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Glossary

Apple Developer Program

The Apple Developer Program is the paid membership (99 US dollars per year) that lets an organization sign iOS and macOS apps and distribute them, on the public App Store or privately through Apple Business Manager. Without a signature from a program certificate, an app won't install on a managed iPhone or iPad.

How it works

Apple runs two memberships. The standard Apple Developer Program, at 99 dollars a year, gives you signing certificates, provisioning profiles and access to App Store Connect. That's enough to publish public apps and, since 2019, to publish custom apps: private builds distributed through Apple Business Manager to the organizations you name, without ever appearing in App Store search.

The Apple Developer Enterprise Program costs 299 dollars a year and allows in-house distribution, meaning an app signed with an enterprise certificate can be installed on any device in your organization without going through Apple review. Apple tightened admission in 2019: you now need at least 100 employees, a D-U-N-S number and an interview, and renewals are audited.

Certificates and provisioning profiles expire after 12 months. An enterprise-signed app whose profile has expired refuses to launch until a rebuilt version is installed. Put the dates somewhere visible.

Why it matters for a fleet

If your company has any internal app (a field inspection form, a warehouse scanner front end, a sales configurator), someone has to sign it. On Android you can sign with your own key and be done. On iOS the signature has to chain back to Apple, which means a program membership held by your organization, not by the contractor who built the app.

That last point causes real damage. Agencies routinely sign client apps with their own account. The day the contract ends, the certificate does too, and the app stops working on every device. Hold the membership yourself and give the agency a role in your team.

The choice between custom apps through ABM and enterprise signing is mostly about scale and control. Custom apps go through Apple review and install through VPP with silent updates. Enterprise signing skips review but needs the pricier program and a distribution mechanism of your own.

How Appaloosa handles it

Appaloosa distributes internal iOS apps whichever way you sign them. Enterprise-signed builds are uploaded to your private catalog and installed on managed devices, with version tracking and silent updates on supervised units. Custom apps published through ABM arrive via the Apps and Books sync. The console flags builds whose provisioning profile is about to expire. Both paths are covered on the iOS and iPadOS MDM page.

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Frequently asked questions

Do I need the Apple Developer Program to deploy App Store apps?
No. Public and custom apps from the App Store are bought and assigned through Apple Business Manager, which is free. You need a program membership only when your organization builds or commissions its own apps and has to sign them for distribution.
What is the difference between the Developer Program and the Enterprise Program?
The standard program, 99 dollars a year, signs apps for the App Store and for custom app distribution through Apple Business Manager. The Enterprise Program, 299 dollars a year, signs in-house apps installed without Apple review, but Apple only admits organizations with 100 or more employees.
What happens if our provisioning profile expires?
Enterprise-signed apps stop launching on every device the day the profile expires. Data on the device is usually intact. You rebuild the app with a renewed profile and push the new version through your MDM. Track expiry dates and renew a month early to avoid a fleet-wide outage.