Apple has made an important update on the Apple Developer Program. Starting today, the company lets apps that use iCloud to be transferred to another developer. Here’s how it works.
According to Apple, you already could transfer an app when you’ve sold it to another developer or you would want to move it to another App Store Connect account or organization. You can also transfer the ownership of an app to another developer without removing it from the App Store.
The company said:
The app retains its reviews and ratings during and after the transfer, and users continue to have access to future updates. Additionally, when an app is transferred, it maintains its Bundle ID — it’s not possible to update the Bundle ID after a build has been uploaded for the app.
The news here is that it’s easier for developers to transfer the ownership of apps that use iCloud. Apple said that if your app uses any of the following, it will be transferred to the transfer recipient after they accept the app transfer:
- iCloud to store user data;
- iCloud containers;
- KVS identifiers are associated with the app.
The company said:
If multiple apps on your account share a CloudKit container, the transfer of one app will disable the other apps’ ability to read or store data using the transferred CloudKit container. Additionally, the transferor will no longer have access to user data for the transferred app via the iCloud dashboard. Any app updates will disable the app’s ability to read or store data using the transferred CloudKit container.
If your app uses iCloud Key-Value Storage (KVS), the full KVS value will be embedded in any new provisioning profiles you create for the transferred app. Update your entitlements plist with the full KVS value in your provisioning profile.
Apple published this information from the Apple Developer page, and you can learn more about it here.
It’s important to note that early this year, Apple started letting developers from the Small Business Program transfer their apps. A few months later, now the company is expanding this feature for those apps that use iCloud.
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