Create your App Store Connect app record

Before Vunda can send your finished iOS app to the App Store, you create the app's record in App Store Connect and enter its numeric Apple ID on the Publish page. Apple does not let any outside tool create an app record for you, so this one is yours to do. Vunda derives the iOS bundle ID and shows it on the Publish page; you register that id and create the record under your own Apple Developer account, then enter the Apple ID number in the App identity section so we can attach your build to the right app.

Do this before you give Vunda access to your accounts. The Publish page lists the records first and access second, and you do not need us inside your account to create either record. Everything below is yours alone. (The reason the order runs this way is on the Google side, and it is explained in Give Vunda access to your store accounts.)

The Publish page tracks each store on its own line - Create your App Store Connect record and Create your Google Play record - so finishing the Apple side clears the Apple line even while the Google one is still waiting. This guide covers the Apple line only; the Android one is in Create your Google Play app record.

What you will need

• An Apple Developer Program membership (see Set up your Apple Developer and Google Play accounts). App Store Connect comes with that membership.
• Your app's iOS bundle ID. Vunda derives this for you and shows it on the Publish page in your Shopify admin, in the Create your store records step, with a Copy button next to it. There is nothing to ask us for. It looks like app.vunda.yourstore.
• A role in your Apple account that can register identifiers and add an app - usually the Account Holder, or an Admin with access to Certificates, Identifiers and Profiles.

Step 1: register your bundle ID

This step happens inside your Apple Developer account, not in Vunda, so the exact screens are owned by Apple. Verify against their current guide before you rely on it.

Where this is matters more than it sounds. Certificates, Identifiers and Profiles is not in App Store Connect. App Store Connect's whole menu is Apps, Trends, Reports, Business and Users and Access - there is no Certificates section in it. Identifiers live in the Apple Developer portal at developer.apple.com/account/resources, a different site you reach with the same Apple Account. The Publish page’s Create your store records step links there for the same reason: App Store Connect only lets you pick a bundle ID that already exists, and you register it on a different Apple site.

Apple's own steps, which you need the Account Holder or an Admin role to perform:

1. In Certificates, Identifiers and Profiles, click Identifiers in the sidebar, then the add button.
2. Select App IDs, then continue. Confirm the type is App, then continue.
3. Enter any Description you like.
4. Select Explicit App ID and paste the iOS bundle ID from your Publish page into the Bundle ID field. Explicit matters: a wildcard id cannot be used for an app you ship.
5. Leave every capability unticked. The list is long and none of it is yours to choose. Your app does need Push Notifications and App Groups, but Vunda enables those on the identifier when it sets up your signing credentials, driven by what the app itself declares - so hand-picking capabilities can get them switched off again, and an identifier whose capabilities do not match the app is a common cause of signing failures. In-App Purchase may appear already enabled and greyed out; Apple enables it by default on an explicit App ID.
6. Continue, review, then Register.

Copy the value rather than retyping it - a mismatched bundle id only fails after a full build has run. (Source: Register an App ID.)

Registering the id yourself causes no problem later. When Vunda sets up your signing credentials, our build service looks for the same id and uses the one that is already there instead of creating a second one.

Step 2: create the app record in App Store Connect

This step happens inside App Store Connect, not in Vunda, so the exact screens are owned by Apple. Verify against their current guide before you rely on it.

In App Store Connect, add a new app. Choose iOS as the platform, set your app's name and primary language, and select the Bundle ID you registered in Step 1 from the list. Set the SKU Apple asks for - it is your own internal reference and shoppers never see it. (Source: Add a new app.)

If the Bundle ID list is empty or your id is missing from it, the registration in Step 1 has not gone through yet. Go back and finish it, then reopen the dialog.

If App Store Connect will not let you add an app at all, check the Business section. Apple states plainly: "You can't add an app to your account until the Account Holder signs the latest agreement in the Business section." Nothing on the Apps screen tells you that is the cause, and Apple re-issues agreements from time to time, so this can catch you even if you have published apps before. (Source: Add a new app.)

Step 3: find your numeric Apple ID

Every app record has a numeric Apple ID (also called the Apple app id) that Apple assigns when you create it. Open your app in App Store Connect and read it under App Information > General Information > Apple ID. It is a number, not your bundle id and not your Apple Account email. (Source: App information.)

Step 4: enter your Apple ID on the Publish page

On Vunda's Publish page, open the App identity section and paste your numeric Apple ID into the Apple App ID field, then save. Vunda adds it to your build so your iOS app uploads to the correct App Store Connect record.

After you enter it

Once you have entered your Apple ID, the Publish page records it as the target for a future iOS upload. If you ever create a new app record, update the Apple App ID field with the new number.

The Publish page records the Apple ID you enter, but it cannot validate that number with Apple before Vunda has access to your account. It therefore records the number as entered rather than verified; your publish checklist shows the line as Apple ID received - not verified with Apple. (Google works differently: a package name binds only on first upload, so you record a confirmation instead. See Create your Google Play app record.)

The Android equivalent of this guide is Create your Google Play app record. With both records made, give us the access we need to upload into them: Give Vunda access to your store accounts.