Simple question - can I put an app in Apple's AppStore which is only functional for those who have a username & password? This is for a client who wants to distribute their app only to a select number of people. The Enterprise license is not an option, and while ad-hoc distribution is, I'd prefer to go through the store.
As the material is semi-sensitive, I'd need to keep the description to a minimum (eg. this app is only for XYZ users, and requires a password), and screenshot to just a single screen of the login page.
Does anyone know of any apps in the store like this?
These apps are more readily rejected, but Apple doesn't explicitly disallow this. You will have to provide them a test login during the application approval process.
Related
Our company made application for ios for some clothing business. We would like for this app, to be widely available, so anyone on appstore can download it, but wouldn't be able to do anything useful unless he has corporate email and password (which is assigned by us (my team)). This app doesn't include payments, notifications, deep linking. The idea is, that we tell workers to go download this app on appstore (or give them link) and then send them email and password, so that they can start using this app. We tried deploying it to appstore, but they rejected it. We also tried with Enterprise, but they rejected it, because our company isn't big enough.
This is our first appstore app and we are a bit green in all this.
What are our options? For record, we are based in EU (Slovenia).
Thanks for your answers!
I am designing a paying app that will require users to create their own profile.
This app will of course be downloadable on each of the devices the user has.
This is the precise scenario I want to bypass :
the user downloads the App on an iPhone
he creates an account and start using the app that makes server
calls
he downloads the app on his iPad and with his login & password
retreives the data on the server, so far so good
Now, he lends his iPad to a friend (who didn't pay for the app).
The friend wants to use the App, and wants to create his own
account. Yet, I want to forbide this since he didn't pay for the
App.
So my problem is : I want to restrict the use of the app only to the user that paid for the App, not for his friend.
Of course, I cannot use the AppleID since there is no way to reach it from code.
I thought one moment that I could use iCloud like mentioned here but since the ( iOS unique user identifier )user can choose not to use iCloud, my problem is not solved ...
Is there an easy solution that I missed to solve that issue?
You friend will be using different apple id. You could use Restoring Transactions api of apple to get understand whether the user has purchased the app or not. This is possible for non-consumable in app purchase. Please do check the below link :
https://developer.apple.com/library/mac/#documentation/NetworkingInternet/Conceptual/StoreKitGuide/MakingaPurchase/MakingaPurchase.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/TP40008267-CH3-SW1
We intend to launch a free iPhone/iPad app on the AppStore.
The content will actually be accessible thanks to a subscription model (login/pwd authentication in iPhone app).
The subscription (about 100$ a month) is handled via a dedicated web server.
If used without subscription, this app will provide minimum value.
Does anyone know if this kind of subscription model can be rejected by Apple ?
I know some apps follow this model, but I'd like to have your thought on this before starting in this direction.
Thanks for your answer.
This is fine AFAIK - As long your app is free and you put in the description that it requires a subscription to whichever service. When you submit the app, you'll need to hand over details to a test account to Apple so that they can test it, but other than that it's no hassle at all.
I know of an app which works just like that on the app store right now - Spotify for iPhone. It's a music playing app which streams music from the web - but you need a Spotify premium account. When you first open the app, you have to sign in, and if you don't have a premium account it just tells you that you're not allowed in!
Javawag
There are plenty of apps which only work if I have an account somewhere, and some for which I have to pay for that account so, without knowing the specifics, there is nothing which immediately rules out your subscription model. There are even Apple apps, iDisk for example, which are useless if you don't have a $100 mobile me subscription.
If there are issues you can look at selling your subscription as an in app purchase (apple will take their 30% which should make them happy) or look at making the app more functional without the subscription.
Either way, when submitting for approval make sure to set up a sample account with a full subscription that the apple testers can use (there is space in the submission for including logins for this kind of thing).
Our app, previously approved, update was just rejected because we sell subscriptions through our website. (We have been doing this for 15 years, without giving Apple 30% of our money.) They are requiring that all subscriptions for iphone/ipad content go through in-app purchasing. I guess we will be looking at building a browser based app instead.
Cheers,
Gerry
Can iphone web apps be sold on appstore, without requiring user to do manual bookmark, etc?
Yes, you can create webapps and put them in the IStore under webapps
As per the page ...
To submit an iPhone web application, review the following guidelines, then log into the submission system using the Apple ID and password associated with your ADC membership.
You must be an Apple Developer Connection (ADC) Online, Select, or Premier member to participate in this program. If you are not a member, you can join for free and then return to this site to complete the submission process.
To be considered, you submission must meet the following guidelines:
You must agree to the iPhone Web
Application Submission Agreement for
all materials submitted for
consideration.
Your submission must conform to the
iPhone web development guidelines in
effect at the time of your
submission.
Your submission should have a
complete feature set (stable releases
and demos are preferred to beta
software).
Your submission (and the content
displayed in or through your
submission) must not violate or
infringe the intellectual property
rights (including trademark rights)
of others. You must either own all
rights to your submission and the
content displayed in or through the
submission or have written
authorization from the owner(s)
thereof.
You must provide at least one working
link to access your submission. By
submitting applications for
consideration to the iPhone Web
Application Submission page, you
understand your submission is subject
to review by Apple. Apple reserves
the right to omit, edit, or reject
submissions.
Just build a hybrid app. Hybrid wraps your html/css/javascript code in a native container which will give your app the ability to be distributed on an app store.
Technically, no. But you could potentially create a native iPhone app that just contains a UIWebView pointing to your mobile optimized site. I highly doubt Apple would approve this but I'm not positive.
I am creating an iphone application that requires the users to have an account at my website.
But if i have to distribute it through apple store, how should I make the users of this Iphone Application first create an account with my website. There could be a few options like :
1) Ask the user to create an account when he/she tries to run the application on iphone.
2) Provide a 'Sign-Up' page in the Iphone application itself.
My question is "Is there any mechanism provided by Apple Store to make the user sign-up to my website before he/she can download the application".
Kindly give in your suggestions for the same. Which would be the best approach for solving my problem.
Thanks,
LG
There's no way to do this through the app store.
Yes: your two options are to create a sign in / sign up screen with cocoa, or to display your login webpage with a NSWebview.
I'd recommend the native control route...
No, you can't do that through Apples App Store.
You could provide the user with aviability to register to your site when opening your app, throug, say a NSWebView.
There are many ways to solve this, just not the one you might like.