues Experience with using the single account per developer has shown this to be the most consistent method of ensuring that a useable account is set up on the development machine. Obtaining an identity from the OS dev centre has proven to be a continually unsuccessful method of resolving issues. However copying & importing a developer profile is a workable method of transferring identities between machines. Application validity is offered from both choices, however distribution will require the destination selection (App store, Enterprise/Ad Hoc or Archive) and will produce the correct output upon validation with no issues (cautions may be generated, however these won t prevent the apps distribution). Icon missing Missing icons are caution issues. Though app submission is not prevented, risking an app rejection from a simply resolved issue would be short-sighted. Each supported ios (5,6,7) and each hardware device (ipad 2,3,4 iphone 3,4,5 etc) as summarised here; http://bit.ly/1ifwqhg App Icons are added into xcode by selecting AppName/ General, then scroll down to App Icons and add the missing icons by hand, these are dragged into xcode and can be organised be either an image set or an asset catalogue; Image set http://bit.ly/1jini1w Asset catalog http://bit.ly/1o3iybe
Conclusion Once the app has been successfully uploaded, an email confirming its upload and the traffic light indicator in Apple connect will now indicate Waiting for review against the uploaded app. Depending on the availability of Apple testers, the process can take between 1 to 2 weeks. When the app moves into review, another email will be sent and the traffic light will change to In review. This process is short around 1 day or less. Once the review is complete, the app will be automatically made live (if this option was chosen) or if the app was rejected, a process of evaluating the failure must be undertaken. Though it is possible to appeal the rejection, presenting a credible case against the closed walls of Apple review policy is very difficult. For example, the existence of a rejected feature being present in an app live on the Apple store cannot be used as an argument for app approval.