We have an iOS app which has been approved for release with its version 1.0 and we submitted a minor update, version 1.1 that was also approved, and is “Pending Developer Release”. The date set for first availability in “Rights and Pricing” is a month from now.
The question is the following – is it possible to submit another update (lets say version 1.2) without forcing the app to go live early? That is, if we click “Release this Version” on the app version 1.1 page, will it actually make the app go live in the app store immediately? Or will iTunes honor the date in “Rights and Pricing” and the app will remain unreleased, and we would be able to submit another update in the now-open version slot?
The copy in the Apple Developer Support manual seems to indicate that the app will go live when pushing Release This Version, but it is not clear:
p. 72:
Availability Date
The date when your app will be available for purchase on the App
Store. If your application has not been approved by Apple prior to
this date, your app will go live as soon as it has been approved.This is a global date, and applies to all territories selected. If you
change this date, it will apply to all versions of your application.
If you create a new version of your app, you may use the Version
Release Control feature in order to control the date your new version
is released to the App Store.
p.73:
NOTE: You can only use the Version Release Control on app updates. It
is not available for the first version of your app since you already
have the ability to control when your first version goes live, using
the Availability Date setting within Rights and Pricing. If you decide
that you do not want to ever release a Pending Developer Release
version, you can reject your binary to submit a new one. You are not
permitted to skip over an entire version.
We just tested this and it appears that after you press “RELEASE THIS VERSION” on the 1.1 version, the app is actually still held back until you set the release date in the “Rights and Pricing” section (as long as you haven’t yet released the app). So it is possible to continue submitting further updates to an app before releasing it to the public.