The 21-day App Store approval process usually takes less time than that, though there are factors that could make it take even longer. You have the power to prevent potential delays! This article gives you tips to help your Branded App publish to the App Store as quickly as possible.

Your Branded App is a big deal, so make sure you allow enough time to build and publish your app so it can clear the Apple approval process in time for your event.

We require that you start working on your app no less than seven weeks before your next event. This will give you plenty of time to customize your app and get your D-U-N-S number and Apple developer account in order.

Publish your app as soon as it's ready. At minimum, publish the app no less than 21 days before your event, or 30 days before if you're using SSO.

Apple wants to make sure they're hosting app content owned by the people submitting it, and they take Intellectual Property (IP) very seriously. If your Branded App is called "Midwest Grain Conferences", and your company's Team Name in your Apple Developer Account is "Huskers United", Apple could flag it as an IP concern.

Here's what you can do:

When you enroll in the Apple Developer Program, you must set a Team Name. If that name is too different from your app's name, there's a high probability that Apple will reject the app as an IP concern. You have two options if you've already made your Developer account:

If your company has multiple apps, Apple could reject your Branded App as spam if its name, icon, or content are too similar to another of your apps. One easy way to prevent this issue is to give your Branded App a name and icon that's clearly different from any others you own. If you really need to use the same name and icon as another of your apps, you can remove the other app from the App Store by following Apple's app removal instructions.

Apple could also reject your app if you set the Home Screen Name too closely to something already in use by Apple itself. For example, it's not a good idea to set the Home Screen Name as "Home".

Speaking of naming, when setting up your Branded App in the Webex Events platform, you'll set both the App Name and the Home Screen Name. If these are too different, it may be difficult for your attendees to find the app on their device after they download it. In this situation, we may send you an email asking you to change one or both of the names before we'll send the app for approval.

When you write your App Description, tell users what the app is for. If you simply put "Midwest Grain Conferences app", Apple will reject it. Instead, use something like this:

"The Midwest Grain Expo's fundamental mission is to bring together like-minded grain-ologists who are looking to connect in a meaningful way, be inspired, and ultimately co-create — because we grow stronger (and smarter) together."

If you set your app's Sign-up and Log-in options with any of the social login options, and your Event is Invite-Only, this can cause confusion when people try to sign in to your app. For example, if they make their account with LinkedIn, and their LinkedIn account is associated with a different email address than they're registered with, they won't be able to log in.

It's safest to choose only Email or your SSO login as your app's Sign-up and Log-in option if your Event is Invite-only.

We get it. You want your app in the hands of your attendees as soon as possible, but don't forget to finish dressing it up before you send it to the party! If you haven't finished customizing your Event App with a logo and cover image, custom color, or feature icons, or if you're using any placeholder text or images, we'll probably bounce the app back to you.

Why? We take screenshots of your app to show on the App Store and Play Store, so if the Event's customization is incomplete, the screenshots won't be the best representation of your app, and people might get confused.

No, we're not asking you to give away registrations. Any time Apple sees money changing hands in an app hosted on the App Store, they want some. Anything in your app that mentions paid services, paywalled content, raffles, sweepstakes, gambling, and even charitable giving could cause some issues.

Oddly enough, the only one of these that's ok to include is raffles and sweepstakes. You simply have to explicitly state that Apple has nothing at all to do with it. Aside from that, simply avoid mentioning money in your app at all.

If you're using the Game feature, specify in your Game rules that Apple isn't a sponsor of or involved with the game or any related prizes or rewards.

Apple doesn't accept internal company apps on the App Store unless you go through a container app, which won't work for Branded Apps. Though it's no big deal to use your Branded App for an internal company event, make sure you don't mention that it's internal anywhere in the app. 🤫

Don't mention COVID-19, Coronavirus, or anything related to a pandemic anywhere in your app. Apple and Google don't like it.

If you've gone through this article and smoothed out all the possible bumps before submitting, and Apple still sends a rejection notice, simply let the Webex Events branded app team handle fixing it. 😄 If you followed the steps to grant us access, we'll get the rejection notification automatically and resolve any issues as quickly as possible.