iOS App Distribution & Best Practices

Before the App Store, distributing software was much harder than it is today. There was a time when developers had to put copies of their apps on floppy disks or CDs and literally “ship” them to the stores.

The App Store introduced the next chapter in software distribution. Developers didn’t need to worry about hosting, collecting payment or fulfilling orders anymore. Apple ensures that all App Store visitors have a valid payment method on file, eliminating most of the friction from buying apps. Developers can now focus on building great apps and leave the rest to Apple and the App Store.

This book isn’t meant to be an all-encompassing App Store distribution manual. It also isn’t a replacement for Apple’s official documentation. Apple changes its platform every year and many of these changes affect app distribution. The App Store Review Guidelines, the set of rules governing what third-party developers can and can’t do, is also a living document that changes frequently.

The purpose of this book is to cover the fundamentals thoroughly so you can build the mental models you need to internalize the hardest parts of App Store distribution. These mental models will help you for years to come.

The book also covers best practices and automation. There is no definitive list of app distribution best practices, but over the last decade, teams have converged on similar practices that you’ll read about in this book.