You’ve built your app and are now ready to publish it. Use this article as a checklist of items to complete prior to submitting your app for publishing to the Apple and Google app stores.

The first step in getting your app live in the Apple App Store is to enroll in their developer program. Apple requires all apps to be housed in their own dedicated developer account, and the enrollment fee is an annual charge of $99.
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If you need help with how to enroll in Apple’s developer program, we encourage you to check out our article which takes you through the process step-by-step, which you can find here.
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Our publishing team will also need to be added as an Admin for your app within your App Store Connect Account. This article will walk you through the steps.

One thing to keep in mind when enrolling in Apple’s program is which developer account type you’re enrolling as. There are two account types, Individual and Company/Organization. Here’s a breakdown of the two types:

Individual:

An individual account only allows for a single primary login to be created to the iOS Developer Account. Also, the developer name that will be made public (on the App Store) will be your First and Last name. Sign up for an individual account only if your app is branded to you as an individual.

Company/Organization:

A company/organization account allows for multiple user logins to be created and managed with varying permissions capabilities for each login. The developer name that will be made public will be your company or organization’s name.

Enrolling in the correct account, or entity type, is vitally important to getting your app submitted and approved by Apple. If you’re not sure which account type to enroll as, it boils down to who your app’s content is for, and the name that your app is branded under. 

If you are a non-profit organization, a government institution, or educational institution, there is a chance that you can waive the enrollment fee. You will need to enroll as a Company/Organization, and will need to follow the steps laid out by Apple here.

IMPORTANT: If you are building an app for your company that’s strictly for internal-use only then you will need to enroll in an Apple Enterprise developer account instead. The annual fee is $299 instead, and you will need to be on our Enterprise level plan in order to publish your app. The Apple Enterprise developer program is strictly for internal-use apps only. If you need help with how to enroll in the Apple Enterprise program, we have an article that goes through the entire process which you can find here.

Similarly to Apple, if you would like to have your app available in the Google Play store you will need to enroll in the Google developer program. Unlike Apple, the enrollment fee for a Google developer account is a one-time fee of $25.

If you need help with enrolling in the Google developer account, we encourage you to check out our article which takes you through the whole process which you can find here.

Unlike Apple, Google only has one developer account type so you’ll enroll in the same account for Google regardless of if your app is for the public or internal-use only.

After you have enrolled in the Google developer program, you’ll need to add us to your account as a Release Manager so that when you send your app to our publishing team they can submit it to your account.
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If you need help with adding us as a Release Manager to your Google developer account, we encourage you to check out our article that takes you through the process which you can find here.

Once you have enrolled in the Apple and Google developer programs, and have added publishing3@buildfire.com as an Admin to your Google and Apple developer accounts, the next step is to upgrade to one of our paid plans. When you’re ready to upgrade, simply click on “Publish” at the top of the App Dashboard:

Then select the plan that fits best for your app. Not sure which plan you should upgrade to? You can find information on our plans, including the features that come with each plan, here:
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​https://buildfire.com/pricing/

Have a question about a specific feature? Then we encourage you to reach out to us at support@buildfire.com where one of our Customer Success team will be more than happy to answer any questions you have about our system.

Once you have upgraded to one of our paid plans and have enrolled in the Apple and Google developer programs, you’ll need to fill out the Publishing Information for your app in the App Dashboard. To do this, navigate to Advanced > App Publishing Info on the side menu in the Control Panel:

If you need help with the required information within the App Publishing Info page, we encourage you to check out our article that breaks down every section.
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Once you have filled out the App Publishing Info, you’ll need to agree to our Terms & Conditions and click “Yes, Submit For Publishing” which will send your app off to our publishing team who will begin the submission process for Apple and Google.

When you send your app off to our publishing team it typically takes them a business day or two in order to compile the necessary files and get your app ready to submit to Apple and Google. Once the app has been submitted it goes through Apple and Google’s review processes.
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Google typically takes 3-5 business days to review an app while Apple can take anywhere from a couple of business days to a couple of weeks depending on their current workload of app submissions.

Keep these timeframes in mind when you submit your app, especially if you need your app live by a certain date. We do our best to get the app sent off to Apple and Google as quickly as possible, but once the app has been submitted, it’s in Apple and Google’s hands.

Once your app has been submitted, Apple will send you periodic updates on the app’s submission to the email address that you used to sign up for the Apple account with. This can be a message letting you know that it’s currently in review, ready for sale, or that the app has been rejected. While we strive to make sure that your app is as rejection-proof as possible, rejections do happen from time to time. Because of this we recommend that you keep an eye out for any messages from Apple regarding your app. If you do end up with a rejection, please forward Apple’s full rejection message to support@buildfire.com where we’re more than happy to help you resolve that rejection.
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Similarly if for some reason Google rejects your app, you’ll also be notified at the email address that you used to enroll in the Google developer program with. We will also notify you at this email address once your app has been approved by Google.

Congratulations! You now know the process and what’s required in order to get your app published! We hope this article has been helpful as you get your app ready to go live.

In addition to this article, we recommend checking out the following related articles so that you have a better insight into how to use the system to its fullest advantage:

Still have questions? No problem! Reach out to us and we’d be happy to help :)