Here you can find the basics on how to release your app in App Store and Play Store, as well as the most common issues that you may face. Necessary for every operator who is using the goUrban white-label end-user app.
App Store (iOS)
Selecting your app
Make sure that you are signed in on your app store and that your account has Admin or App Manager rights.
Afterward, on the app tab, select the App that you would like to create a release.
Creating a new release
Here you are in the dashboard of your App. To create a release, please select the (+) button on top of the "Ready for sale" release.
Clicking on the (+) will prompt a new screen where you need to add the name of the new version. Make it one number higher than the one that is "Ready for sale", but don't worry too much about it as you can change it afterward.
New release information
Now is the time to start filling in the information about the new release.
If you are not sure what should be written in the Version Information, please make sure to visit goUrban change logs for the release note of the app.
Make sure to fill in all the languages that you have in your App Store.
To do so, just select in the left the current language and select the other language in the dropdown menu
Select build
On the Build section of the submission, click on the Select build button to get a list of available builds.
Select the latest (topmost) build and make note of the version as it should match your release name.
Select the newest build and click Done to be sent back to the app review board.
Add information for reviewers
Under General App information, on the Version box, add the build version of the build you selected in the previous step (not the build number).
Under app review information, add all your contacts under contact information for the apple team to contact you in case of questions or rejection of your submission.
Under notes, add any information that could help the apple review team to access your app and test it. Create an account for the apple review to test if you use email signup/login, or explain that the review team needs to add a mobile number to receive a code to access the app.
On Version-Release, select which method you would like the app to be released.
Bear in mind that if you put to automatically release this version, the app will be released as soon as the apple review team approves it. Please try to release at the beginning or middle of the week.
Submit to review
Now simply click to submit the new app version to review
The apple review team can take up to 2 days to review your app, so plan ahead.
App Store Issues
Rejected submission
In case there is something wrong with the submission form or with the app, the apple review team can reject your submission.
In case this happens, please select the unresolved issues in the submission screen
Please read carefully the reason, and the next steps to follow. If it is a submission issue, change the submission accordingly and submit the app again.
If your app has a phone login, and it got rejected because the tester can't access the app, explain that the login is done by an SMS code, and attach a demo video of your current app version.
And of course, if the submission is caused by an issue with the app, please send an email to support@gourban.co, and we will help you as much as possible.
Changing app description or adding a new language
To change your app description or images, it needs to be done via a new release
Simply change the app image and description in the submission form. These will then be updated when the app is released to production.
In case you would like to add another language to the app listing, simply select the current app language in the top right (2) and select a new language. All app descriptions will be empty, and you can add the new language app description and language.
Play Store (Android)
Select the alpha build
To release a new version of the app for Android, the easiest way is to select the test version of the app (Alpha) and simply put it into production.
To do so, select closed testing under the testing dropdown menu.
This will take you to the list of closed testing tracks.
Check under the "Alpha" version if the version number is at least one number higher than the current live version.
Select "Manage track" on the right side of the Alpha track
Release Alpha version into production
In the current alpha screen, under the release version, select "Promote release" and then "production".
Do not click on the "Create release" on the top right. You are in the closed test track, not on the production, meaning that creating a track here will just create a testing release, which is not available for the users.
Now you are on the production release screen! Since you selected straight from an alpha, the .apk and release version are already filled in. All you need to do is scroll down and fill in the release notes. You can choose to create a customized release note yourself, or just copy from a previous release.
When you are done, just click 'Save and review release' in the bottom right corner.
Now you can review the current release you created. The 3 related warnings that appear (Android App Bundle, Java/Kotlin code, and debug symbols can be ignored).
Roll down to the bottom of the page and make sure that you have 100% in the Rollout Percentage.
Now just click on the release to production in the bottom right corner, and your app should be available to your customers in a couple of hours.
Play Store Issues
Greyed out production button
If you tried to start a release from the Alpha, and you button to start a release is greyed out, it means you already have a draft release.
To remove the draft release, click on "Production" on the left select releases, and discard the draft release
Now you should be able to create a release from the Alpha track
Changing app description or adding a new language
To change the app description, go to your Main Store Listing on the left and simply change the descriptions.
This change should be available in a couple of hours.
To add a new language to your listing, select "Manage Translations" and then "Manage your own translations"
In the new screen that opens, select the desired languages that you want in your listing, and click apply
Afterward, you can just select your default language for a dropdown with all added languages to appear.
After selecting the new language, you will notice that the app descriptions are empty. Fill it in and click "save" in the bottom right corner.