When using an enterprise app store, you can use Applaud Cloud to package the iOS and Android app with your own details ready for deployment through your MDM or MAM.
When deploying via your enterprise app store, you will typically follow these steps:
Pre-requisites
Before you can deploy the mobile app, you will need:
- An active Enterprise-tier subscription with Applaud
- An Apple Developer account. You likely already have one, so you will need to liaise with the relevant department to obtain access or work with the relevant people to help you. If you are only deploying on Android, this is not required.
- Access to an Apple Mac computer with an up-to-date version of OSX. This is required for generating the iOS certificates. If you already have an Apple Developer Account, there's probably someone with a Mac who can help you. If you are only deploying on Android, this is not required.
Create the iOS certificate and provisioning profile
Follow these steps with care to ensure the app installs without error:
Create a Certificate Signing Request
- On a Mac computer, open the Keychain Access app.
- Open the Keychain Access menu and go to Certificate Assistant: Request a Certificate From a Certificate Authority.
- Enter the User Email Address and Common Name. Take care to ensure these match with the details on your Apple Developer account.
- Choose the Saved to disk option and select Continue to save the Certificate Signing Request.
- Keep this file ready for the next step.
Create the iOS Certificate
-
Log in to your Apple Developer account and select Certificates, IDs & Profiles.
- Select the plus (+) button next to Certificates and select iOS Distribution (App Store and Ad Hoc).
- Choose the Certificate Signing Request saved from the previous step and download the certificate by selecting the Download button in the top-right.
- Double-click the downloaded .cer file onto the Mac computer. This should open in Keychain Access.
- Select both the private and public key, right-click and select Export 2 items...
- Save the file as a .p12 file. It will ask you to choose a password. Please choose a secure password and remember. You'll need to enter this into Applaud Cloud later when building the app
Create the iOS Provisioning Profile
-
Log in to your Apple Developer account and select Certificates, IDs & Profiles.
- Select Profiles on the left menu and select the plus (+) button next to Profiles.
- Select App Store under the Distribution section.
- Select an App ID from the list and select Continue. If you haven't already created an Identifier, create one now.
- Select the certificate created in the previous step and select Continue.
- Give the provisioning profile a name. For example, "Applaud". Continue.
- Download the provisioning profile (.mobileprovision file) and keep this safe for a later step
Create a push notification certificate
-
Create a new Certificate Signing Request following the same steps as earlier.
-
Log in to your Apple Developer account and select Certificates, IDs & Profiles.
- Select the plus (+) button next to Certificates and select Apple Push Notification service SSL (Sandbox & Production) under Services.
- Select the App ID from the list and select Continue.
- Choose the Certificate Signing Request saved in the previous step.
- Download the certificate by selecting the Download button in the top-right.
- Double-click the downloaded .cer file onto the Mac computer. This should open in Keychain Access.
- Select both the private and public key, right-click and select Export 2 items...
- Save the file as a .p12 file. It will ask you to choose a password. Please choose a secure password and remember. You need to enter this into Applaud Cloud later when building the app.
Design your app icons and choose a name
You will likely need to liaise with your brand team, who can help you design the app icons and create the necessary assets for you. You need:
- An app icon image. This is what's shown on the user's home screen when they install the app. This must be exactly 1024 x 1024 in size and exported as a png.
- An app splash screen. This is temporarily shown when the user first launches the app and while they're waiting for it to load. This must be 2734 x 2734 in size and exported as a png.
- An app name. If you don't have a brand name already, you might just opt to call it 'Applaud'. Keep this to 11 characters or less.
- Save these details. You'll need them later.
Ensure you have the hostname of your production system ready
When you build the apps, you can choose to build them with the hostname pre-configured. This means that the app connects to the host automatically so that the user isn't asked where they want to connect to.
You need:
- The hostname of your production system.
- Optionally, the hostname of your test systems. You can still test the app by building a version that has no host and then asking your users to enter the hostname on the connect page
Build and download the apps
- Login to your Applaud Cloud tenant and navigate to the Apps page.
- Fill in the app title you agreed on previously.
- Use the App Id you defined and ensure this is entered exactly the same. Even the smallest difference will result in errors when you attempt to install the app.
- Upload your icon and splash screen.
- Upload the iOS certificate file in the p12 format you created.
- Enter the iOS certificate password.
- Upload the iOS provisioning profile you created. This file ends in .mobileprovision.
- Upload the iOS push notification certificate file in the p12 format you created.
- Enter the iOS push notification certificate password.
- Add in the production host and, optionally, the test hosts you prepared.
- Save the settings. When this is saved you can choose to download the native app at a specified version using your choice of host and platform. You will be emailed with the download link to the app when it's ready.
Deploy the app through your enterprise app store
Once you have built and downloaded the apps, you have the download links for your iOS (.ipa) and Android (.apk) apps. You then need to follow the instructions given to you by your MDM or MAM vendor to deploy the app through your enterprise app store.