To submit your iOS app to App Store you have to perform some administrative tasks by using Xcode and other tools throughout the lifetime of your application development. The App Store is an organized store which means that only the Apple approved apps are available for the purchase. Apps that are sold on the app store must not crash nor have other major bugs. Apple provides you with the tools required for the development, testing and submission of your iOS app to the App Store. To run your app on a device the device needs to be provisioned for development and testing. You also have to provide information about your app that the App Store displays to customers and upload the screenshots. Then you submit your iOS app to App Store for the approval. After approval you set a date and price for the app that should appear in the App Store.

Submit your iOS app to App Store in 4 easy Steps:

STEP 1: Enrolling in the iOS Developer Program

The first step you have to do is to join the iOS Developers program as an individual or company. The program provides you with all the resources and tools to manage your account and to begin testing your application on the device. You will be asked some basic information including your legal name and address. If you are enrolling as a organization you will need to provide few more things like your legal entity names.

To enroll in the iOS Developer Program, go to: www.developer.apple.com/programs/start/standard/

STEP 2: Provisioning Your Devices for Development

Provision your devices for the development purpose using Xcode. Sign in to your account and then view all the provisioning profiles and signing certificates for the App Store. Xcode automatically updates provisioning profiles. The iOS Team Provisioning Profile allows you to begin running the app on a device immediately.

To run your app on a device, you will perform these tasks

• Request a development certificate.

When the provisioning profiles are refreshed the Xcodes creates your signing certificates. The development certificates and the distribution certificates are automatically added to your keychain. A distribution certificate is required later for testing and submitting your app to App Store.

• Add your device to the portal.                                                                                                    

The first time you add a device the Xcode creates the iOS team provisioning profile and that it automatically installs it on your device. To add the device to the iOS Team Provisioning Profile simply connects your iOS to your Mac and click on the “Use For Development”

• Code signs your app.                                                                                                                        

When you build the app you codes sign it with the signing certificate that is contained in the provisioning profile. A menu item appears for each provisioning profile your development certificate belongs to.

• Launch your app on the device.                                                                                                

After you provision the device for the development you can tell Xcode to launch your app on the device. You are allowed to do this by changing the Run Destination settings in the Scheme pop-up menu before building the app.

STEP 3: Creating Your App Record in iTunes Connect

Before Submitting your iOS app for the approval there is requirement to set up your iTunes Connect account. You need to create an app record and complete forms to validate and submit your iOS app. When you are going to sell your app in the App Store the lot of information to display is required including the app name, its description, an icon, screenshots and the contact information. To provide all the information you have to sign in to iTunes Connect and create the records for the app and complete some forms.

Before creating the actual iTunes Connect app record, you need to accomplish these main tasks using Xcode:

• Capture screenshots:

You can capture the screenshots of your app on a device using the Xcode and save the images on your desktop to upload to iTunes Connect later.

• Set launch image:

You should also set launch image that acts as placeholder for your app user interface at launch time.

• Set bundle ID:

The bundle id of your iTunes Connect should exactly match the bundle ID for the app.

STEP 4: Submit Your iOS App

To submit your iOS app to App Store require some steps.

• Create a Distribution Provisioning Profile                                                                                                         

The very first step after your app is ready for the publication you have to create a distribution provisioning profile by selecting App Store as the method of distribution.

• Create and Validate the Archive                                                                                                                   

Before Submission of your iOS app use the Xcode to create and validate an archive. It is recommended that you use the your app that you built for the testing. The archive that you submit must be signed with your distribution certificate contained in the distribution provisioning profile. You download the distribution provisioning profile from Certificates, Identifiers & Profiles in Member Center and import it into Xcode.

• Submit and Ship Your App:

 The first task you have to do is that you have to transmit the archive to Apple, than Apple approves your application, and then you set a ship date before it actually appears on the App Store.

I hope so you follow all of the above 4 steps before submitting your iOS app to Apple store. Don’t forget to share this informative article with your friends. If you have any question or suggestion feel free to comment below. Stay tuned for more informative stuff :).