Genius! Apple’s App Store Is Getting ‘Unlisted’ Apps | Why? What Are They?

Every so often, Apple comes up with a seemingly new idea that makes so much sense that we wonder why it took them so long to think of it.

Such is the case with Unlisted app distribution, a new feature for the App Store that allows developers to publish apps that don’t show up in the usual manner.

More importantly, this solves a problem that many developers — including Apple itself — have been having for years.

What’s the Point of an Unlisted App?

• The goal here is to allow developers to publish apps that are intended only for “limited audiences,” rather than the general public.
• Users of Apple devices will be able to download these apps via a direct link, but they won’t be able to find them by browsing through the App Store pages, or even by specifically searching for them by name.
• In describing the new feature, Apple suggests that it’s useful for developers writing apps for “part-time employees, franchisees, partners, business affiliates, higher-education students, or conference attendees.”

For example, a large franchise like McDonald’s could publish an app intended for store owners and managers that wouldn’t be visible to the general public. Or, a convention could distribute an app to only those who have registered to attend, sending the link out in the confirmation email.

Until now, apps designed for such limited audiences had to either be published normally on the App Store or distributed through Apple’s Enterprise Developer program. While publishing on the App Store was the simplest, it also required developers to come up with secondary methods to ensure that only legitimate users could access the content in the app, such as requiring that they sign in first.

Further, while the Enterprise Developer program allowed for private distribution, it had its own complications and restrictions. For one thing, it was intended only for apps being distributed to employees of a company. Sadly, this program was abused by companies ranging from Google and Facebook to a thriving underground cabal of porn and gambling apps.

Apple’s Enterprise Developer program also prohibits use of company apps by part-time contract employees and “gig workers,” or even affiliated third-party entities. Only two exceptions are specifically carved out in this regard: vehicle manufacturers and their dealerships and service partners, and hotel holding companies and those properties operating under the same brand.

Apple’s Unlisted Apps

Needless to say, there’s a whole range of scenarios that the Enterprise Developer Program doesn’t cover, and Apple is clearly hoping that the introduction of unlisted apps will help developers feel more comfortable in creating non-public apps for these other limited audiences.

Ironically, even Apple has released a few apps over the years that would have benefitted from this program, which is another reason why we’re left scratching our heads as to why this capability hasn’t already been in place for years.

For instance, in 2015, a mysterious Indoor Survey app appeared on the App Store, clearly intended for a limited audience. While this seemingly couldn’t be found via a search at the time, it still appeared elsewhere on the App Store.

Indoor Survey was designed for use by owners of venues such as shopping malls to help map their space to enable indoor positioning. Although that technology doesn’t really seem to have gone anywhere in the years since, the app remains available on the App Store even today. More significantly, however, it’s useless to anybody who isn’t a venue operator who has also registered specifically with Apple to use it.

Then there was last year’s Siri Speech Study app, which was the quintessential example of what should be an unlisted app. This was targeted at an invite-only group of participants, and pointless for anybody else.

The Siri Speech Study app was hidden on the App Store from the time it arrived, however, although analytics companies like Sensor Tower were still somehow able to discover its existence. This was likely a precursor of this month’s announcement that unlisted app distribution will be open to all developers, but we’ll have to wait and see exactly how hidden these apps will truly be.

How Unlisted Apps Work

Naturally, Apple has some rules around unlisted app distribution, and first among these are that the apps don’t get any exemptions from the normal App Store Review Guidelines.

In other words, even when a developer is submitting an app for unlisted distribution, it’s still going to get reviewed by the App Store team in the same way as any other app, and it’s going to have to adhere to the same rules.

The App Store review team will also consider the scope of the app itself. Developers won’t be able to ask for an app to be unlisted just because they feel like it — the app has to be clearly designed for a limited audience in the first place.

Apple is also making it clear that this isn’t intended to allow developers to privately send out pre-release versions of an app. Not only does it clearly state that “unlisted apps must be ready for final distribution,” but there’s also not going to be a way for developers to turn an unlisted app into a public app. Once it’s unlisted, the only way to go public is to submit it for review as an entirely new app.