Fast Lane Transporter: Streamlining Your App Store Submission with Deliver

In the fast-paced world of mobile app development, efficiency and speed are paramount. App developers are constantly seeking ways to accelerate their workflows, especially when it comes to the often complex and time-consuming process of app submission to the App Store. Enter Deliver, the Fast Lane Transporter for your iOS and macOS apps, a powerful tool designed to automate and simplify every step of the app submission process. As part of the renowned fastlane suite, Deliver is your expert solution for rapid and reliable app delivery to App Store Connect.

Understanding the Power of Deliver: A Fast Lane Transporter for App Deployment

Built upon the foundation of fastlane, Deliver acts as a fast lane transporter, streamlining the traditionally manual and tedious tasks of uploading screenshots, metadata, and app binaries. This automation isn’t just about saving time; it’s about creating a robust and reliable continuous deployment pipeline, ensuring your app updates reach your users swiftly and seamlessly.

Key Features that Make Deliver a True Fast Lane Transporter

Automated Screenshot Uploads: Imagine effortlessly uploading hundreds of localized screenshots without manual intervention. Deliver, the fast lane transporter, makes this a reality. It intelligently handles screenshots for various languages and device types, including Apple Watch.
Binary Uploads Without Xcode: Forget the need for Xcode for every upload. Deliver empowers you to upload your ipa or pkg files to App Store Connect from any Mac, simplifying your deployment workflow and acting as a true fast lane transporter for your builds.
Local Metadata Management: Maintain your app’s crucial metadata locally, using a version control system like Git. Deliver facilitates seamless synchronization of these changes with App Store Connect, offering a fast lane transporter for metadata updates.
Continuous Deployment Ready: Embrace the power of Continuous Deployment with Deliver. Integrate it into your fastlane setup and establish a truly automated release pipeline, transforming app deployment into a fast lane transporter experience.
Git-Based Configuration: Store your entire Deliver configuration within Git. This ensures consistent deployments from any machine, including your Continuous Integration (CI) server, solidifying Deliver as a fast lane transporter accessible to your entire team.
Pre-Upload HTML Preview: Before making live changes, Deliver generates a comprehensive HTML preview of your fetched metadata. This crucial step allows you to review and verify everything before uploading, ensuring accuracy and acting as a quality control checkpoint in your fast lane transporter process.
Precheck Integration for App Review Success: Deliver seamlessly integrates with precheck, proactively identifying potential app review issues. This integration dramatically increases your chances of a smooth first-time app review, making Deliver a fast lane transporter not just for deployment, but for the entire submission lifecycle.

Example of the metadata folder structure used by Deliver, showcasing organized localization files.

While Deliver excels at App Store submission, for those focused on TestFlight distribution, its sibling tool, pilot, provides a dedicated fast lane transporter for beta builds.

Getting Started with Deliver: Your Fast Lane to App Store Connect

Initiating Deliver in your project is straightforward, effectively setting up your fast lane transporter for future deployments:

Navigate to Your Project: Open your terminal and cd [your_project_folder].
Initialize Deliver: Run fastlane deliver init.
Provide App Store Connect Credentials: Enter your Apple ID credentials when prompted.
Specify App Identifier: Input your app’s bundle identifier.
Relax and Let Deliver Work: Enjoy a moment of ease as Deliver sets up the necessary files and configurations, establishing your fast lane transporter for app submissions.

From this point forward, deploying updates or modifying metadata and screenshots is as simple as running fastlane deliver.

Utilizing Deliver for Efficient App Submissions: Navigating the Fast Lane

Once initialized, Deliver offers a variety of commands and options to optimize your app submission workflow, truly embodying its role as a fast lane transporter.

Basic Upload:

To upload your app metadata from your local machine, simply execute:

fastlane deliver

Submitting with Binary:

To upload an ipa file and submit your app for review in one swift command, use:

fastlane deliver --ipa "App.ipa" --submit_for_review

For macOS apps, the process is equally streamlined using pkg files:

fastlane deliver --pkg "MacApp.pkg"

When integrated with fastlane, manual specification of the ipa/pkg path often becomes unnecessary, further enhancing the fast lane transporter experience.

Downloading Existing App Store Assets:

Need to retrieve your current screenshots or metadata from App Store Connect? Deliver provides dedicated commands:

fastlane deliver download_screenshots

fastlane deliver download_metadata

Exploring Advanced Options:

To discover the full spectrum of Deliver’s capabilities and options, run:

fastlane action deliver

Integrating Deliver into Your Fastfile:

For seamless automation within your fastlane setup, incorporate Deliver directly into your Fastfile:

deliver

For customized deployments with specific parameters, tailor your Fastfile configuration:

deliver(submit_for_review: true, force: true, metadata_path: "./metadata")

Example of the screenshots folder organization required by Deliver, with language-specific subfolders.

Deep Dive into Deliver Options: Customizing Your Fast Lane Transporter

Deliver offers a comprehensive suite of options, allowing you to fine-tune your app submission process to your precise needs. These options can be conveniently configured within your Deliverfile or directly within your Fastfile when using fastlane, providing flexibility and control over your fast lane transporter.

