Hey everyone, just thought I would share my experience with my latest app. I went a different approach with an internal company app I built. Previously I was running AdHoc with TestFlight to distribute an internal app to about 40 devices. With the changes to TestFlight I decided to go the B2B route. Simple process- same way you would with submitting to the store, just select B2B in iTunes connect when you create it. Keep in mind once B2B it can never change. When you select this you have to enter an appleID that is enrolled in the volume purchase program so they can find it. (you can also set the price to anything you want including free) The approval process only took 36 hours and went from in-review to approved at the same time. This is what I was nervous about. I didn't know if they would be as tough as they are on store apps. Once approved, the "customer" logs into the volume purchase program and buys the number of apps they want. They then get a downloadable list of redemption codes. Email them out to who you want to have them and they only have to click on a link and hit redeem. Overall much easier for the users then the old route. Updates will now be through the app store, and the I won't have to deal with expiring provisioning profiles for the app. Hope this helps someone else thinking about the process. Jim

Hey Jim, Yes good isn't it. Don't rely on the review time for allways. Apple seems a bit erratic lately sometimes it takes a day sometimes 10. I use another email of mine to distribute to myself then send client the links for them to install on their devices - simple. Good post Kristen

Jim -- this is a terrific tip, thank you! Is it one redeem code per app per user per device? I think yes, just verifying. Does the User have to use their Apple ID? I think yes, because now the distribution is via Apple's App Store. Just verifying because many of my users forget their Apple ID password and then I have to send them to http://iForgot.Apple.com :-) Do you as a Developer have to be enrolled as a Business or can you just be an Individual Developer? Kristen -- please explain the mechanics of your approach to make sure I got it right in my head? Awesome! Love this approach! Thanks, -- Niraj

Thanks for that tip!! Very good to know :)

Niraj, the redemption code is tied to their Apple ID, and is available on any device. Individual developer, no need for the enterprise account. Just the business has to be enrolled in the volume purchase program. I used our admin email account for the VPP account so I can log in and purchase the apps and distribute them through this account. This way I have control of the entire process. Guessing this is how Kristen is doing it? A downside might be pulling access from employees who leave the company depending on how you manage devices. In this case you still may want a login screen that you can manage user access. Jim

Sweet! Thanks for the heads up, Jim! Cheers! -- Smug

Niraj, You need to sign up for the Volume Purchase program (VPP) at http://vpp.itunes.apple.com/ You are not able to use an existing Apple ID also you need to use an account that does not seem to be from your same business that created the account, ie you can not VPP to "yourself". Its pretty cool once you are set up, because then the App is only available on the B2B store to users that you allow and they can purchase many downloads and get simple url's that you can send to users like redeem a code to get the install easily, none of the testflight explaining like sign up then add device and so on. AlthoughI still use testflight for some customers. Especially when I want to show them something that is not near complete and there is no way Apple will release it even on B2B Regards Kristen

This is cool! Thanks for sharing this, Jim!