Publish to the App Store

Open Publish → App Store. Six numbered sections: App basics, Apple Developer account, App Store Connect setup, Store listing, Screenshots, Submit for review.

Apple requires every store to publish under its own developer account (guideline 4.2.6). The Apple Developer Program costs $99 per year, paid to Apple, and is not included in your plan. Your app is signed with your own keys and appears under your own name; StoreToNative never signs or submits under its account.

1. App basics

App id, privacy policy URL, support email, and an icon of 1024 × 1024 without transparency, checked against the build that will ship.

2. Apple Developer account

Enrol at developer.apple.com. Individuals enrol in a day or two; companies need a D-U-N-S number first. An Apple Enterprise account cannot ship to the App Store.

3. App Store Connect setup

Apple keys. Three things to paste, and StoreToNative verifies them with Apple before saving:

• Apple Team ID, ten characters, under Apple Developer → Membership details.
• An App Store Connect API key. In App Store Connect open Users and Access → Integrations → App Store Connect API → Team Keys and create a Team key with the Admin role. Individual keys do not work, and a Developer-role key fails when a distribution certificate has to be created. Paste the Key ID, the Issuer ID and the downloaded .p8 file. The badge reads Verified with Apple.
• A Push key (APNs), so order updates and campaigns reach iPhones. Under Certificates, Identifiers and Profiles → Keys, create a key with Apple Push Notifications enabled, preferably a topic-specific production key. The .p8 downloads exactly once. Apple offers no way to verify this key back, so the badge reads Saved.

App record. Create the app by hand in App Store Connect → Apps → New App. The console shows the values to copy: app name, bundle id, SKU, version, primary language (English or Arabic), platform iOS. Once Apple shows the record, the row ticks itself and records the numeric App Store id.

App Review contact. Apple’s reviewers may phone the contact. StoreToNative gives Apple the workspace owner’s name, email and phone from Account & security. Other team members see a masked number and who to ask.

4. Store listing

Per language, English and Arabic: name (2 to 30 characters), subtitle (30), keywords (100 characters, comma-separated, no spaces), description (4,000), promotional text (170), what’s new (4,000), and the privacy policy, marketing and support URLs. Draft from my store writes a first version from your catalog; Rebuild from my store and Discard my edits and rebuild are there if you want to start again.

Apple looks for signs that the app is the store’s own. The page warns about an unedited generated description, the default brand colour, policy and support pages on another domain, a generic copyright line, an app name that does not carry the store name, and generic keywords. Fix these before submitting.

5. Screenshots

Two sizes are required and Apple scales them for smaller devices: 6.9-inch iPhone (1320 × 2868) and 13-inch iPad (2064 × 2752).

Capture screenshots runs a real capture of your app against your catalog. Or upload your own per size: PNG or JPEG, up to ten per size, up to 12 MB each, no transparency, exact dimensions. Each size shows Missing, Captured — not sent to Apple yet, You uploaded these or Mixed sources. Screenshots go to App Store Connect only when you submit.

6. Submit for review

Submit for review sends the listing and screenshots, then asks Apple to review your latest TestFlight build. StoreToNative fills in the price (free), availability, age rating, the Shopping category, the copyright line and the App Review contact.

Anything missing is listed as a blocker with a fix: no build attached, a listing language incomplete, screenshots missing, a URL missing, and so on.

Four things StoreToNative cannot check, because Apple exposes no way to read them, and each one blocks a submission or removes a live app:

• EU trader status under App Store Connect → Business. Without it, Apple removes the app across the 27 EU countries.
• App Privacy answers on the app’s page in App Store Connect.
• Tax category under Agreements, Tax, and Banking.
• Agreements, which must be accepted by the Account Holder.

Confirm each one yourself before submitting.

Review status

The card tracks the review live: Ready to send, Waiting in Apple’s queue, Apple is reviewing it, Approved, Approved — waiting for the release date or waiting for you to release it, Live on the App Store, Apple rejected the app, Apple rejected the listing, not the app, Apple cannot use this build, or Withdrawn from review. Withdraw from review is available while a submission is in flight.

Apple’s own rejection message is only readable in App Store Connect; StoreToNative sees the outcome, not the text.

If Apple rejects the app

The Rejection playbook on the same page asks which guideline Apple cited (4.3 spam or similar apps, 2.1 more information needed, 5.1.1 privacy, 2.3 listing mismatch, 4.2 minimum functionality, or other) and lets you paste Apple’s message. It returns a plain summary, the steps to take in order, a reply you can paste into Resolution Center, a draft appeal to the App Review Board, and a short list of what not to do. Available in English and Arabic.

Guideline 4.3 is the one WooCommerce stores meet most often. The defences are the ones the listing warnings already point at: your own name, your own icon and colours, your own policy pages, and a description written by you.