CODEWITHSUNDEEP
iphoneipadapp-storeuniversal-binary
nomad00
nomad00

Reputation: 401

Update two independent apps to single universal app?

We currently have two independent apps (one iPhone only and one iPad only) and want to migrate to a single universal app.

Does anyone know if it is possible to do this without killing off one of the apps? Someting like releasing an update to each app, containing the same binary?

Please link if I'm misssing this answered somewhere, thanks!

Upvotes: 1

Views: 395

Answers (3)

Jack Cox
Jack Cox

Reputation: 3300

The app infrastructure on the phone tracks apps by ID and an app can only have one ID. Quick way would be to orphan one of the apps, another way would be to tweak your build process so that when you do a distribution build it generates two bundles, both identical except for the info.plist file.

Upvotes: 0

hotpaw2
hotpaw2

Reputation: 70663

There is no current way to do this except by orphaning one of the apps, or continuing to support two nearly identical apps. You can't release identical binaries because each app has a different unchangeable unique App Identifier for that app embedded in the binary.

Some developers just leave behind the app with the least desirable set of reviews, ratings and popularity in category in the app store without any further upgrades. You could do something like change the name of the one you want to leave behind to "foo classic" or "foo legacy" as well as add some unobtrusive advertisements for the supported newer app to it.

Upvotes: 1

Black Frog
Black Frog

Reputation: 11703

App Store tracks application based on the App ID. If they are both free apps, just kill off least popular one. But if they are both paid, you can alienate your customers if you make them purchase the app again because you are merging them.

Upvotes: 0

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