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Apple and Google developer accounts

Your apps are published under your own name, from your own developer accounts. Opening them is the single slowest step of a launch, so do it on day one.

Your time: 1 to 2 hours · Waiting time: days to weeks · Do this: day 1

Apple and Google require the business that owns an app to hold the developer account. That is good for you: your company appears as the publisher, the apps stay yours, and nobody can tell which technology runs underneath. You never share your passwords with us. You invite the Ordering.co team as a user, and you can remove that access whenever you want.

Before you start, have these ready​

  • Your company's legal name, address, and main phone number, exactly as registered
  • A D-U-N-S number for your company. It is a free nine-digit business ID from Dun & Bradstreet. If you do not have one, request it first: it can take up to two weeks to arrive
  • An Apple ID with two-factor authentication turned on, created with a company email
  • A Google account for the business, also with a company email
  • A company website or landing page (your temporary marketplace address works while you set up your domain)
  • A card to pay Apple's annual fee and Google's one-time fee
Enroll as an organization

Choose Organization (or Business), not Individual, in both stores. An individual account shows your personal name in the stores instead of your brand, and new personal Google accounts face extra testing requirements and longer reviews.

Apple: open your developer account​

  1. Go to developer.apple.com and sign in with your company Apple ID. Open your account page.
  2. Choose "Join the Apple Developer Program" and enroll. Select Organization, enter your D-U-N-S number and company details, and pay the annual fee.
  3. Answer Apple's verification. Apple usually calls or emails the company's main contact to confirm the details. Keep your phone close for a few days.
  4. Wait for the confirmation email. Once it arrives, you can sign in at appstoreconnect.apple.com.
People often ask

"Apple says my account is not activated for App Store Connect. What did I do wrong?"

Nothing is broken: your Apple ID exists, but the paid developer enrollment is not finished. Go to developer.apple.com, open your account, choose the option to join the Apple Developer Program, and complete the enrollment and payment. App Store Connect opens once Apple approves it.

Apple: give the Ordering.co team access​

  1. Sign in at appstoreconnect.apple.com. Open Users and Access and click the + button.
  2. Add the Ordering.co support team. First name Ordering, last name Support, email support@ordering.co.
  3. Choose the Admin role. Under additional resources, tick Access to Certificates, Identifiers & Profiles. Then click Invite.
  4. Tell support it is done. Send a message in the dashboard chat with your project name so the team can accept the invitation.
If support asks for an API key

For some builds the team needs an App Store Connect API key. In App Store Connect open Users and Access › Integrations › App Store Connect API, create a key under Team Keys (any name works), and download the key file. Note the Key ID and Issuer ID shown on that page, and your Team ID from developer.apple.com. You can revoke the key at any time. The key file can only be downloaded once, so keep it somewhere safe.

Google: open your Play Console account​

  1. Go to play.google.com/console and sign in with the business Google account.
  2. Choose an Organization account. Enter the organization name (shown publicly on Google Play), your D-U-N-S number, a public contact email and phone, and pay the one-time fee.
  3. Complete Google's identity and organization verification. Google may ask for company documents. Verification usually takes a few days.

Google: give the Ordering.co team access​

  1. In Play Console open Users and permissions › Invite new users.
  2. Enter support@ordering.co. On the Account permissions tab, tick Admin (all permissions), then click Invite user.
  3. Tell support it is done. Send your project name in the chat so the team knows which account the invite belongs to.
Watch out
  • Send Google invitations on a weekday. An invite sent on a Friday night can expire before it is accepted.
  • Use the email on this page, typed exactly. Invites to any other address will not reach the team that builds your apps.
Real scenario: The owner who only had an Android account

A new marketplace owner in Argentina had his Google Play access ready but could not open App Store Connect. He had created an Apple ID, but never completed the Apple Developer Program enrollment. On his onboarding call he finished the enrollment from his Apple account page in a few minutes, and his iOS app went into the queue the same week. Lesson: an Apple ID alone is not a developer account. Check that you can open appstoreconnect.apple.com before you send the app request.