Publish iOS app to Apple App Store

Publish iOS app to Apple App Store

After building your iOS app with SimiCart successfully, you need to submit the app to App Store so your customers can download it, use it and start purchasing. You can submit the app by yourself using this guide or ask our support team to submit the app for you.

You will need an Apple developer account which costs $99/year and a computer running MacOS.

1. Get Developer Certificate File (.p12)


Go to https://developer.apple.com and login to your Apple Developer Account.



Select Certificates, Identifiers, Profiles



Select Production tab, then Click Add (+) to add a new Certificate



At Select Type step, select App Store and Ad Hoc. Then click Continue.




Click Continue



Go to Generate your certificate



Prepare on your Mac (or a computer running MacOS):

  1. Open Spotlight Search and search “keychain”.
  2. Go to Keychain Access / Certificate Assistant / Request a Certificate from a Certificate Authority


You are directed to “Certificate Information”. Please fill out all required information: 
  1. Your Apple account email as “User Email Address”
  2. app_pushnotification as “Common Name”

Tick on “Saved to disk”. Next, save this file as “iOS_Distribution” and then you will get . certSigningRequest file on your Desktop.



 

Come back to your account on developer.apple.com. Click “Choose file” to upload the iOS_Distribution.certSigningRequest file you have just created. Then, click “Continue”.



After that, double click on the file you have just downloaded and open “Keychain Access”. Now find “iPhone Distribution” and “iOS Certificate” and export these 2 items. Then, save this file as “iOS Distribution” and move to your Desktop. Please note that the file format is (.p12).











When you complete these steps, you get the Developer Certificate (.p12 file).

2. Get Provisioning Profiles File (.mobileprovision)


In your Apple Developer Account, go to Certificates, Identifiers & Profiles / Identifiers / App IDs and click Add (+).



Next, on “App ID Description”, fill out the App Name. Scroll down and tick on “Explicit App ID” under “App ID Suffix”.



Bundle ID: Enter a unique ID for your app. Normally it is the reverse form of your domain name. For example: com.simicart.demo.



Scroll down and tick on “Associated Domain”, “Push Notifications” then “Continue”.



On the left menu, go to Provisioning Profiles / Distribution and click Add (+).



You are now redirected to Distribution section. Select “App Store” then click “Continue”.



Under “Select App ID” section, you need to select your App ID. Choose the App ID you have created (automatically provided in the drop-down). Then click “Continue”.



Similarly, under “Select certificates” section, you need to choose the one you have just created among options. Then click “Continue”.



At Generate step, fill the app name as your “Profile Name” and click “Continue”. Your Provision file will then be created. You can now download it and get the Provision file with the extension .mobileprovision.




3. Get .ipa file

Go to your SimiCart Dashboard > App Builder > Publish. Select “Your Apple developer account” under "Submit by".



Enter all the required information.

Field name
Appearance on App Store
Description
Provisioning profile
No
The file .mobileprovision that you created in Step 2.
Developer certificate
No
The file .p12 that you created in Step 1.
Certificate password
No
The password that you created for your Developer Certificate in Step 1.
Bundle Id
YesThe Bundle ID that you created in Step 2.
iOS Team Id
No
You can find this in your Apple Developer Account
iOS Provision Name
NoThe name of your Provisioning Profile file above. For example: if your Provisioning Profile file is yourapp.mobileprovision, then the iOS Provision Name is yourapp
Version Name
Yes
  • If this is the first time you upload your app to App Store, version name is 1.0.0
  • If you already had your app on App Store, the new Version Name must be bigger than the last one (Go to https://itunesconnect.apple.com -> login to your Apple Developer account -> Go to My Apps -> select your app -> choose Activity menu -> choose All Builds tab)
Version Code
YesVersion number you specify when creating a new version of the app on iTunes Connect.
Description
Yes
Describe your app in less than 4000 characters
Keywords
NoThese keywords will help your customers search your App in Apple store

Then, click "Get Your Release File" and wait a moment for the release app (.ipa) to be built. If the build is successful, the download link will show up at the Download App field. Click "Download iOS App" to download the .ipa file.

4. Submit your app to App Store


Log in to iTunes Connect > My Apps. Then, click on Add (the plus icon on the menu bar) and choose “New iOS app”.


First you need to create a new Identifier for your app. Click the plus (+) button under Identifiers.
Select App IDs and click Continue.



Enter a general description for the App ID (your app name, for example). For Bundle ID, enter the Bundle ID that you created in Step 2.




Scroll down until you see this. Select the options as in the below screenshots:




Click Continue > Register.


Go to App Store Connect. Then, click Add (the plus icon on the menu bar) and choose “New App”.



Fill out all required information
  • Name: Your app name
  • Primary Language: Your app's main language
  • Bundle ID: the Bundle ID that you created in your Dashboard in Step 1.
  • SKU: Your app name in lowercase


Then, click Create.

You will be redirected to the App Information page. There are more fields that you need to enter, like Privacy Policy URL.



Under Category, select Shopping. Then click Save.





Under Pricing and Availability section, select 0 (Free) for Price. Then click Save.



On the left menu, select Prepare for Submission section (with your app version at the start).

You will need to upload screenshots of your app to be shown on App Store.




You need to upload at least 3 screenshots for each device type. Detailed requirements is as below:




Under Build, click the plus (+) sign to upload the .ipa file that you got from Step 1.


Upload an icon for your app under General App Information. The image size is 1024 px * 1024 px with JPEG format.


Scroll down and fill out all required information

  • Promotional Text: the Promotional text box lets you inform your App Store visitors of any current app features without requiring an updated submission. These texts will appear above your description in the App Store for customers with devices running iOS 11 or higher.
  • Description: Describe your App in less than 4000 characters (you should not use content related to Apple’s competitors).
  • Keywords: These keywords will help your customers search your App in Apple store.
  • Support URL: URL of Contact page in your website.
  • Marketing URL: URL of your website.

Under Rating, choose Edit then select the options that correctly describe your app content. In most cases it will look like the below screenshot.




Scroll down to enter App Review Information section.

  • Contact information: Fill in your business contact information.
  • Sign-in Information: Provide an account to access your app so Apple can do their review.

Finally, click Save on the upper right corner and click Submit for Review. Select No > Submit if you see this below prompt.




That's it! Normally it will take Apple 2 or 3 days to review your app. Then if there is no rejection from Apple, your app will be live on App Store.

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