Transferring ownership of an iPhone app on the app store

My team and I have an app which we're going to be submitting to the store pretty soon, but we know that we'll be selling the app to another company in the near future. Does anyone have any experience with moving an app's ownership to another account?

Specifically, when I sell an app to another company...

  • How do we move the app to their account (what's the mechanism)?
  • Can my users still get updates (released by the new owner) without having to re-buy/re-download the app?
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As far as I know there is no way to transfer apps to a different user/company. I think the app should be in your customers account from the beginning. Otherwise you probably have payment problems too (people paying you instead of your customer).

Why not just sell the app to a customer before releasing it. If they want to see it running before it is released, just sent them a version built with an ad-hoc certificate.

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From what I understand, this can be done, but it requires manual intervention by the iTunes Store team, can take months to go through, and may involve some periods when your app is not on sale under either account. If you know who your customer is going to be, just put it under their account to begin with. If not, remember for the future that flipping apps is not an easy thing to do, and adjust your business model accordingly.

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The are additional considerations:

If you just can switch ownership of the Application behind the scenes, thus changing the contract, but not the application itself, you might be fine.

But if you're just going to transfer your source code, the future owner of the app will have to sign it with his own certificate, which will basically render the app as a "new" one.

Users will lose their settings (if your app did some configuration persistence) and they'll lose the app history in the appstore (ranking, etc.).

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What Lou Franco said.

Where To example is really good to consider, as they eventually had to settle for the fact that all existing customers need to buy the app again. Apple simply does not have the background infrastructure to change ownership.

Another bad consequence of the inherited made-for-music-sale-machine that iTunes originally was. Songs apparently don't change owners.

See here, for Where to resolution: transferring an iphone app last episode

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I don't believe that you can transfer ownership to another account. But a simple solution would be to add URL schemes to your app to allow data to be transferred from your app to a new app that your customer would release with the same source.

The new app would have to be free though (maybe the lite version?), so your old customers wouldn't be forced into buying it again. The only real downside I can see of this is that the new app would basically be starting over again from a marketing perspective, which is no minor thing of course!

Mobile Orchard had an article on data migration from Lite to Paid versions of an application that may be of interest:

Lite-to-paid iPhone application data migrations with custom URL handlers

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As ownership transfer is currently not-supported and an "exception process", it makes sense not to count on it as your mode of operation.

The big problem you're facing is: the app is tied to a developer account and you want to keep YOUR developer account after you transfer the app.

Hence, why not set up a NEW developer account, the sole purpose of which is to be the holder of this one app and, when you sell the app, you can just transfer the developer-account credentials to the new owner.

At that point, they can update the name, address, company name, bank info, etc.

Of course, your transfer contract will have some verbiage explaining how, in the interim, any moneys you get from Apple will be fwded to the new owner (put a time limit -- like 90 days -- on this so they don't take forever to update the info.)

I've not tried this, but it seems like a viable solution. Again, the problem is that the app is tied to developer account and you don't want to transfer yours. Hence, this Just Makes Sense™.

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Follow Up: After all: it is possible (as of late March 2010).

I haven't read all comments or other threads about this issue, so this might be obsolete, but it seems it's basically related to the iTunes-related structure of the appStore.

You can't be part of the Beatles and the Rolling Stones Bands...

Anyway, eventually, a colleague managed to get things sorted out, and we got our App (which was running under my private, single Dev account) running under a new, enterprise account. We kept our ratings, our #1 place in our category in the appstore, and all in all it went smooth (after several hours of phone-calls with apple).

As far as I can recall, the main problem was those help-desk folks were knowing things were going to change, but they didn't know by when and how. Probably due to iPad coming and related timelines involved). Anyway. It's possible, and it's pretty easy. Send your request, wait a couple of weeks (might be days by now), and you'll have the transfer. One issue though: They may have some bug in their migration code, because apple mixes firstname and lastname of the dev / master account after migration. well, who cares.

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UPDATE: THIS ANSWER IS OUT OF DATE. IT APPEARS TO HAVE BEEN CORRECT AT THE TIME IT WAS WRITTEN. THERE IS NO NEED TO DOWNVOTE IT, BUT DON'T BELIEVE IT EITHER!

Official answer is No. From the iTunes Connect FAQ:

I sold my app to another developer and can no longer distribute on the App Store. Can I transfer the app to the new developer's iTunes Connect account?