Key Configuration Parameters:

app_identifier: Specifies your app’s bundle identifier.
username: Your Apple ID email address for App Store Connect access.
ipa: Path to your signed ipa file for upload (automatically detected within fastlane).
pkg: Path to your signed pkg file for macOS app uploads.
app_version: Manually specify the app version if needed.
skip_app_version_update: Control whether Deliver updates the “Prepare for Submission” app version.
submit_for_review: Automatically submit your app for review post-upload.
screenshots_path: Define the path to your screenshots folder, structured by language.
metadata_path: Specify the path to your metadata folder.
force: Bypass HTML report generation for faster uploads.
price_tier: Set the app’s price tier programmatically.
trade_representative_contact_information: Configure contact details for the Korean App Store.
app_review_information: Provide contact information and demo credentials for the app review team.
app_review_attachment_file: Attach supplementary files for the review team.
submission_information: Customize submission settings like encryption usage and third-party content declarations.
automatic_release: Control automatic app release upon approval.
phased_release: Enable or disable phased releases.
reset_ratings: Reset app ratings upon release.
app_rating_config_path: Specify a JSON configuration file for app age ratings.

Metadata Customization:

Deliver allows for extensive metadata management, supporting both localized and non-localized values.

Localized Metadata (Language-Specific):

name: App title.
subtitle: App subtitle.
description: App description.
release_notes: What’s New/Changelog.
support_url, marketing_url, privacy_url: App Store URLs.
keywords: Comma-separated keywords for app discovery.
promotional_text: Promotional text displayed on the App Store.
app_icon: Path to a new app icon (1024x1024px).
apple_watch_app_icon: Path to a new Apple Watch app icon (1024x1024px).

Non-Localized Metadata (Global Settings):

copyright: Copyright information.
primary_category, secondary_category: App Store categories.
primary_first_sub_category, primary_second_sub_category: Subcategories for finer classification.
secondary_first_sub_category, secondary_second_sub_category: Secondary subcategories.

Submitting Existing Builds:

Deliver extends its fast lane transporter capabilities to submitting builds already uploaded to App Store Connect.

fastlane deliver submit_build --build_number 830

Fastfile Integration for Build Submission:

lane :submit_review do
  deliver(
    build_number: '830',
    submit_for_review: true,
    automatic_release: true,
    force: true,
    skip_metadata: true,
    skip_screenshots: true,
    skip_binary_upload: true
  )
end

Omitting build_number will instruct Deliver to automatically select the latest build for submission.

Compliance and Privacy Settings:

Utilize the submission_information parameter to manage compliance settings and IDFA declarations, ensuring adherence to App Store guidelines and reinforcing Deliver’s role as a comprehensive fast lane transporter.

Note: Deliver does not directly handle App Privacy Details updates, but this can be managed using the upload_app_privacy_details_to_app_store action within fastlane.

Credentials and Security: Trust in Your Fast Lane Transporter

Deliver, as part of fastlane, prioritizes secure credential management. Your App Store Connect password can be securely stored in the macOS Keychain or provided via environment variables, as detailed in the credentials_manager documentation.

Before any uploads, Deliver generates a local HTML summary, allowing you to verify all data before transmission, adding a layer of transparency and control to your fast lane transporter experience.

Under the Hood:

Deliver leverages Apple’s iTMSTransporter command-line tool for binary uploads, ensuring compatibility and reliability. Metadata and related actions are powered by spaceship, fastlane‘s robust library for interacting with the App Store Connect API.

Tips and Best Practices for Maximizing Your Fast Lane Transporter

Language Codes: Utilize the correct language codes for localization (e.g., en-US, de-DE). A comprehensive list is available in the original documentation.

Metadata Folder Structure: Organize your metadata using the prescribed folder structure. Refer to the documentation for details on localized and non-localized metadata file placement.

Default Language Values: Leverage the default language code to define fallback values for metadata, streamlining localization efforts and optimizing your fast lane transporter workflow.

iPad Pro (12.9-inch) (3rd generation) Screenshots: Ensure screenshots for this specific iPad model are correctly named (iPad Pro (12.9-inch) (3rd generation), IPAD_PRO_3GEN_129, or ipadPro129 in the filename) for proper upload.

Screenshot Automation: Integrate Deliver with snapshot for fully automated screenshot generation and submission, creating a truly end-to-end fast lane transporter for app updates.

Jenkins Integration: Deliver seamlessly integrates with Jenkins for continuous integration workflows. Consult the fastlane README for detailed setup instructions.

Firewall and Proxy Considerations: If operating behind a firewall or proxy, configure iTMSTransporter appropriately using the provided instructions for command-line parameters or configuration file adjustments.

App Store Connect Limits: Be mindful of App Store Connect’s daily binary upload limit of 150.

Deliverfile Syntax: Set your Deliverfile syntax highlighting to Ruby for improved readability and editing.

Provider Short Name: For users managing multiple App Store Connect teams, the itc_provider option allows explicit specification of the provider short name, ensuring correct uploads to the intended team.

Conclusion: Deliver – Your Essential Fast Lane Transporter for App Store Success

Deliver, the fast lane transporter powered by fastlane, fundamentally transforms the App Store submission process. By automating tedious tasks, streamlining workflows, and integrating seamlessly into CI/CD pipelines, Deliver empowers app developers to focus on innovation and app quality, rather than getting bogged down in deployment complexities. Embrace Deliver and experience the speed, efficiency, and reliability of a true fast lane transporter for your app releases.

This document is based on the original documentation for the deliver action in fastlane, optimized for SEO with a focus on “fast lane transporter”. All information is accurate and reflects the functionality of the tool as described in the source material.