Publishing to stores

This is how your app reaches the App Store and Google Play. The Publishing centre shows each step.

Status: Needs setup. Publishing needs the Standard or Enterprise plan. You need your own Apple developer account and your own Google Play developer account. Builds and releases go to these accounts.

What you need#

Apple: an organisation developer account, with a D-U-N-S number. Also an App Store Connect API key.
Google Play: a developer account and a service account key.
Push keys: an APNs key for iPhone and Firebase for Android, so push messages can be sent.

Store the keys in the app, not in your code. The app keeps them encrypted.

Steps#

Account setup. Connect the Apple and Google accounts. The app checks each step.
Compliance checks. The app runs 15 checks on your listing and app settings. Blocking checks must pass before a production release. Other checks are warnings.
Build. The app starts a build on the build service. A build takes some time. You can see its status in the centre.
Release. Send the build to a test track first, then to production:
- iPhone: TestFlight
- Android: internal, closed, then production
Review. After Apple or Google reviews the app, the centre shows the result. If it is rejected, the centre shows a rejection guide.

App link files#

So that links to your store open the app, your domain needs a small link file for Apple and one for Android. The server builds these files from your link domain and your developer account details. The Android file needs your Google Play app-signing fingerprint, and the app does not fill it in yet. Ask your developer to add it before you test Android links.

Status: built in code, not yet live.

Steps you do by hand#

Creating the Apple app record and filling in the privacy labels.
The first upload to Google Play.

Limits#

Cancelling a build only marks it cancelled in the centre. The build service may still finish it.
Keep your listing honest. Only list features that work in your app. Reviewers test what the listing says. Features that are off by default should not be promised as live.

When you need a new build#

Publishing a version updates screens and content. Some changes need a new build. These are changes to:

the app name
the app icon
the app's build settings
native features that were not in the last build

The centre tells you when a new build is needed.

Who can do this#

People with the publishing manage permission. See Team and roles.