Custom apps built for your business are made available to only you; no other
organization can see or get them, making the transaction both secure and
private. Apple reviews custom apps before they're available to your account, so
you can be assured that they’ve been verified technically and checked for
quality. Pricing for custom apps is set by the developer or designated as free.
Common ways to customize apps include incorporating company branding into
the user interface or adding unique capabilities that are pertinent to a business
process or workflow. Developers can also add a specific configuration for your
environment or add features tailored to a business partner, dealer, or franchise.
Work with your developer. To get started, get in touch with a developer.
Developers who are registered in the Apple Developer Program and who have
agreed to the latest Program License Agreement can submit apps for custom
app distribution through App Connect. If your preferred developer or business
partner isn’t registered in the Apple Developer Program, refer them to
developer.apple.com/programs to enroll. Once the developer has created an app
and identified you as the authorized purchaser, they can offer the app for free or
set a price just for you. Provide your developer with either the Organization ID
from Apple Business Manager or the ManagedAppleID of your administrator.
Work with your internal app developers. For apps developed in-house, use
the same method described above to distribute a custom app to your own
organization. This does not require the use of the Developer Enterprise Program
and enables your app to take advantage of advanced App Store features like
app thinning, analytics and more. Additionally, unlike the Developer Enterprise
Program, there is no need to update and maintain certificates for distribution.
Obtain the custom app. Your developer will need to associate the custom
app to your organization and will notify you when it’s available for download. To
do this the developer will need your Organization ID which can be found by
going to Setting > Enrollment Information. When you sign in to Apple Business
Manager, you’ll see a Custom Apps section in the sidebar below Content.
Custom apps are available to only the businesses specified by the developer and
are not visible to other organizations.
Important Information about custom apps
•App review. Each app, as well as each version (update) of the app, submitted
for custom app distribution goes through an app review process with Apple.
The same app review guidelines for App Store apps apply to custom apps.
•App security. If your app contains sensitive business data, you might want
to include an authentication mechanism within the app. Custom apps by
themselves are not secured by Apple, and the security of data within the app
is the responsibility of the developer. Apple highly recommends using iOS and
iPadOS best practices for in-app authentication and encryption. For more
information on secure coding best practices, visit the Developer Library.
•App verification. To verify that custom apps meet the review guidelines,
Apple needs to be able to sign in and operate the app. Work with your
developer or business partner to determine how to meet this requirement with
appropriate handling of proprietary or sensitive business data. You might want
to provide test accounts or sanitized sample data to protect confidentiality.