Introduction

At this point you’ve probably already created a build of your app and configured it for the App Store, so now let’s get ready to send it across the line! In this reading you will cover all the necessary steps in order to upload your application to the iOS App Store.

Preparation

Before you continue, make sure that your application runs successfully and that you have tested your it for any possible bugs or unexpected behaviors that could create a problematic experience for your users.

To refresh your memory on all the details about app testing, sharing your application to have as many testers as possible and other prerequisites for this step, refer to the previous videos in this lesson:

• App Store Submission Process

• Building and Testing your App

• Preparing your App for Submission

Once all the prerequisite steps are done and successfully performed, you will be able to continue with the process of submitting your application to the App Store.

The Submission Process

Step 1 – Set up Apple Developer account

As previously mentioned, to submit your application you will need to login to App Store Connect with a valid Apple Developer account .

Once you are logged in, under the My Apps icon you will be able to start with a new app submission. When listing a brand-new application to the App Store you will need to choose a name for your application and a category where it will belong.

Step 2 – Set application information

Currently the App Store is home to more than 2 million applications with hundreds of categories, so try to be as precise as possible when choosing a category for your application.

Make sure to input a valid Bundle ID and choose a default language for your application. App Privacy Policy is another key piece of information you will have to submit, and for that you will need to have a linkable source where you host privacy policy.

If you were to set a price for your application, this is where you would specify the cost in US dollars or one of the other currencies that are supported by Apple. Another very interesting feature inside App Store Connect is that you mark your application to be available for pre-orders.

By doing that, customers can pay for your application before it is actually released and submitted to the App Store, and the download of the application will be automatically started once your application gets submitted to the App Store.

Step 3 – Upload application

Now, the next step in the submission process is to use the Expo EAS Submit CLI tool to upload your iOS app to the App Store Connect. To do so, run eas submit –platform ios and follow the instructions on the screen. Recall that you can configure the eas.json file as per your needs to tailor the submission.

The command will perform the following actions:

• Log in to your Expo account and verify that your application project exists on the EAS servers.

• Ensure that your app exists on App Store Connect and its Bundle Identifier is registered on Apple Developer Portal. If you followed the previous steps inside App Store Connect you should be good to go.

• Verify that you have the correct credentials set up. If they are not, you can let the  EAS CLI tool set some up for you. Otherwise, you can use your own credentials by either creating your own API key or using an App Specific Password. Further information about those can be found in Additional Readings.

• Ask for which binary to submit, among different options presented to you.

• A summary of the provided configuration is then displayed and the submission process starts. The submission progress is shown on the screen.

• Finally, your build should be visible on the App Store Connect. If something goes wrong, a detailed message is displayed on the screen.

Keep in mind it may take some time for the App Store Connect to synchronize but after 15-30 minutes you will be able to check for new build versions under the “All Builds” tab.

Apple will send you an email once your application is successfully archived and distributed to App Store Connect.

Once you come to this step you are very close to having your application submitted to the App Store. You will need to choose the build version which you want to submit and press “Submit for Review” or just the “Submit” button.

This will depend on the version of the App Store Connect website and it can change in the future but some of the two versions should be available.

Step 4 – Wait for response from Apple

You’re almost done! After you submit your application for review, Apple staff will review your application and check for any potential issues. If any problems are found, they will report back to you so the issues can be fixed and improved. After approval, your application will be live on the App Store and ready for download by users.

Conclusion

In this reading you explored the steps required to submit your Expo applications to the App Store Connect portal, as well as the most important fields you need to fill out in the portal to prepare your application for review.