App Publishing Process And Timeline

Learn about the process to publish your apps to app stores and how long will it take

App exporting and publishing is a multi-step process that is mostly done by a Blynk Launch Engineer assigned to you after you sign up, but there are actions needed from you as well.

Make sure you check other articles about app exporting before starting the exporting process.

On average, this process takes 5-10 business days, however it depends on how ready your project and hardware are and how familiar your team is with Blynk platform.

Communication speed between your company and Blynk is important too.

Server Launch and Initial Setup

🗓 Duration: 1-2 business days

1. Your business server will be launched by Blynk. You would need to choose a region and a domain name.

2. Blynk Launch Engineer will help with transferring your project (if you have one) to your business server.

3. Blynk engineer can do a high-level review of your firmware code to check that Blynk routines are implemented correctly.

Blynk Launch Engineer can't check if your firmware code works as expected with your device. Also, we will not modify your code.

App Testing

🗓 Duration depends on how ready your product is

During this stage you will get apps for Android and iOS which you would need to test with your IoT product.

Android App

You will get an invite to a special app AppTester. There you will be able to download the latest build

iOS App

For testing your iOS app you would need:

• Apple ID - an email address you use to login to Apple services

• TestFlight app installed on your iPhone. This is an app made by Apple to test apps before publishing

App publishing

🗓 2-5 business days

If you plan to publish your apps to App Store and Google Play app marketplaces you would need developer accounts for these platforms. These accounts are paid. You can find latest information and pricing on their websites:

• Android Developer Program

• Apple Developer Program.

For iOS, you would need to enroll in the Apple Developer Program as an organization, not as an individual.

Once you have the developer accounts set up, Blynk engineer will guide, you through the rest of the procedures needed.

Design Assets

To publish the apps you would need to prepare marketing materails such as app description, screenshots, app icon, etc. This process takes time which affects the publishing timeline. We recommend to start working on it as early as possible.

Here is an article you can check:

Branding Materials

Usually, Android app is published first because it's easier and faster. You would simply give Launch Engineer permissions to publish Android version of the app under your developer account. To publish an iOS version, we would need to go through these steps:

• Add Blynk iOS engineer to your developer account (we will explain how)

• Prepare a demo-video for Apple review. Apple requires a short video that showing how a real iOS device interacts with your product. Video montage or screen recording will result in rejection. This video cane be uploaded to streaming services like YouTube or you can send us a link.

After app was submitted, Apple will review it. This review can take up 2-10 days. Once approved app will be published to app store automatically.

🥳 Done!

Your apps are now in app stores and ready for download by your clients and used with your IoT products.