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From prototype to App Store submission: our checklist

The app works, but the road into the App Store has hurdles of its own. What we learned submitting ContoTrip and Avantido – from the company account to the reviewers’ follow-up questions.

Once an app runs reliably on your own iPhone, the project feels almost done. Submitting it to the App Store, however, is a project of its own, with forms, agreements, legal pages and a review process. This year we went down that road with our two in-house products, ContoTrip and Avantido. Both apps have been submitted and are in review. Here is what we learned.

1. The right developer account

The App Store lists the name under which the developer account is registered as the seller. An individual account shows a personal name and cannot simply be switched over to a company. If you want your company to appear as the seller, you need an account of the “Organization” type.

  • D-U-N-S number: Apple requires one for organisations. Apple provides its own lookup tool.
  • Exact company details: the name and address held by Dun & Bradstreet must match the commercial register precisely. Any mismatch delays enrolment.
  • Signing authority: whoever enrols has to be entitled to act on behalf of the company.

2. Agreements, tax and banking

Before an app or an in-app purchase can cost anything, the paid apps agreement has to be active in App Store Connect. That includes the bank account, the legal entity details and the US tax forms – for a German limited company, form W-8BEN-E. The Small Business Program with its reduced commission is a separate application. All of this takes time, so start early.

3. Signing and iCloud: get it right once

One mistake cannot be undone: iCloud containers cannot be deleted. If a container is accidentally registered under the wrong team, a personal account for instance, its name stays taken there for good. For Avantido we had to switch to a different container name for exactly that reason. Since then our rule is that the very first device build runs against the company team.

4. Required pages that are actually live

App Store Connect asks for at least a privacy policy and a support address as reachable URLs. For our apps we also published terms of use and an imprint, each in every language the app supports. They must be online when you submit.

5. Privacy label and privacy manifest

In the app privacy questionnaire you state which data the app collects and why. Your answers have to match the privacy manifest that ships inside the app as PrivacyInfo.xcprivacy.

With AI features, honesty pays off. Our apps have no server of their own, yet photos or text do go to the AI provider the user sets up. We declare this as collection by a third party, not linked to the user’s identity and not used for tracking. Data in the user’s private iCloud database, on the other hand, does not need to be declared, because the developer has no access to it.

6. Age rating and export compliance

The age rating questionnaire is quick: an app that only opens fixed links of its own has no unrestricted web access, and private content is not user-generated content in the questionnaire’s sense. For export compliance we set ITSAppUsesNonExemptEncryption to NO in the Info.plist when the app relies solely on the system’s encryption.

7. Notes for the reviewers

The most important lesson: reviewers must be able to try every feature you advertise. If a feature needs the user’s own API key, a working test key belongs in the review notes, together with short step-by-step instructions on where to enter it. Without it, a rejection under Guideline 2.1 (App Completeness) is likely. Once the app is approved, the test key is deleted at the provider.

8. In-app purchase and submission

A stumbling block with one-time purchases: the first non-consumable in-app purchase has to be submitted for review together with an app version. In our case, attaching it only worked in App Store Connect in the browser, not through the API. If a version is rejected, the purchase drops back too and has to be attached again with the next submission.

9. Follow-up questions for new accounts

An account without a review history often receives a questionnaire (“Information Needed”) rather than a rejection on the merits. Apple asks, among other things, for a screen recording made on a real device. Our advice: make the video show exactly the build you submitted, including the purchase flow and the AI features.

10. Count your versions carefully

Every new upload needs a higher build number. We bump it in the project file and, for bug fixes, raise the version number as well. A version that was never released can be renamed in App Store Connect, and its texts, screenshots and privacy details stay attached.

The bottom line

Submission is not a form you fill in at the end; it is a project step of its own. Plan account, agreements, legal pages and review notes early and you save yourself waiting time. If you are getting an app ready for the App Store, we are happy to guide you through this step – from setting up the account to answering the reviewers.

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