How to launch your game on iOS (App Store)

Launching on the App Store sits somewhere between console and Android: there is no concept review before you start, as there is at Nintendo or Sony, but every version goes through a human review before it reaches the player, which does not happen on Google Play. Add to that two requirements that catch PC developers by surprise: the account is annual, and the build only comes out of a Mac. This guide covers the whole path.

The Apple Developer Program

The way in is the Apple Developer Program, with an annual subscription of US$ 99. Annual is the operative word: if it lapses, the game leaves the store until you renew.

The account can be individual or organization. The organization account requires the company to formally exist and to have a D-U-N-S number, and it is the one that makes the studio's name appear as the developer on the game's store listing. On an individual account, the name shown is the person's.

You need a Mac

There is no way around it: the final iOS build is signed and uploaded through Xcode, which only runs on macOS. Unity and Unreal export an Xcode project from any system, but someone has to open that project on a Mac to compile, sign and upload it.

The usual answers are an entry-level Mac Mini, a cloud Mac rented by the hour, or a build service that already runs on macOS machines. It is worth planning this before locking a schedule, because it is the one item on the list that software cannot solve.

App Store Connect and TestFlight

App Store Connect is the dashboard where the game's listing lives: name, description, screenshots per device size, price, region and the age form. It is also where every version gets submitted.

TestFlight is the testing stage before release. It takes an internal team and a large external group of invited testers, and the first version sent to external testers goes through a lighter review by Apple. Unlike Google Play, TestFlight is not mandatory in order to publish, but it is where you catch a crash on a specific model before the store rating starts counting.

Apple's review

Every version goes through the App Review Guidelines. The review usually comes back in under two days, and most rejections happen because of the store listing rather than the code:

• a screenshot or description that does not match the game, including an image from another platform or concept art in place of the game running;
• a missing test account, when the game has a login. Without a username and a password that work, the reviewer never gets past the first screen and rejects it;
• in-game purchases outside Apple's system, or a link taking the player elsewhere to pay;
• content without a matching age rating;
• incomplete functionality, such as a button that leads nowhere or a build that crashes right at the start.

A rejection is neither rare nor serious: Apple points to the guideline, you fix it and resubmit. What costs you is finding that out the day before an announced date.

Privacy: the labels and the tracking prompt

The game's listing shows a summary of what it collects, and you fill that summary in by declaring each item. It has to match what the SDKs actually do, ads and analytics included.

If the game follows the player across other companies' apps or websites, App Tracking Transparency comes into it as well: that system prompt asking for permission. Without the prompt, rejection is certain. Worth knowing that most people say no, so planning your monetization around that tracking means planning around very few people.

A public, reachable privacy policy is mandatory too.

Monetization

In-game purchases go through Apple's system, with a 30% commission. The App Store Small Business Program brings that down to 15% for anyone earning below an annual ceiling on the store, which covers most independent studios. A subscription renewed for more than a year also drops to 15%.

In the European Union, recent regulatory changes have opened up alternative distribution and payment options, each with its own rules and conditions. Outside Europe, the path is still Apple's system.

What porting to iOS demands from the game

The devices are few and well known, which helps. What changes:

• touch controls, designed for the hand holding the device and not for a gamepad drawn on the screen. iOS also accepts a physical controller over Bluetooth, and supporting that is cheap;
• the screen cutout and the safe area, so you do not put a button under the camera or the gesture bar;
• performance and heat, because the device slows down when it heats up. The weakest old iPhone on your support list is what sets the target, not the newest one;
• iPad, which changes the screen ratio and may call for a second set of screenshots;
• resuming, because calls and notifications interrupt the game all the time, and the system shuts down whatever is in the background without warning.

How Nuntius Games handles your iOS launch

iOS is part of the same porting and publishing fronts as the consoles. Nuntius handles the Apple Developer Program account, the macOS build environment, signing and uploading through Xcode, the touch controls, QA on real devices, the privacy labels, TestFlight and the rounds of review until approval comes through.

The studio keeps making the decisions about the game. The store paperwork and the engineering of the iOS version stay with Nuntius.

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