You might have noticed a news item from Apple recently regarding the process it uses to accept or reject new apps for its app store.

The change affects apps that are created on behalf of an organization by a third party much like the relationship between MobileUp and our clients.

The specific sentence in the App Store Review Guidelines that is of issue reads, “Apps created from a commercialized template or app generation service will be rejected unless they are submitted directly by the provider of the app’s content.”

As you might imagine, companies such as ours who are in the business of creating, submitting and maintaining apps on our clients’ behalf were surprised by this announcement.

The good news, however, is MobileUp has reached an agreement with Apple moving forward that has favorable results for our current and future clients.

First, if you are an existing MobileUp customer with an app that was approved prior to Jan 28, 2018, it is business as usual. You will be able to keep your custom-branded app in the Apple App Store. We will still be able to maintain it and post updates as necessary.

Second, our new and newer clients (apps approved after Jan 28, 2018) will also be able to have custom-branded apps in the Apple App Store. We will maintain and post updates to these apps also.

The difference?

Your organization needs to be the “developer” on record with Apple. This requires an additional but short process with Apple that is free for non-profits but incurs a slight cost ($99 annual fee) for others. We are very familiar with this procedure and have developed an internal process to guide you through it with no difficulty.

MobileUp would like to assure our current and any new clients that we have our fingers on the pulse of this marketplace. We vigilantly monitor these conditions and provide an app platform designed with the flexibility required to navigate successful mobile solutions for your organization into the future.

If you have any questions about this recent Apple announcement or MobileUp’s reaction, please contact us at support@mobileupsoftware.com.