Apple Business Manager: Distributing your app

There are two options for distributing your app to users via Apple Business Manager (ABM).

Option 1: Use Mobile Device Management (MDM)

If your organization owns and controls employee device via an MDM, then you can link this to your ABM account.

For details of how to do this, consult your specific MDM provider's help documentation.

Once linked, you can then assign your app to users via the Custom Apps area inside ABM.

Option 2: Use Redemption Code Download Links

You can also distribute your app via a simple download link.  This is ideal if you don't have an MDM, or you need to grant app access to Apple users outside your direct control (e.g. clients, sub-contractors or employee-owned devices).

Apple regulates this mechanism via one-time-use redemption codes.  Each time the app is downloaded, the specific redemption code link used to download cannot be used again. 

Adding Redemption Codes

To add redemption codes to your ABM account, you need to follow Apple's purchase process for this.
Your custom app redemption codes are free, so your purchase will be a zero amount charge.

1. Log in to your Apple Business Manager.
2. Navigate to "Custom Apps".
3. Select your custom app.
4. Select "Redemption Codes" from the "License Type" drop-down menu.
5. Provide the number of redemption codes you want to buy.
   You can buy a maximum of 10,000 codes at a time and 25,000 per week. We recommend you to buy codes equal to twice your expected users at a time, in order to ensure that the codes do not run out quickly.
   
   
   
   
6. Click "Get" to purchase the codes.
   You will receive an email confirming the purchase at the email address linked to your Apple ID.
   

Downloading Redemption Codes

To access your redemption codes, you must first download them from your ABM account.

1. Head to the "Custom Apps" area of your ABM account.
2. Select the app for which you purchased the redemption codes.
3. Download the redemption codes.
4. Save the file locally to your device.

Using Redemption Codes

There are two ways you can use your redemption codes:

1. We upload a .csv file of redemption codes to the platform on your behalf.
   When users choose to download your app, we will automatically assign each new download its own redemption code link.
2. Manually send each user a separate redemption code link as needed.

1. Assigning Redemption Codes through the platform

You can send us your .csv file of redemption codes you received from Apple, and our platform will then automatically manage the allocation of redemption codes as required.

If the number of available codes falls below a predetermined amount (currently 500), we will send you a notification as a prompt to purchase additional redemption codes from Apple.

2. Manually Allocating Codes

Open the file from Apple to see the list of redemption code download links.

You can send each user a separate redemption code link as needed.