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  1. Branding. 
    1. NEW apps: https://www.photofinale.com/form-app. This form collects the graphics and info we need to build and package the app. App name, icon, splash screen, description, keywords, etc.  The form has a template to use for the two graphics you will need and details about each field. 
    2. Updates: If you already have an app and we are updating it, please check your listing in the App Store. All changes require a new build, so at the time of updating is when we do this. You can either email to rachel@photofinale.com, or fill out the form again and let us know that's where the info is. Sending updated info is not required. If we do not receive anything, we'll just build the update with the same icon, splash, description, as it has currently.
  2. Enroll in the Apple Developer Program. Apple now requires an each app to be under a developer account owned by the app's brand (as opposed to under our “Photo Finale” developer name). The benefits for submitting the app under your company name are that your company is listed as the developer, you have direct access to statistics on the iTunes admin site, you will have access to update Promotional Text that shows up in the App Store listing at any time, and in general, you will have more control over the app listing.  Steps/what you will need:
    1. Get a DUNS number. First, enrollment will require a DUNS number. If you don’t have one a link is included in the enrollment form. It takes a week or so and is free.
    2. Register an Apple ID. You will need an Apple ID that is associated with your company email address. Notes...
      1. If you already have an Apple ID associated with your company, e.g. jennifer@yourcompany.com, that can be used.  If you do not already have one, we recommend setting up something like apps@yourcompany.com. 
      2. Make sure that you have the email address set up first and verify that you do receive messages sent to it.  Signing up for a new Apple ID can be done at: https://appleid.apple.com.  After the app is submitted, you will be able to use it to log in to view statistics and make changes to the promotional field that shows in the App Store. 
      3. Apple will not accept free email domains (like gmail), it needs to be a corporate/business email.
      4. You will need an up-to-date Apple device in order to register a new Apple ID because they require two-factor identification, which is only available on up-to-date operating systems.
    3. Register for the Apple Dev account. Info: https://developer.apple.com/programs/enroll/  You must register as an organization, not as an individual.
      1. Please use proper-case when you put in your organization name. Do not use all capitals.
      2. The program is US$99 a year, which you will need to keep up-to-date in order to keep the app listing active. 
      3. If you enroll with a corporate name that is too different from anything you are submitting for the app, the will reject the app. If your business and app name are different, please send us documentation to prove they belong to the same entity that we can include with the appeal to Apple after the rejection. Also, so we can tell which app needs to go with your account.
  3. Add a Photo Finale user to your account. Once you have the developer account, you will then invite us to your account. This will give us access to initiate a transfer (for existing apps) or start off your first version. Please go to appstoreconnect.apple.com > Users & Roles > Add a new user with this info:
    1. First Name: Photo
    2. Last Name: Finale
    3. Email: pfdev@photofinale.com
    4. Roles: “admin”
    5. Developer Resources: check the box
  4. Contact Photo Finale with Details. Once you have added the user above to your account, please let us (rachel@photofinale.com) know and send the following information:
    1. Team Agent Apple ID. The email address you registered as the admin of your new account.
    2. Team ID. To find, go to developer.apple.com, click Account and sign in. Then, click Membership.
    3. Business name that you used to sign up for the account (these aren’t always recognizable if they don’t match the company name we know you by)
    4. Company/developer name that should show up along with the app listing (I just want to verify in case you have registered with one business name, but it would make more sense to list the app with a different name—often dealers use their official corporate entity name for the account, but have their photo business go by another name, or may prefer the store or simpler name that customers know them by for the app store listing)
    5. Proof: IF your Apple developer account company name does not match your app business name you will need to provide us with some official documentation that shows ownership of the brand or dba that we can submit along with the transfer request. Please send a jpg or pdf that we can include to send to Apple. Other dealers in the same situation have send a tax registration document that showed the app business name and the account business name were registered by the same parent.
  5. Approve Transfer (applies to updates only).  Once your account is squared away, we will put in a request to Apple to transfer the app from our account to your new account. You will have 60 days to approve this. You should get an email from Apple asking you to do so.
  6. NEW APP! We build the new app, or the upgraded version, and submit that to Apple. They generally approve in about a week and your app will be ready to take orders!


A note about emails you will get from Apple

You will get emails from Apple from time to time, some of which you can ignore and some of which you need to act on.  As you are the agent, there is no way to prevent you from getting the should-be-ignored emails.

Need to act on:

  • Initial transfer (if you already have an app you will have to approve its transfer from the PF developer account to your account)
  • Membership expiring / renewal  (annually)
  • New agreement needs signing   (whenever Apple updates terms of service)

Should ignore:

  • App Store Connect: Your App (XX) has one or more issues
  • iOS Distribution Certificate Expires in X Days
  • iOS Provisioning Profile Expires in X Days


FAQ

  1. Re: step 2b... if you do not have an Apple device upon which to authenticate your account, you will need one. There are rumors of ways around this involved calling Apple, but to-date, it's not easy to get around it. 
  2. The Apple program is $99/year, which you pay to Apple and need to keep updated. 
  3. The app uses your Photo Finale site settings–so all products, pricing, shipping, promos that you have online, will be offered in the site. The exception currently is Rush service, which is not in the app yet. 
  4. We do not have "app only" promos or pricing, though that will be coming.
  5. Make sure your Welcome email (set in Lab 50), makes sense for your website as well as your app.

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