How does the Publishing System work?

We’ve introduced a Publishing System within AppFurnace, that allows you to take more control of how you publish your app. Publishing can be accessed from the toolbar, whilst editing your app, and helps you prepare your apps-in-progress for the publishing process, so that you can distribute your app via the Apple AppStore or Google Play for Android.

Publishing follows 5 basic steps:

1. Make and Test your App
2. Edit your App Details
3. Buy Credits for Packaging
4. Prepare for Packaging
5. Wait for your App to be Packaged

The following explains each of these stages in more detail, and outlines what you’ll need at each stage to progress to the next (if applicable):

1. Make and Test your App

Before you start the Publishing process, you should make your app, and have tested it using the Preview Online tool at least. We’d recommend testing your app on a real device on the platforms you want to publish on.

For location-aware apps that use GPS, we recommend testing the apps on location, as GPS can be inaccurate.

For Android apps, we recommend testing your app on multiple devices, with different screen sizes, and, if possible, using different versions of the Android operating system. This will help to ensure that your app works across the broad range of Android devices, and you’ll be able to tell which Android operating system versions you’re app does work on.

2. Edit your App Details

What you’ll need:

• A fully tested app, that’s ready for people to use
• You should have read the Apple Developer Guidelines or Android Developer Guidelines, depending on which platform you want to publish to

• Icon & Splash Screen images at the appropriate dimensions for iPhone & Android
• Package ID, Display Name & Version Number (for iPhone & Android)
• For iPhone:
• p12 Certificate file
• Mobileprovision file
• For Android:
• Android Version Number
• Keystore file
• Keystore Alias & Password

Click the “Publish” button in the toolbar at the top of the app editing interface, and you’ll see the Publishing Interface appear.

You may recognise the App Details fields at the top of the window, which are the details that are used for the AppFurnace Player version of your app. Everything below the line is used for Publishing your app, so when you’re ready to publish, you just have to fill in all the fields and upload the necessary files.

If you need help with some of the files needed (e.g. p12 Certificates) you can find instructions on how to create them alongside the fields in the form - so just follow the links, and walk through the tutorials to get the files you need.

3. Buy Credits for Packaging

What you’ll need:

• Credit Card

When you’ve filled in every field in the form, you can purchase package credits for your app, which allow you to create the “App Package” files that you can upload to the Apple AppStore and Google Play.

You’re only able to start the App Packaging process once the form is complete, and then you’ll be asked for credit or debit card details to purchase your app credits, which will provide you with 5 credits to package your app. These credits can be used in future to release updates to your app. Once you’ve paid, your app will immediately be Prepare for Packaging.

Please contact us on [e-mail] if you’d like to arrange a different payment method

4. Prepare for Packaging

Preparing your app for packaging can take several minutes, but you can see the progress in the next interface. At this point, all the information from the publishing form, and all the files in your app are prepared for being converted into an App Package.

Creating an App Package can take 2 working days, but you’ll be notified by email when the App Package is ready to download.

5. Wait for your App Package

Once the process has begun, you’ll see a summary of what’s just happened, and what to expect next. You’ll also receive an email, letting you know that your app package is in the queue. After this, you can either wait for your App Package to get emailed to you in 2 working days, or you can start work on your next app!

When the App Package is ready for you, you’ll receive another email containing a link to download the App Package file, which you can use to submit your app to the Apple AppStore or Google Play.