Requirements for developing an iOS app — what will the agency ask from me?

Your most urgent task is making sure the company legal name on your tax certificate matches the name you apply to Apple with down to the exact letter. If the address or company type in the D-U-N-S record doesn't match, account approval stays in limbo for weeks, and the agency can't deliver even if the code is ready.

We went through the exact same process last year for our textile brand. Our D-U-N-S application was approved in 8 days, and Apple's organization account verification took a full 11 days. The agency had already finished the code, but because of this red tape our store submission was delayed by 3 weeks, so apply this week without waiting.

Don't hand over your root account credentials to the agency. Go to the "Users and Access" section in App Store Connect and give the agency's tech lead the "App Manager" role. This permission is enough to manage certificates and upload test builds, but it blocks them from accessing financial data or critical settings like app transfers.

Some agencies come up with "don't bother setting up an account, let's publish under our corporate account and transfer it later." Definitely do not agree to this. If the app goes live on their account, your customer base, reviews, and ranking stay held hostage by them; you'll deal with massive headaches when you want to part ways.

our agency asked me for product phoos for the store screenshots. if you don't have an in-house design team get it written into the contract whether the agency provides graphic support, so they don't hit you with an extra design invoice later.

Get these documents ready on your desk before the agency even asks: 1) A corporate email address registered to the company domain, 2) An active tax certificate and D-U-N-S registration, 3) A corporate card enabled for international payments for the annual developer fee, 4) A mobile-app-specific KVKK and Cookie Policy text.

Best of luck with the project. Set up a dedicated corporate email right away keep a copy of the authorized signatory's passport or national ID handy. Apple sometimes calls the company representative directly by phone for identity verification, make sure someone who speaks English answers the call.

can we use old phones sitting around the office as test devices or does it have to be tested only on the latest models? also, if we dont make the annual payment on the company developer account does the app get deleted?

The cheap-looking path usually ends up costing more later. People defend habits not processes. Resistance comes from there.

I didn't know that.

Let me share my experience... Everyone rushing into ios app development requirements gets stuck at the same point.

This is my opinion I'm not claiming it's absolute truth.

Thanks for writing this, that's the right way. Any unwritten clause becomes a point of disagreement later, as both sides remember it differently.

Implementing a change request process doesn't slow things down, it speeds them up. Proven by experience.

Correct.

This approach has a cost, which isn't discussed. Any unwritten clause becomes a point of disagreement later, as both sides remember it differently.

Code without setup documentation isn't yours, even if you have it. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Let me summarize what's been said so far. Mistakes made on the ios app development requirements side are usually reversible but expensive.

Everyone rushing into ios app development requirements gets stuck at the same point. This is my opinion, I'm not claiming it's absolute truth.

same here. like don't hesitate to ask; those who don't ask always pay more.

thats all, sorry if I went on too long.

It's rare to find an explanation this clear. The answer varies greatly by industry; there is no one-size-fits-all rule.

If you post the result here, it will help others too.

The opposite happened to me, that's why I'm writing. Implementing a change request process doesn't slow things down, it speeds them up.

Good luck with that.