At this time, apps cannot be transferred to another developer account. If you would like the app to be sold through another developer account, you will need to remove the app from sale in the current iTunes Connect account and upload the app under the new iTunes Connect account.

Uploading the app to a new iTunes Connect account will disable current customers from receiving automatic and free updates of your application. All customer reviews, rating and ranking information will also be reset.

Additional resources that confirm this, from FutureTap developer Ortwin Gentz, back when he purchased WhereTo? from Sophiestication Software:

transferring an iphone app last episode

carved in stone transferring an iphone app

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I had my own experience with this, and the answer I got from Apple Developer Relations (Although it took a month to get an email response and 6 weeks for the follow up phone call) was (in short) that they currently don't offer any way to transfer individual applications from one developer account to another.

He did so by saying that there was a single "Option" for doing this sort of transfer, which is to delete the app from the account that it is currently on, and then resubmit to the Apple store from the new account under the same name (but it would have a new appstore id). I pointed out (and he acknowledged) that this would delete any existing user reviews, ruin the upgrade path for existing users, break iAds, in-app purchases, and game center integration. So it really isn't a solution at all.

He also said that it isn't possible to transfer ownership of all your apps to another existing account (they seem to lack the granularity to move individual apps). However if I wanted to give up all my apps to another individual it could be possible by creating a corporation (probably S-Corp, although he didn't advise), transferring ownership of my account to the S-Corp (which would be allowed if I were a part owner), and then selling the s-corp to the new owner. (Yikes right?)

The method I plan to go with is the following (I'll update with my success), In my specific case I have a paid application that (.99) that I'm trying to transfer to another owner:

  1. I will create a lightweight application using the same AppID that is designed to inform users that the Application has changed owners, and provide a link to the app store where they can download the new application. When launched will upload a hashed form of their UDID to a server (which I will now have to maintain) listing them as a previous customer.

  2. I will upload this new lightweight app to my existing account as an upgrade to the other existing application (so that when users update, they will instead be marked as an existing customer, be presented with a message explaining the situation, and a link to the new app)

  3. I will convert my paid app to being a light application that has some functionality, but requires an in-app purchase of .99 to get the full functionality. Additionally, this new app will check with my server to see if the UDID is in the existing customers database, and if so give them full functionality (without having to do the in-app purchase).

... ARGHH! :) It's an ugly experience for the customers and a whole hell of a lot of work for the developer... but the only option provided by Apple. (Although, I'm not sure that it will even work, as it's entirely possible that they will reject my lightweight "update" application from the store, and thereby prevent the hack upgrade path as well)

UPDATE: Too much work for the person that I was trying to give the application to. Ended up not proceeding with the plan. Think that it could probably still work, and would love to hear from anyone who tries it or pulls it off :)

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Recent update from iTunes Connect:

I sold my app to another developer and can no longer distribute it on the App Store. Can I transfer the app to the new developer's iTunes Connect account?

No, you can’t transfer the app to another developer account on iTunes Connect. To add the app to another account, remove the app from the current account and upload it to the new iTunes Connect account.

Note that uploading the app to a new iTunes Connect account will disable current customers from receiving automatic and free updates of your application. All customer reviews, rating, and ranking information will be reset. You will not be able to reuse the app name and SKU in the old account. If you have uploaded a binary or used the app with the iAd Network, your Bundle ID will not be reusable either.

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Starting June 11, 2013 this has officially become possible. Here's the official note:

Dear developer,

Apps can now be transferred from one developer to another within iTunes Connect, for example after an acquisition or when a distribution deal expires. Transferring the ownership of an app does not affect the app’s availability on the App Store. All ratings and reviews will be transferred and your customers will continue to have access to all available app updates.

To transfer an app, go to the app’s App Summary page in the Manage Your Applications module on iTunes Connect and click Transfer App. Make sure that:

• Your account is active

• You have accepted the most current version of your contracts

• Your app has at least one approved version

• Your app is in the Ready for Sale, Invalid Binary, Rejected, Developer Rejected, or Developer Removed from Sale state

• Any associated In-App Purchases are in the Ready to Submit, Ready for Sale, Rejected, Developer Removed from Sale, or Approved state

• You know the Apple ID of the recipient’s Team Agent and their Team ID.

For more information on app transfer, see the video tutorial on iTunes Connect. To find answers to common questions about app transfer, see the FAQ on iTunes Connect.

Regards, The App Store team

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It is possible since June, 2013. You can transfer an app to another developer very easy - here is an official FAQ from Apple (available for registered developers).

