Top 12 Easy Steps to Prepare Your iOS App for Development & Distribution?

Mobile app development has become one of the most promising and profitable industries in the last few years. Now you can find several professional mobile application development companies that help businesses to handle different problems and daily chores by proving robust applications. There are millions of apps available on both Google Play Store and Apple App Store to download. But, now there is a growing demand among businesses to choose iOS for developing their mobile app. Simply put, iPhone app development offers the latest technology, security statement, and additional features in the market.  

So, if you want to run your large-scale business, then iOS app development is necessary for you. You can earn huge profit with the iOS app due to the numerous benefits that it offers. Now, it is better to plan your business with the experts of a professional iPhone App Development Company as per new technologies within your budget.

Why You Should Opt for iOS App Development Over Android App Development?

• Better App Revenue: No one can ignore the fact that iPhone apps have a greater ROI than Android apps especially when your app is free of errors and up-to-date.
• Security of Enterprise Data: An app stores all the sensitive data of a business. But when you compare Android vs iPhone based on security, it is the iPhone app that will win the game. An iPhone app can effectively protect firmware and software through its latest security features.
• High-Quality Standards: iPhone app development process goes through several testing processes. It needs to pass the high-quality standards of Apple’s Play Store before they are made available to the market for download. On the other hand, the Android app development process goes through a non-standardized development approach as compared to the iOS app development 
• Apps for All Business Needs: No matter whether you are a small, large, or mid-scale business owner, iOS can offer you a functional business app for your specific business. This is the reason why iPhone app development is considered the perfect gateway to boost any business.
• Cost-Effective: Android app development is a slower process as compared to the iPhone app development process. So, the cost of Android app development goes much higher than that of iOS. 
• Better Scalability: If you opt for the customized iPhone app development, you can scale up your business by ensuring profits.

12 Steps to build and Release an iOS App:

Here, is the step-by-step walkthrough of developing and distributing an iOS app to your iPhone. Going through this comprehensive guideline you will have a clear understanding of how to do it correctly. Though you can take assistance from an iOS development company to do this task, still as a business owner you need to have some idea and understanding about the entire process.

1. Get Bundle Identifier: When it comes to creating your Xcode project, the first step is to get your bundle ID. It will help you identify your app throughout the system. It defaults to the organization ID appended to the app name that you enter in reverse-DNS format. If you create a unique organization ID with a unique app name, your default bundle ID should also be unique.
2. Get UDID of Your iPhone: The next step is to connect your iPhone device to your Mac and then open iTunes for selecting your device. From here, you can get your UDID by clicking multiple times until you get it. Now, simply right-click on it and copy it.
3. Set CRS Files: This is the step to add your email address, common name, and CA Email address. You can access it by opening keychain access on your mac and then going to the top menu. After adding all your details, make sure you select to save to disk and then click on continue. Here you can enter your preferred file name and then select the destination folder to save it.
4. Create a Development Certificate: Now, the iOS Programmers can open their app developer account to log in using their apple ID to get the certificates, identifiers, and profiles. After submitting the proper details, the app developer you hire will get the development certificate consisting of name, type, expiry date, and owner info.
5. Request for Distribution Certificate: To get a distribution certificate for your Apple app, you need to select either Apple Distribution or iOS Distribution. To do this you can click on the blue “+” icon that appears below the certificate pane, then click on continue and follow the same steps as creating a development certificate. Now it is pretty simpler to get the certificates through Xcode.
6. Create App ID: Again clicking on the “+” icon near the left identifier title, you can select App IDs. To do this, you need to select your app type which is iOS, and then add your app name in the description field. Now it is time to add your bundle ID that has already been created in the very first step and select capabilities such as Push notification, apple pay, app group, etc.
7. Register Your Device: To start this process, first, you need to go to the devices list and then click on the blue “+” icon that appears near the left device title. Here you can get two options. First, if you want to add your app to a single device, then you have to select Register a Device. Make sure you select the platform and then add the device name. Again, if you have multiple device lists then you can select the second option which is Register Multiple Devices. By doing this, you will get a preview of your device details including device name, UDID, model, and type. Finally, you can click on the register button to enable your device for future use in the development profile.
8. Create Development Profile: By clicking on the blue “+” icon near the left profile title, you can get three options for a developer profile iOS, tvOS, and macOS. Now select iOS as you are going to develop an app for iPhone devices and then click on continue. Now, select your app ID which you already have, and again click on continue. Here, Xcode will help you create a development certificate along with provisioning profiles automatically into the apple developer account. What you have to do is simply Select All and then click on the continue button. 
9. Select Devices: This step is all about selecting devices in which you want to run your app and then clicking continue. Now give your preferred profile name and again click on continue to get a preview of your development profile which is available for download. 
10. Create Distribution Profile: Creating a distribution profile involves almost the same process as creating a development profile. The only difference is that here you need to select the app store to make your app functional. Always remember to name the distribution profile before going to the next step by clicking continue.
11.  Install Certificates & Profile to Export them with Other Mac: Now you have four items to install, two profiles, and two certificates. You can do it by double-clicking on each file one by one to install them into your keychain. Once you open your keychain access and select My certificates in the left pane, you can see your certificate with a private key. Now if you select both the certificate and the private key and right-click on it, you will get the Export option followed by a save option. Again, give the name for your distribution and destination folder, give the password, verify the password and then press Enter. Now, finally, you will get a .p12 file that will enable you to share your app with any other mac. By double clicking on it, it will install on that mac.
12. Create a Distribution IPA File: To create a distribution IPA file, you need to select the app store to connect and then click next to get another window. Here an app organizer can help you automate select development and distribution certificates and profiles. Then click next to create your .ipa file. Once you get it, you will directly get access to export the IPA file simply by clicking on export and giving the destination you want to export. Thus, you will be able to create one folder in your preferred destination and open that folder.

Now, you are at the very final stage of successfully creating your iOS app. In this stage, you need to create a share link to share it with testers to test your app.

Final Words:

If you Hire iOS App Developers from a leading iOS development company, you don’t have to worry about the quality of your app. They will build your application by utilizing the latest tools and programming languages to offer you the most effective solution. They will also take responsibility for the routine maintenance of your app resulting in minimizing several issues that users might face while using your app. It will make your users enjoy the seamless experience of your business app.