Tips for a successful AppStore submission?
In a day or two I'll be ready to submit my iPhone app to the AppStore and I'm curious whether people who have gone through this process have any tips / suggestions for a smooth submission process.
Here's things I've covered;
- No memory leaks
- Tested performance on an actual device
- Doesn't crash :)
- Using correct certificates / profile
What I'm a little unsure about are how to configure the "Bundle Display Name" /"Bundle Identifier" and "Bundle Name" in info.plist. I understand the first is the text that's shown on the iPhone itself, but what about the last? Does this have to match Bundle Identifier?
Are there any other things I should add to the info.plist? I've noticed that when built for Adhoc distribution my app does not have any author/title information in iTunes.
Answer
First, don't worry about the missing author/title information (and icon) in iTunes. That's meta data which arrives when you distribute using the App Store.
Your bundle identifier, as sascha says, should be unique and is usually your domain backwards. This needs to match the App Id you created in the Developer Portal.
The Display Name (CFBundleDisplayName) is how it appears on the home screen. One important thing I found about this is that it can be localised, so if your app was called "Beer" in English, it could display as "Birra" in Italian and "Bier" in German.
The mechanical stuff, as long as you follow the instructions, is actually fairly straight forward. I found the key is being prepared. You basically get no notice before your App goes live, and the review process can take any where from a few hours to a few weeks. Make sure you have a website up and running and the ability to accept (and provide) feedback. I just used Blogger.
Unless your app is trivial the real world will find problems that you didn't anticipate and your unhappy users will always be the most vocal, so you need the ability to reply!
My app is Yummy, by the way.