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As per a new announcement from Apple today (just after iOS 7 release) this has become possible . It says "Apps can now be transferred from one developer to another within iTunes Connect, for example after an acquisition or when a distribution deal expires. Transferring the ownership of an app does not affect the app’s availability on the App Store. All ratings and reviews will be transferred and your customers will continue to have access to all available app updates."

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Since now, this is now possible using iTunesConnect.

Apps can now be transferred from one developer to another within iTunes Connect, for example after an acquisition or when a distribution deal expires. Transferring the ownership of an app does not affect the app’s availability on the App Store. All ratings and reviews will be transferred and your customers will continue to have access to all available app updates. To transfer an app, go to the app’s App Summary page in the Manage Your Applications module on iTunes Connect and click Transfer App. Make sure that:

  • Your account is active
  • You have accepted the most current version of your contracts
  • Your app has at least one approved version
  • Your app is in the Ready for Sale, Invalid Binary, Rejected, Developer Rejected, or Developer Removed from Sale state Any
    associated
  • In-App Purchases are in the Ready to Submit, Ready for Sale, Rejected, Developer Removed from Sale, or Approved state
  • You know the Apple ID of the recipient’s Team Agent and their Team ID.
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iTunesConnect now allows App Transfers given certain app restrictions (no iCloud or Push Notifications apps are allowed currently. Local Notifications are ok, of course.)

See the iTunesConnect FAQ on App Transfers... https://itunesconnect.apple.com/WebObjects/iTunesConnect.woa/wo/10.0.0.9.1.0.9.1.5.10.1

You can only initiate or accept a transfer if your iTunesConnect login has the "Legal" role permissions.

AFTER THE TRANSFER: The teamId and bundleID will not change at all. Nor will any of the in-app purchase Ids.

In my company's developer account, I now see an app with EXACTLY THE SAME TeamID.BundleID as I saw in the source code that was purchased from the other company (and that source code was delivered separately, not via Apple)...

ex. BundleID = com.<some-other-company>.<purchased-app-name>

This bundleId is now listed among my other apps listed in iTunesConnect's Provisioning Profiles. I simply created new Development and Distribution/AdHoc provisioning profiles for my newly purchased app. Then I downloaded the new provisioning profiles into Xcode, just like for any of your own apps.

Quite painless. Thank you Apple.

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Guess I'm late to the party but Apple just added a button to iTunes Connect to do just this. Sign into your iTunes Connect account, go to 'Manage Apps' and click on the app you want to transfer. In the section on the top right, there's a button to transfer your app now.

Cheers!

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Something helpful:

Apple site documentation with new itunesconnect UI released in Sep,5,2014

Transfer code using github

Note: Use agent role account, and maybe you should click "Agreements, Tax, and Banking" to request Contracts first.

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Besides the already mentioned things I recognized, that certain issues may arise which are nowhere mentioned in the AppStore Guidelines or the documentation.

I found out several issues with apps having subscriptions (which are as of Jan 2015 not transferrable). After trying to transfer an app I found out via the FAQ in the iTC Developer Support Center aka Help Section the following things (Link to FAQ section)...

You cannot transfer apps that contain or use:

  • iCloud entitlements in any version of the app
  • Passbook entitlements in any version of the app
  • A SKU that matches the SKU of one of the recipient's apps, including previously-removed SKUs
  • In-App Purchase product IDs that match the In-App Purchase product ID of one of the recipient's apps, including previously-removed In-App Purchases
  • Approved auto-renewable, non-renewing, or free subscription In-App Purchases, including previously-removed In-App Purchase subscriptions Sandboxed Mac apps that share the Application Group Container Directory with other Mac apps also cannot be transferred.

To transfer any of these types of apps, the recipient must create the app as a new app. Current customers, ratings, and reviews cannot be transferred to the new app.

Also the usual requirements are:

To transfer an app, make sure that:

  • The transferor and the recipient have active developer accounts and accepted the most current version of all master agreements that are currently in effect
  • The app has at least one approved version
  • The app is in the Ready for Sale, Invalid Binary, Rejected, Developer Rejected, or Developer Removed from Sale state
  • Any associated In-App Purchases are in the Ready to Submit, Ready for Sale, Rejected, Developer Removed from Sale, or Approved state
  • You know the Apple ID of the recipient’s Team Agent and their Team ID If the app uses iAd, the transferor and the recipient must have accepted the most current version of all iAd contracts.

Hope that helps avoid mishaps before you try to transfer an app.


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