Testing and Submitting Your App to the App Store

Congratulations, you have reached the final chapter of this book!

Over the course of this book, you have learned about the Swift programming language and how to build an entire app using Xcode. However, so far, you’ve only been running your app in Simulator or on your own device using a free Apple Developer account.

In this chapter, you will start by learning how to obtain a paid Apple Developer account. Next, you’ll learn about certificates, identifiers, test device registration, and provisioning profiles. After that, you’ll learn how to create an App Store listing and submit your app to the App Store. Finally, you’ll learn how to conduct testing for your app using internal and external testers.

By the end of this chapter, you’ll know how to test and how to submit your own apps to the App Store.

The following topics will be covered:

• Getting an Apple Developer account
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Technical requirements

You will need an Apple ID and a paid Apple Developer account to complete this chapter.

There are no project files for this chapter as it should be used as a reference on how to submit apps and is not specific to any particular app.

To see the latest updates to the App Store, visit https://developer.apple.com/app-store/whats-new/.

Apple has introduced a new continuous integration and delivery service built into Xcode named Xcode Cloud. All Apple Developer program members are eligible for 25 hours per month at no cost until the end of 2023. To learn more, visit this link: https://developer.apple.com/xcode-cloud/.

Let’s start by learning how to get a paid Apple Developer account, which is required for App Store submission, in the next section.

Getting an Apple Developer account

As you have seen in earlier chapters, all you need to test your app on a device is a free Apple ID. But the apps will only work for a few days, and you will not be able to add advanced features such as Sign in with Apple or upload your app to the App Store. For that, you need a paid Apple Developer account. Follow these steps to purchase an Individual/Sole Proprietorship Apple Developer account:

1. Go to https://developer.apple.com/programs/ and click on the Enroll button.
2. Scroll to the bottom of the screen and click Start Your Enrollment.
3. Enter your Apple ID and password when prompted.
4. On the Trust this browser? screen, click Trust only if you are the only person using this browser, otherwise, click Not Now. This is to safeguard your account information.
5. Click Continue enrollment on the web >.
6. On the Confirm your personal information screen, enter your personal information and click Continue.
7. On the...

Exploring your Apple Developer account

Your Apple Developer account has everything you need to develop and submit apps. You can view your membership status, add and organize members of your development team, access developer documentation, download beta software, and more. All these features are beyond the scope of this book though, and this section will only cover what you need to do to get your app on the App Store.

First, you’ll get Apple Developer certificates that you’ll install on your Mac. These certificates will be used to digitally sign your app. Next, you’ll need to register your app’s App ID and the devices that you’ll be testing your app on. After that, you’ll be able to generate provisioning profiles that allow your apps to run on your test devices and allow you to submit apps to the App Store.

Xcode can automatically handle this process for you when you add the AppleID and password of your Apple Developer account...

Submitting your app to the App Store

You are now ready to submit your app to the App Store! In this section, the ShareOrder app will be used as an example. Let’s recap what you’ve done up to this point. You’ve created development and distribution certificates, registered your App ID and test devices, and generated development and distribution profiles.

To test your app on your test devices, you’ll use the development certificate, App ID, registered test devices, and development profile. To submit your app to the App Store, you’ll use the distribution certificate, App ID, and distribution profile. You’ll configure Xcode to manage this automatically for you.

Before you submit your app, you must create your app’s icons and get screenshots of your app. Then you can create an App Store listing, generate an archive build to be uploaded, and complete the App Store Connect information. Apple will then review your app and, if all goes...

Testing your app

Apple has a facility named TestFlight that allows you to distribute your apps to testers prior to releasing it to the App Store. You’ll need to download the TestFlight app, available from https://developer.apple.com/testflight/, to test your app. Your testers can be both members of your internal team (internal testers) or the general public (external testers). First, let’s see how to allow internal team members to test your app in the next section.

Testing your app internally

Internal testing should be performed when the app is in an early stage of development. It only involves members of your internal team; Apple does not review apps for internal testers. You can send builds to up to 100 testers for internal testing. To do so, follow these steps:

1. Go to http://appstoreconnect.apple.com and select My Apps.
2. Select the app that you want to test.
3. Click the TestFlight tab:

Figure 27.57: TestFlight tab

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Summary

You have now completed the entire process of building an app and submitting it to the App Store. Congratulations!

You started by learning how to obtain an Apple Developer account. Next, you learned how to generate a certificate signing request to create certificates that allow you to test apps on your own devices and publish them on the App Store. You learned how to create a bundle identifier to uniquely identify your app on the App Store and register your test devices. After that, you learned how to create development and production provisioning profiles, to allow apps to run on your test devices and be uploaded to the App Store. Next, you learned how to create an App Store listing and submit your release build to the App Store. Finally, you learned how to conduct testing for your app using internal and external testers.

You now know how to build your own apps, conduct internal and external testing for them, and submit them to the App Store.

Once an app has been...