Your app goes on the App Store and Google Play under your clinic's own accounts, in your name. You own them. We build and submit the app for you, but the accounts stay yours.

Follow this in order. Do Apple first, because a number you get there is the same one Google asks for later.

Time: about 45 minutes today, then some waiting, then about 15 minutes at the end.

Before you begin: have these ready

  1. Your clinic's exact registered legal name, copied from your LLC formation documents. Not your signage or trading name. If your paperwork says "Smith Aesthetics LLC" but your sign says "Glow Med Spa", you need the first one.

  2. Your registered business address and phone number.

  3. One work email on your clinic's own domain, like yourname@yourclinic.com. Use it everywhere in this guide.

    Apple requires a domain address on the enrolment form, and Google asks for fewer verifications when you use one.

  4. Your clinic's website address.

  5. The name and email of your owner or a senior manager, if you are not the owner yourself.

  6. A credit card. Apple charges $99 per year, Google charges $25 once.

Part 1: Apple

Step 1. Get your Apple Account ready

An Apple Account is the same thing as an Apple ID. You need one before anything else.

  1. Use an Apple Account that belongs to the business, not your personal one. Whoever's account this is becomes the permanent owner of the developer account.

  2. If you need to create one, go to create one here and choose Create Your Apple Account.

    Use the work email address from the list above. Apple does not strictly require your own domain for the Apple Account itself, but you will need it on the enrolment form in Step 3, so use it from the start.

  3. Sign in with it on a real iPhone, iPad or Mac at least once.

  4. Add a phone number to it.

  5. Turn on two-factor authentication.

  6. Check the first and last name are real legal names, not "Front Desk" or your clinic's name.

    Apple: an alias, nickname or company name here "will cause a delay in the approval of your enrollment."

Why steps 3 to 5 matter: a brand-new Apple Account with no history can get flagged and suspended when you try to enrol. We have seen it happen. If you just created the account, give it a day before moving on.

Step 2. Find your D-U-N-S number

A D-U-N-S number is a free nine-digit ID for your business, issued by a company called Dun & Bradstreet. Apple and Google both require one. Most businesses already have one and don't know it.

  1. Go to Apple’s D-U-N-S lookup

  2. Sign in with the Apple Account from Step 1.

  3. Enter your legal entity name, headquarters address, mailing address and work contact details.

  4. Apple searches for you. If it finds your business, write the number down and go to Step 3.

  5. If it does not find you, that same page offers to request one for free. Use it.

    If you would rather request it directly, you can also use request one directly from Dun & Bradstreet, but Apple's page is simpler.

Only if you had to request one: it arrives by email from Dun & Bradstreet, usually within five business days. Then wait two more business days before Step 3 so Apple can see it. Someone from Dun & Bradstreet may phone to ask what your business does and how many staff you have. Answer them, or the number will not be issued.

Step 3. Enrol in the Apple Developer Program

  1. Go to Apple’s enrolment page

  2. Click Start your enrollment.

  3. Sign in with the same Apple Account.

  4. When asked what you are enrolling as, choose Company / Organization. Do not choose Individual.

  5. Enter your legal entity name exactly as you wrote it down.

    This becomes the "Seller" name shown publicly on your App Store page, so check the spelling.

  6. Enter your D-U-N-S number.

  7. Enter your work email, phone and website.

    This is the one place the domain is not optional. Apple: "Your work email address needs to be associated with your organization's domain name." A Gmail address will be rejected here.

  8. Confirm you have authority to sign for the business. If you are not the owner, enter your owner or senior manager as the reference.

    Apple contacts this person directly to confirm it. Tell them it is coming, or your enrolment will stall silently.

  9. Submit.

You do not pay yet. Apple asks for the $99 only after they approve you. If no payment screen appears, nothing has gone wrong.

Now stop. Apple has to review this, which is out of your hands. Part 2 does not depend on it, so carry straight on.

Part 2: Google

Step 4. Check which Google account you are signed in as

This is the easiest step to skip and the only one that cannot be undone.

  1. Go to the Google Play Console sign-up page

  2. Look at the email address shown at the top of the screen.

  3. If it is a personal Gmail, click Switch accounts and sign in with your clinic's address.

    Use the same work email address you used for Apple. Google's warning on that screen: the account you are signed in as will own the developer account, and "once the developer account has been created, this can't be changed." Google also notes that using your business domain "will reduce the number of verifications you need to complete." If that address is not already a Google account, you can make it one at accounts.google.com without changing your email provider.

