Transferring ownership of an iPhone app on the app store

Question

My team and I have an app which we\'re going to be submitting to the store pretty soon, but we know that we\'ll be selling the app to another company in the near future. Doe

Answer 1

Starting June 11, 2013 this has officially become possible. Here's the official note:

Dear developer,

Apps can now be transferred from one developer to another within iTunes Connect, for example after an acquisition or when a distribution deal expires. Transferring the ownership of an app does not affect the app’s availability on the App Store. All ratings and reviews will be transferred and your customers will continue to have access to all available app updates.

To transfer an app, go to the app’s App Summary page in the Manage Your Applications module on iTunes Connect and click Transfer App. Make sure that:

• Your account is active

• You have accepted the most current version of your contracts

• Your app has at least one approved version

• Your app is in the Ready for Sale, Invalid Binary, Rejected, Developer Rejected, or Developer Removed from Sale state

• Any associated In-App Purchases are in the Ready to Submit, Ready for Sale, Rejected, Developer Removed from Sale, or Approved state

• You know the Apple ID of the recipient’s Team Agent and their Team ID.

For more information on app transfer, see the video tutorial on iTunes Connect. To find answers to common questions about app transfer, see the FAQ on iTunes Connect.

Regards, The App Store team

Answer 2

Since now, this is now possible using iTunesConnect.

Apps can now be transferred from one developer to another within iTunes Connect, for example after an acquisition or when a distribution deal expires. Transferring the ownership of an app does not affect the app’s availability on the App Store. All ratings and reviews will be transferred and your customers will continue to have access to all available app updates. To transfer an app, go to the app’s App Summary page in the Manage Your Applications module on iTunes Connect and click Transfer App. Make sure that:

• Your account is active
• You have accepted the most current version of your contracts
• Your app has at least one approved version
• Your app is in the Ready for Sale, Invalid Binary, Rejected, Developer Rejected, or Developer Removed from Sale state Any
  associated
• In-App Purchases are in the Ready to Submit, Ready for Sale, Rejected, Developer Removed from Sale, or Approved state
• You know the Apple ID of the recipient’s Team Agent and their Team ID.

Answer 3

The are additional considerations:

If you just can switch ownership of the Application behind the scenes, thus changing the contract, but not the application itself, you might be fine.

But if you're just going to transfer your source code, the future owner of the app will have to sign it with his own certificate, which will basically render the app as a "new" one.

Users will lose their settings (if your app did some configuration persistence) and they'll lose the app history in the appstore (ranking, etc.).

Answer 4

UPDATE: THIS ANSWER IS OUT OF DATE. IT APPEARS TO HAVE BEEN CORRECT AT THE TIME IT WAS WRITTEN. THERE IS NO NEED TO DOWNVOTE IT, BUT DON'T BELIEVE IT EITHER!

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Official answer is No. From the iTunes Connect FAQ:

I sold my app to another developer and can no longer distribute on the App Store. Can I transfer the app to the new developer's iTunes Connect account?

At this time, apps cannot be transferred to another developer account. If you would like the app to be sold through another developer account, you will need to remove the app from sale in the current iTunes Connect account and upload the app under the new iTunes Connect account.

Uploading the app to a new iTunes Connect account will disable current customers from receiving automatic and free updates of your application. All customer reviews, rating and ranking information will also be reset.

Additional resources that confirm this, from FutureTap developer Ortwin Gentz, back when he purchased WhereTo? from Sophiestication Software:

transferring an iphone app last episode

carved in stone transferring an iphone app

Answer 5

As ownership transfer is currently not-supported and an "exception process", it makes sense not to count on it as your mode of operation.

The big problem you're facing is: the app is tied to a developer account and you want to keep YOUR developer account after you transfer the app.

Hence, why not set up a NEW developer account, the sole purpose of which is to be the holder of this one app and, when you sell the app, you can just transfer the developer-account credentials to the new owner.

At that point, they can update the name, address, company name, bank info, etc.

Of course, your transfer contract will have some verbiage explaining how, in the interim, any moneys you get from Apple will be fwded to the new owner (put a time limit -- like 90 days -- on this so they don't take forever to update the info.)

I've not tried this, but it seems like a viable solution. Again, the problem is that the app is tied to developer account and you don't want to transfer yours. Hence, this Just Makes Sense™.

Answer 6

Something helpful:

Apple site documentation with new itunesconnect UI released in Sep,5,2014

Transfer code using github

Note: Use agent role account, and maybe you should click "Agreements, Tax, and Banking" to request Contracts first.