iOS Devs Now Allowed to Publish Their Own Titles to the App Store

A change signaled by Apple in the iTunes Connect suite of developer tools reveals that programmers are now able to submit their application at precisely the time they choose to, once the software has been approved by the App Store Review team.

iTunes Connect is a suite of web-based tools created for developers to submit and manage their apps for sale through the App Store.

Devs can use the tool to check the status of their contracts, view sales and finance reports, view app crash logs, request promo codes as well as add or manage app metadata, In App Purchases and iAds.

An update published to the iOS Dev Center News and Announcements section titled “Controlling the Release of Updates for Your Apps” talks of a recently added feature in  iTunes Connect called Version Release Control.

“Version Release Control is a recently added feature in iTunes Connect that is presented when you submit updates for your apps currently on the App Store,” Apple explains.

“This feature gives you the option to either automatically release an update once it's approved by the App Review Team, or release it yourself through the Manage Your Applications module,” the Mac maker notes.

Particularly, those who select to release a version themselves will see it appear as Pending Developer Release, “once it has been approved and will remain in this state until you release it to the App Store,” the Cupertino giant adds.

Developers even receive an email reminder to release an app or a version of an app if said title has remained in pending-state for over a month.

As usual, the iTunes Connect Developer Guide holds more information.

The iTunes Connect Developer Guide (PDF) contains everything developers need to get started with iTunes Connect.

The guide outlines the app setup and delivery process while providing a step-by-step guide on how to use iTunes Connect to manage apps on the iTunes App Store.

Those interested in employing this feature must read the through the Version Release Control section.