The Apple side

Publishing an iPhone app means dealing with Apple, and a few things there only a human with an Apple account can do - no tool can do them for you. This page explains each one in plain words, so you know what it is and why it is needed. If you use an AI agent, it walks you through these and asks only for the parts it cannot do itself - this page is just your reference.

There are four pieces, and you set each up once:

  • an Apple Developer Program membership - your paid account with Apple (99 € / year)

  • an App Store Connect API key - a credential that lets Odevio talk to Apple on your behalf

  • the app record - the entry in Apple’s console that your app’s page and versions hang off

  • a bundle identifier - your app’s unique id, like com.acme.mybudget

None of this is something you keep doing: it is a one-time setup, mostly per account and once per app.

Apple Developer Program

To put an app on a real iPhone, on TestFlight or on the App Store, you need a paid Apple Developer Program membership - 99 € per year. Enrol at developer.apple.com/programs/enroll. There is no way around this: no build service can replace the membership.

You also need the Admin role on your Apple team to fill in the App Privacy section later.

App Store Connect API key

Odevio talks to Apple with an App Store Connect API key, which only you can create:

  1. Go to App Store Connect → Users and Access → Integrations → App Store Connect API.

  2. Create a key with the Admin role and download the .p8 file (Apple lets you download it once).

  3. Note the Issuer ID, the Key ID and the path to the .p8 file.

Give them to Odevio once:

odevio apple add --apple-id APPLE_TEAM_ID --name TEXT --key-id APPLE_KEY_ID --issuer-id APPLE_ISSUER_ID --private-key PATH_TO_P8

An AI agent does this step for you - it only asks you to create the key and point it at the file, because the file is a secret it will not read.

The app record in App Store Connect

Apple does not allow the App Store listing itself to be created through the API. Once per app, you create it by hand:

  1. Go to App Store Connect → Apps and click + → New App.

  2. Pick the platform, a public name, the primary language, your bundle identifier and an SKU.

That is about two minutes, once per app. Everything after it - metadata, screenshots, the build and the submission - Odevio can do for you.

The bundle identifier (App ID)

Your app needs a unique bundle identifier such as com.acme.mybudget. Odevio creates it for you:

odevio app mk --name MY_APP_NAME --bundle-id COM.COMPANY.APP_NAME

An AI agent proposes an identifier and asks you to confirm it, so you do not have to know the format.