Apple Mobile App: News for Event Planners

February 13, 2018 // Tools

By Erin Thompson and the metro Event Technology Team

Maybe you’ve heard, but the Apple App Store changed their policies making it a bit trickier for organizations to have their “own” event app with their company name or event name on the app label. The policy change was intended to eliminate white label event apps and push for more unique, innovative apps.

The policy changes do affect how our clients create apps for their future events, but the changes are fairly manageable. The main change is that clients now need their own Apple Developer License. In the past, we submitted client apps under metroConnections’ Developer License, but with Apple’s new policy there is a good chance the apps will get rejected now when the content and submitting company don’t match.

Two questions that will now come up during the new app creation process are:

Do clients already have an Apple Developer License?
If not, will the anticipated deadline be delayed in order to for clients to obtain a license?

A new requirement of the Apple App Store is that the company which the application is being built for must provide their Developer License. If the client’s company does not already have an Apple Developers License, the metroConnections account manager assigned to the program can provide the steps to obtain the license to the client. The name that the Developer License is under will show as the developer in the app store, so conference apps built by metroConnections will now be listed under the client company name.

If the changes have you concerned, don’t worry – we’re here to help you every step of the way so you can have the perfect custom app for your next event.

A longtime veteran and leader in the meeting planning industry, Erin Thompson has years of experience in the hotel industry and management. She also has experience working for a marketing group on incentive travel programs on top of her tenure at metroConnections. As Director of Attend-eSource Services, her primary focus at metro is attendee management and the ever-changing technologies that go into the management of those attendees.