I've been doing a lot of jobs for other people and the whole account thing is confusing. If I have a personal account and they have a personal account there is no way for my to manage their apps unless they hand over their password, right? If they have a business account I can join their team and I should be able to publish with my personal account but if they don't then I can't? I'd be interested in hearing how other developers handle this. Thanks
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iOS Consultants/Freelancers what's your workflow?
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You could do all the management off Apple's system: Write the code, give them the entire project and rights to it. If they have an issue, have them return the entire project (assuming it's changed) then make the changes they need and return the project to them.
They manage the project, they have the password, they have the right to take over coding or have someone else take over the coding. You don't have to maintain the account or the code.
Apple might have a better system that I don't know of, but AFAIK, they really don't have a system in place that's setup for consultants.
The other option would be for you to maintain everything and they download the apps and maybe pay a monthly fee or contract price.
They manage the project, they have the password, they have the right to take over coding or have someone else take over the coding. You don't have to maintain the account or the code.
Apple might have a better system that I don't know of, but AFAIK, they really don't have a system in place that's setup for consultants.
The other option would be for you to maintain everything and they download the apps and maybe pay a monthly fee or contract price.
The issue comes in that 95% of the people I work with have no idea how to use itunes connect or compile an app so I often have to do that as part of the project. I think the best way to do it, now going through countless failed interactions is to have them change their password and use their account directly. I just remove my accounts from xcode and put theirs in while I'm working on the project and remove it when I'm done.
Another option is screen-sharing. They login to iTunes connect. They let you control their screen while they're watching.
I haven't done this but some contractors do it this way.
I haven't done this but some contractors do it this way.
I rarely come across anyone with a personal account anymore and if they have a personal account they are more than happy to just hand over the login details.
I have done the screen sharing thing before, it does work but it's a bit tedious and takes much longer and a client rarely keep his xcode up to date either...
These days most people (who pay for apps to be developed) opt for a business account. It's a simple enough process so maybe ask your clients' to consider that route. The best way to convince them is always that the app will be marketed as from a company in the app store rather than some app by Joe Bloggs. People feel this is more professional.
I have done the screen sharing thing before, it does work but it's a bit tedious and takes much longer and a client rarely keep his xcode up to date either...
These days most people (who pay for apps to be developed) opt for a business account. It's a simple enough process so maybe ask your clients' to consider that route. The best way to convince them is always that the app will be marketed as from a company in the app store rather than some app by Joe Bloggs. People feel this is more professional.
It's easier to just use a separate User account on your Mac for each client.
That keeps the keychains completely separated.
It also helps separate any custom/copyrighted IP from any other client's IP.
And if the client is local, I just take my MacBook over and have them login while I look the other way. Then they can see how complex the process seems (from their point-of-view) and thus how much I deserve my high hourly rate.