How to submit an app to the App Store (UK)
You need an Apple Developer account, an app that follows Apple’s review guidelines, and a plan for more than one submission. Apple reviews every app by hand and can send it back, so the first attempt is rarely the last. We submitted our own free quote app for tradespeople to Apple’s review, and this is what we learned along the way.
Written by Ryan Nicholls, Founder of Archline Digital Solutions Ltd, who builds websites, booking and quoting systems for businesses in Chippenham and across Wiltshire. Updated 11 November 2026.
01
Start with the Apple Developer account
People call it a developer account or a developer licence. It is the same thing: Apple’s Developer Program, which you join before you can put anything on the App Store. Apple’s page says the membership is 99 USD per membership year, or in local currency where available.
You can enrol as an individual or as a business. In our experience an individual account shows your own name and details on the App Store listing, and a business account shows the business. It also decides who carries the liability if something goes wrong, so choose on purpose rather than by default.
02
Apple’s review is strict, and the rules move
Every app is reviewed against Apple’s App Store Review Guidelines before it goes live. Read the guidelines before you build, not after you are rejected. They cover what an app can and cannot do, how it handles payments, what it must tell users and how it treats their data.
The rules also change. Apple, Meta and Google all rewrite theirs when it suits them, and the changes are not always easy to spot. Treat the guidelines as a moving target and check them again before each submission.
03
Budget for more than one submission
Apple can reject an app, ask for changes, or ask questions you did not expect. Each round is another submission. If you are paying a developer, agree a set number of submissions up front, so a rejection that is not their fault does not turn into an argument about who pays for the next attempt.
If you are building it yourself, price the resubmissions in as time. Plan for it to take more than one go, and the delay stops being a surprise.
04
Tools that write code are fine, if you can prove it is safe
Plenty of people now build the first version of an app with software that writes the code for them. That is a sensible way to get started. Apple, and your users, still expect the app to be secure and to behave as described.
Keep dated snapshots of each version so you can show what changed and when, and make sure you can explain how the app protects people’s data. Being able to prove the code is secure matters more than how it was written.
05
Test it properly before you submit
Apple provides its own test mode, TestFlight, for trying an app on real phones before it is released. Use it, and use it with the people who will actually use the app.
It earned its place for us. Testing turned up a bug in how a price was entered and displayed, where a decimal point was handled wrongly. We fixed it and went through the submission process again. Every one of those loops is a reason to budget for resubmission.
06
Why we built a free app in the first place
Our free quote app is a simple version of our paid quoting tool, built so a tradesperson can try quoting from their phone before deciding whether the full tool is for them. It is a way in, not the product.
If an app sells anything through the App Store, Apple takes a commission. Apple’s Small Business Program lowers it to 15 percent on paid apps and in-app purchases for developers whose proceeds are within Apple’s threshold of 1 million USD a year; above that the standard rate applies. Check the current terms on Apple’s page before you plan around any number.
07
What about Google Play?
We expect the Android side to be a simpler route than Apple’s, and it is our next step. The same lessons apply: read the policies first, test properly and expect to go round more than once.
08
A short checklist
- Enrol in the Apple Developer Program, as an individual or a business, knowing what each shows publicly.
- Read Apple’s App Store Review Guidelines before you build.
- Agree a set number of submissions with any developer you pay.
- Keep dated snapshots of each version of the code.
- Test on real phones with Apple’s test mode before you submit.
- Expect at least one round of changes, and plan the time for it.
We are based in Chippenham and build websites, apps and quoting tools for businesses across Wiltshire. If you are weighing up an app for your business and want to know what it takes before you spend anything, we are happy to talk it through.
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