Background: This article was created to educate the rest of the company’s non-professionals about the iOS release process. So more screenshots, easy for them according to the steps of the fool operation.

The software development process is beyond the scope of this tutorial.

Prerequisites for release:

  • Developer account (already paid, $99 or $299)
  • Software code that has been developed
  • Mac

I. Certificate configuration

1. Generate a local Certificate Signing Request (CSR) file

Every Mac comes with an APP: keychain, which generates CSR files.

Enter a common email and select save to disk to generate a CSR file that will be used later in the process.

2. Create APPID

Go to the Apple Developer Center and select Certificates,IDs & Profiles:

Select the Identifiers, click the plus sign to add, and Continue all the way:

Description is used to describe the APPID. The BundleID is the unique identifier of the project. You can copy it in Xcode to avoid errors and save it.

If Push is available in your project, select Push Notifications and configure a Push certificate (👇🏻).

3. Push the certificate

To create a Push certificate, click the Edit button after the Push Notification, which brings up the following message. You can choose to create a certificate for the development environment or production environment:

Select the CSR file for production and Continue all the way:

The end product is two cer files, which you double click to install into the keystring. The keystring can be exported as a P12 file for push configuration on each push platform.

Double-click the downloaded certificate and install it into the keychain. Then right-click on the keystring and choose Export, enter the name and password, and finally export as a P12 file.

Take aurora push configuration as an example:

The production certificate and development certificate respectively use the p12 file exported above, and the password entered when selecting the file is the password set when exporting. The process is similar for other platforms.

4. Configure the developer certificate

Developer certificates do not need to be configured in general, but Xcode can choose to configure them automatically, which saves a lot of work. But if you want to type a test package on a dandelion or fir, you need to configure an Ad Hoc certificate, like this one. Select Profiles and click the plus sign to add:

Development is a Development certificate, Development process for real machine debugging; Distribution is a Distribution certificate that is used for APP packaging to submit for review. Select Ad Hoc, which is used to type test packages later.

Select the APPID of the certificate to be configured:

Select Certificate:

Select devices that are allowed to be installed. If a device is not selected, you cannot install it.

Name the certificate and click Generate to Generate the certificate:

We’re done here. We don’t have to download it.

Second, the packaging

Open the project in Xcode, select the root directory, then check The Signing & Capabilities TAB, select the developer account in the Signing & Capabilities TAB, and add push permissions if you have push Capabilities.

Select Archive in Product at the top to package. This will take a few minutes, so be patient.

Select the version you want to package, and click the Distribute button in the upper right corner to package it. You need to select the type and destination of the IPA package. Generally, select Export. And then go all the way to Next.

Once you have selected the path, the export process is complete.

Three, publish,

1. Submit the APP

The first is to upload the IPA package. This is done through the Transporter APP, available for free download on the APP Store.

After the login, you can add the IPA package to the Transporter for delivery. If there is no problem, everything goes well. If there is a problem, there will be a log message. You can also check the email of the developer account and modify the code according to the email reminder. The delivery premise is that the APP has been created in the back of the Apple store and the bundleID needs to be consistent with the IPA.

2. Submit for review

There are two ways to submit an APP for review in the back of the APP Store: updating an existing APP version and releasing a new APP. Each is described below.

2.1 Upgrading an Existing APP

Click the plus sign at the top left of the APP details page to add the new version. The new version needs to be modified in two places: the updated content of this version, and select the build version (i.e. the uploaded IPA package). When selecting the build version, you need to select the export compliance certificate information. Generally, you can select no. The screenshot is as follows:

2.2 Releasing a new APP

On the APP list page, click the plus sign on the left to create a new APP. To create an APP, you need to fill in some basic information:

  • Platform: Select according to the type of software. The standard is iOS, so select iOS as the platform.
  • Name: The name that appears in the App Store.
  • Main language: Needless to say, choose simplified Chinese.
  • Package ID: This is the identifier created in the Apple Developer Center and needs to be consistent with the IPA package.
  • SKU: An identifier that is guaranteed to be unique.
  • User access permission: Select full access permission.

Before releasing a new APP, fill in the following information: ###### In the current version ready to commit:

  • App preview and screenshots: three 6.5-inch, three 5.5-inch, and three 12.9-inch if the App supports iPad.
  • Description: A text description of the APP.
  • Keywords: Keywords used to search in the App Store
  • Technical support Url: It is usually the web address of the company website. You can set it as required.
  • Build: Consistent with the release of a new release.
  • Copyright: fill in according to the format, or fill in on demand.
  • Login information: If you need to log in, provide the account password.
  • Contact information: Contact information of the person or person in charge is required, but generally not useful.

App Information module
  • Copyright content: select as required.
  • Age classification: select as required.
  • Category: Select a category based on the APP type and use it in the APP Store.

App Privacy Module
  • Privacy policy website: can use public, this is no restrictions.
  • Data type: Select one as required.

Price and range
  • Price: The sale price of the App in the App Store.
  • Sales range: default is all countries and regions, can be selected on demand.
  • App publishing method: Public is uploaded to App Store, private is commercial distribution, need to provide at least one organization ID and organization name, organization ID and other through Apple business to obtain. Click to jump to Apple Business

Once you’ve filled in all the required items above, you can submit the APP for review. If there is no problem with the APP, it can be approved directly. Otherwise, an email will remind Apple that you have sent a message and you need to check it in the background of the APP store. Then you can modify the APP according to the message and submit it again for approval. To resubmit for review, you need to delete the currently selected build from where you selected the build, then select the newly uploaded build and click Submit.

So that’s the package and release process for an iOS App.

There is also a mind map that details the packaging and release process: