How to Submit An App to Apple: From No Account to App Store – Part 2

Last Stop: iTunes Connect

Now it’s time to get to know iTunes Connect. Go to: https://developer.apple.com/membercenter and log in with your iOS Developer credentials.

Click iTunes Connect:

Note: You can also connect directly to iTunes Connect via the url: https://itunesconnect.apple.com

The first time you connect, you’ll see a brief introduction panel. You may wish to skip this in future:

Also, if it’s your first time, you’ll have to accept the Terms of Service.

You’ll now see the main iTunes Connect dashboard. There are many things to do here. This tutorial will show you the basic steps to get your app submitted, but if you want the gritty details, you can check out the complete iTunes Connect Developer Guide.

First things first: if you want to get paid for your apps, there’s some “paperwork” you must fill out. It’s better to get this stuff out of the way now. The process may vary a bit from country to country.

If all of your apps (or at least the first) will be free, you can skip this section and go right to Submitting Your App below.

If you’re still here, click Agreements, Tax and Banking:

The first time in, you’ll have to electronically sign one contract for paid applications that covers all terms of payment.

Click Request. On the next page, you’ll agree to Apple’s terms. You can also view the pricing matrix if you’d like. When you’re ready, select the checkbox and click Submit.

Contact Information

To set up your contact information, click the first Set Up button, under Contact Info. There, you can select Add New Contact. Add yourself as the new contact and click Save when done.

This tutorial assumes that you are an individual developer and have no employees. As such, you can give yourself all the roles. Change every drop down menu and click Done:

Bank Information

Now click Set Up under Bank Info. Since this is your first time here, you’ll have to click Add Bank Account.

Choose the appropriate Bank Country and click Next. If you choose anything other than United States, be aware that the steps from now on may be different.

Your bank’s ABA Routing number is located on your checks or statements. Enter the correct ABA Routing Number, and click Next.

Next, you must look for your bank’s branch. Look for one in your city but don’t expect to find an exact match for your branch. Don’t worry, it doesn’t have to be exact. Once you’ve made your selection, click Next.

Check the information and click Next.

Now comes the important piece: your account number. This is also found on your checks or statements. Fill out all the details for your account and click Next.

Confirm all the information, check the box indicating that it’s correct, and finally, click Save.

You can now select this new bank account and click Save. That wasn’t that bad, was it? :]

Tax Information

You’re almost done. At a minimum, you must complete the US tax forms. Under Tax Info, click Set Up.

You must complete the US form regardless of other forms you may also need to complete. Click Set Up under U.S. Tax Forms.

Fill out all the required information. If something is unclear, check out the W-9 instructions available for download from the upper-left corner of the page. Verify that everything is correct and click Submit.

Notice that the Status field in the Contracts In Process panel now says “Processing” – Apple is verifying the information you provided. This may take an hour or so to become active; you may even see a deposit in your account followed by a withdrawal of the same amount.

Once all your contracts have been verified, the Contracts in Process panel will disappear, and you’ll be left with the Contracts In Effect:

Click Done to go back to the main iTunes Connect Dashboard.

And now for the fun part!

Submitting Your App

To submit an app, there are certain items you’ll need to get in order before you can go any further. Make sure you have the following ready:

• Your app’s name.
• The app’s description.
• Your app’s icon, sized 1024 by 1024 pixels.
• Screenshots for all supported devices (more details about sizes can be found here).

Notes: Your images can be in JPEG or PNG format. At least one screenshot is required for each device your app supports (maximum 10 for each).

Once you’ve got all this assembled, click My Apps in iTunes Connect:

Click +, then select New App. The first time you attempt to submit a new app, you’ll need to provide your company name as you’d like it to appear on the App Store for all of your future apps. This is something that you have to do before you can move on and you cannot change this value in the future. So, you’d better put some thought into it… :] This value will appear right below the app name and will be clickable, so users can see all of your apps in one place. You can use your first and last name or you can come up with a cool company name (it doesn’t have to be a real legal entity) that no one has used before on the App Store.

Complete the form as follows:

• Platforms: Choose iOS.
• Name: enter the name of your app as it should appear on the App Store. Must be unique.
• Primary Language: select from the choices.
• Bundle ID: select the correct ID from the drop down of IDs you registered earlier.
• SKU: a unique ID for your app in the Apple system that is not seen by users. You can use letters, numbers, hyphens, periods, and underscores. The SKU must start with a letter or number.

Click Create:

Now the details screen appears:

Click App Information. Fill out the Category fields based on your app information. If your app gathers data or your app is “Made for Kids” you must have a privacy policy posted — the Privacy Policy URL should contain the address for this. Scroll through the rest of the settings and set any that are appropriate for your app. Click Save.

Now click Pricing and Availability.

Select All Prices and Currencies for more information about the price tiers. Don’t forget that Apple takes 30% and you get 70% of the selected price. Now choose your desired price tier or indicate that your app will be free. You can specify different prices within different date ranges if you wish by selecting Plan a Price Change. For now, just add one entry. The Start Date will default to today; the End Date will be set to “No End Date”.

Click the radio button if you want your app to be offered at a discount to educational institutions when they purchase multiple copies at once. You can also offer your app to businesses at a discount for multiple purchases.

Once you’re done, click Save.

Click 1.0 Prepare for Submission:

This section is where you’ll add all the assets for your app that will appear on the App Store. The first step is to upload your app’s icon and at least one screenshot. If your app is universal, you’ll need to submit screenshots for the iPhone and for the iPad. When you have what you need, just drag and drop the screenshots over for each device type.

Click Save when you’ve added all the screenshots you need.

Scroll down and complete the the description — this is what the users will see in the app store — and keywords.

Consider the keywords; these are quite important. Only your app’s name and keywords are indexed in iTunes’ search engine, so brainstorm words that potential users might try to find your app or your competitors’ apps. You can only change keywords when submitting updates, so choose wisely.

Enter the URL for your website support page. It can be a simple page that allows users to email you if they want to compliment you on your great work :]

Skip the Build section for now and scroll down to General App Information. Add your icon — it must be 1024 by 1024 pixels.

Set the version number; it should be the same as in your app’s Xcode project. Future versions of this app that you’ll submit must have increasing version numbers. You can’t submit version 1.1 after you’ve already submitted version 1.2.

Also, speaking of future versions of your app, once a version is released, you cannot roll back to a previous version. You’ll have to submit a new version, wait for Apple to approve it, and release it to replace the version you’d like to replace. As long as you haven’t released the version, even if Apple has approved it, it won’t be available to your users.

Fill out a copyright notice, a contact email and affiliated websites.

Click Edit next to Rating. Enter the categories appropriate for your app. Be honest, as the reviewer can make changes to this section if they disagree. Click Done:

Scroll down to App Review Information. This section is designed to help the person at Apple who reviews and approves your app. Use the Notes area to provide information you want the reviewer to know. For example, if users need to sign up at a website or within the app in order to use it, provide some credentials here to make the reviewer’s job easier.

Also, if your app requires special hardware, ensure that you explain that here too, and try to have a way for the reviewer to use the app without the hardware. Complete the contact information so that the reviewer can reach you to discuss things if needed.

Finally, use the Version Release section to indicate when you want the app to be released. Since this is the first version, just leave the Automatically release this version option selected.

Now click Save.

The Submit for Review button on the top right will be enabled if there were no issues with what you entered.

If you try to click Submit for Review, you will get a message saying that there were one or more errors on the page — your app has not been uploaded yet!

Remember you skipped the Build section? Now you need to actually upload your app using Xcode.