Is it possible to have the same identical app on App Store, but under two different developer accounts, and slightly different names?
I need to move an app from one dev account to another, but I would like it uploaded on the new account before removing it from the old one.
Anyone have experience with this?
The two apps will have to have unique and different iTunes Connect names and different Bundle IDs. The only sure way to determine whether or not this is possible is to submit the new app, and see if Apple approves it.
I've seen the same app "Smart Alarm Clock" by Arawella corp being sold both as a free version and as a paid version. They essentially have the same app twice in the app store, just with different icons. If a company that big can get away with that, you can probably too (paid and free version)
Related
Imagine that we have bought other application, then transfer it to our accounts in application stores. Seems like it's possible for all 3 major smartphone platforms.
Imagine then that we bought app for great community, not for app features. Could we publish our own app as an update for bought app?
P.S.: we don't consider possible negative reaction from community, only tech and legal possibility. Also we don't consider that at least in Apple App Store publishing absolutely the same app with different bundle id counts like spamming.
For Google Play techincally it is possible to transfer a app from one account to another and yes you can publish other app as the update for the existing one as long as your app has the same package name as the existing one.
http://phandroid.com/2012/06/21/getting-acquired-how-to-transfer-ownership-of-your-android-app-or-game/
My company had outsourced an iOS app to another company, and they published the app on the App Store using their Apple ID. The app have been available for download for a few months and has a number of users. Now my company developed a slightly newer version of the app and would like to distribute the app using our own Apple ID. What's the correct way to do it? The major concerns we have are:
Should we submit the newer version using our ID before or after we take the old app down from the App Store. Would it happen that the newer app get rejected because Apple feel the two apps are too similar? (Actually they are quite similar, for that the update is slim.)
Is there a graceful way to notify the currently online app's users that they should switch to the newer app? And How to coordinate it, since the newer app may take a certain amount of time to get approved.
Thanks.
There are some different scenarios here, I am going to try to address some of them to see which one helps you the most:
1-)You have a current application that contains no use of push notification and no use of in app purchase. This is the easiest one. Basically, It does not matter what version the user has had before. You can remove the old one from the previous developer account and add it to the new developer account. By completely removing the previous application (not just from the app store listing, but from the developer account), you can reuse the bundle ID. When the user reinstall the app, the user will be able to replace the old application with the new application (note that the new application will not appear on the user's update list).
2-)You have push notification. Here, you will have to keep the old application if you wish to maintain the push notification certificates, so, the new application will have to use a new bundle ID, which means that the app will appear on the user as a new application, and the user will be able to have both app simultaneously.
3-)You have in app purchase and subscriptions. You will need to remove the old in app purchase entries from the old developer account, and add it to the new account (if you wish to reuse the product id, if not, you will have to create it either way).
I am not sure what kind of measure you need to take if you are using iCloud and/or other services. Best course of action is to contact Apple developer support. They will give you some guidance on what to do with your specific case. Also, when submitting, make sure to point to the reviewer that you are trying to move the application from one company to another. I think they can access review notes from the review to the previous submission(instead of reviewing it as a new app), and speed up the process.
Edit: You can not transfer apps between companies using iTunes connect. More information here: link
I'm thinking about building a series of iOS apps.
Each app will be purchased individually but I'd like in-app purchases within any of the apps to be universal. ie, pay for it in one app of the series, it's available in any other apps installed to use too.
Is this possible without forcing the user to create an account of any sort?
Many thanks
Answer is NO, Reason is all your IAP are identified by the bundle identifier and that is unique for each application, as all the IAP's are specific to the bundle identifier you can not share those.
There is another way of achieving what you asking for, I don't know all your requirements still I would NOT follow this solution, still I am writing to know some options.
You can sharing the keychain across the applications and keep track of purchases across apps.
Keychain data is not deleted on deletion of the app
If user resets/restore phone keychain data can get deleted and you will be at dead end, as user has to restore the content from your 1st application to use in 2nd application... (yeah confusing.. right ?)
There may be some other complications I am missing right now.. good luck
I'm going to develop an iPhone app, and want to make sure what I want to do is possible, and will be approved by Apple.
I'm going to create an app that will be fully branded on per submission basis. I want to have one app per customer (our customers are companies) with their logo, skin, etc.
This apps will be downloaded and installed by the employees of each one of our customers.
In other words, we would use the same base code (logic doesn't change), but will brand it for each customer. Something similar to what Magento (http://www.magentocommerce.com/product/mobile) does, they created an Ecommerce mobile app, and they brand it to their customer, but the app logic remains the same.
Would Apple consider this as duplicate apps? what is the best way to do it?
Thanks in advance.
I would have said "no problem" until I read:
This apps will be downloaded and
installed by the employees of each one
of our customers
It sounds like what your creating is (a set of) private applications, which are intended to be targeted only to specific users - i.e. employees of the company.
Apple has a separate "enterprise" development program geared towards this - allowing developers to deploy programs for their own company - and do it outside of the App Store.
If your program is very specific towards the companies, Apple may make you do this - rather than putting the Apps up for general consumption on the App store.
See here for more details:
http://developer.apple.com/programs/ios/enterprise/
Also:
If your application is really intended for a wider audience, and your could in-fact sell/distribute it a such - you could "skin" the app dynamically. For example, on first-time launch, when you "register" with some "service" - based upon your email address it could download the appropriate skinning graphics.
I can say I know of several companies built on this strategy. The code doesn't change one iota from app to app, only images and names change and they continue to bring in revenue.
EDIT: Note this is against apple policy and if they find out they have been known to ban accounts. They consider it spamming and prefer that you sell one app that provides in app purchases. Directly from their feedback on a particular group of app submissions:
Thank you for submitting your
Photography apps to the App Store.
We've completed the review of your
apps, however, we are unable to post
them to the App Store because they
provide the same feature set and
simply vary the content. Apps that
replicate functionality with different
content create clutter in the App
Store, hindering users' ability to
find apps, and do not comply with the
App Store Review Guidelines
https://developer.apple.com/appstore/resources/approval/guidelines.html:
2.20 Developers 'spamming' the App Store with many versions of
similar apps will be removed from the
iOS Developer Program
You can now use Apple's Volume Purchase Program to release differently branded versions of the same app to different customers. The app can be free or paid. Each customer must have a DUNS number (Dun & Bradstreet). See the FAQ for details.
When a single developer releases multiple apps, do they register the apps under different company names?
What's the most iPhone apps released by a single developer that you know of?
During your submission of the first app in app store, you have to enter your company name. It can be different from the name which is used to create the developer account. Once created, you can not change this company name, that is any future app from that developer account will have that company name.
This was the scenario at least at the start of this year. I don't know whether this policy is changed now (little possibility of changing).
I have at least 200+ apps in the store. Admittedly, most developers would refer to them as Shovelware. However, that is not my intent, and I go to great lengths to prevent that. As far as I know, Apple doesn't have a limit on the number of apps. Note though, that the latest Apple App Approval changes have a clause about developers spamming the store with similar apps. The practice is frowned upon. Also, all of our apps are under one company name.
Hope that helps.