Step 5. Create the Google Play account

  1. On that same page, find the box headed An organization.

  2. In the Organization type dropdown, choose A company or business.

  3. Click Get started.

  4. Enter your organization name, address, phone and website.

  5. Enter your D-U-N-S number.

    Your legal name and address must match the D-U-N-S record exactly, character for character, including "LLC" versus "L.L.C."

  6. Enter your contact name, email and phone.

    Google sends one-time codes to verify these, so use addresses and numbers you can actually check.

  7. Pay the $25 one-time fee.

    Google publicly displays your legal name, address, developer email and phone on your Play Store listing, so use a business phone number rather than a personal mobile.

You get into the console straight away. Google verifies your identity in the background, which only blocks publishing an app, and we are not doing that yet.

Step 6. Add us to Google Play

  1. Go to Play Console

  2. Click Users and permissions.

  3. Click Invite user.

  4. Enter developer@velarya.com.

  5. Open the Account permissions tab, not App permissions.

  6. Give it Admin (all permissions).

  7. Click Invite user.

    Use Account permissions because your app does not exist yet, so there is nothing for App permissions to apply to.

There is nothing to send us from Google. Tell us when this is done and we take it from there.

Later, once your app exists in Play Console, we will ask you to invite one more address. That one is a service account that uploads your builds automatically, and it only needs release access to your app rather than access to your whole account. We will send it when the time comes.

Who to invite, and with what access

You only ever invite one Velarya address. We add and remove our own developers from there, so you never have to manage our team.

Apple, in App Store Connect

  • Address: developer@velarya.com

  • Role: Admin

  • Admin lets us build and submit your app, issue the signing certificates it needs, and add or remove our own developers from your account so you never have to manage our team.

  • What Admin does not allow: only you, as Account Holder, can sign Apple's agreements, transfer the app to another account, or approve a change to your banking details. Those stay with you whatever access you give us.

Google Play Console

  • Address: developer@velarya.com

  • Under Account permissions, give it Admin (all permissions)

Google Play, automated publishing — later, not now

  • A service account address we will send you once your app record exists

  • Under App permissions for your app, with release access only. Not account-wide.

  • It is a machine account rather than a person, so it will look like a long generated address. That is normal.

Part 3: While you wait

Nothing to do. This is only here so quiet days don't feel like something is broken.

  • Dun & Bradstreet may call or email you. Answer it.

  • Apple may contact your reference. If that person ignores the email, your enrolment stops and nobody tells you.

  • Apple may ask for business documents, occasionally notarized copies.

  • Google runs its checks quietly.

Neither Apple nor Google publishes how long their review takes. Rather than invent a number: if a full week passes with no email at all, tell us and we will help you chase it.

Part 4: Once Apple approves you

Step 7. Pay Apple

You will get an approval email. Follow the link in it and pay the $99 annual fee. Your account is not active until this is done.

Step 8. Add us to App Store Connect

  1. Go to App Store Connect and sign in.

  2. Click Users and Access.

  3. Under People, click the plus (+) button at the top left.

  4. Enter Velarya as the first name, Developer as the last name, and developer@velarya.com as the email address.

  5. For role, tick Admin.

  6. Click Next, then Invite.

    The invitation expires after 3 days. If we have not accepted by then, just send it again.

Step 9. Create the key we need to publish

Only you can do this one. Nobody you invite can do it for you, so please don't wait for us to ask twice.

  1. Still in Users and Access, click Integrations.

  2. Create a new key. Give it any name, and the App Manager access level.

  3. Download the file. It is named something like AuthKey_ABC123XYZ.p8.

    This file downloads only once and Apple will never let you download it again. If you close the page without saving it, delete the key and create another. That costs nothing.

  4. Copy the Issuer ID and the Key ID from that page.

  5. Send us all three using the secure upload link we sent you, not by email.

If something goes wrong

"The business you entered is listed with a different legal status." The name you typed does not match your Dun & Bradstreet record. Use your registered legal name. If it still fails, contact Dun & Bradstreet to correct their record, then allow two more business days before retrying Apple.

Apple rejected your website. It must be a real, public website on your own domain. A Facebook or Instagram page will not be accepted, and neither will a holding page.

Apple rejected your email address. On the enrolment form it has to be on your clinic's domain. A Gmail or Hotmail address will not pass there.

Google verification failed. Almost always your legal name or address does not match your D-U-N-S record exactly. Compare them character by character.

Nothing has happened for a week. Check whether Apple emailed your reference and they missed it. That is the single most common cause.

Anything at all, email us. We would rather sort it out in ten minutes than have you lose a week.