Proving an app is yours

Which way to choose

Verify a website if you run one: the app’s own site, or your portfolio. We check it automatically, and the Ownership step is done as soon as we find your token.

No website? Invite us in App Store Connect, either to your team or as a TestFlight tester. We can’t see Apple’s email from your dashboard, so you tick a box to confirm you sent it, and that completes the step.

• Add us to your team works for any developer account, as long as you are its Account Holder or an Admin. If you’re not sure, choose this one.
• Add us as a TestFlight tester suits you only if you already run external testing, because Apple sends the invitation only once a group has a build approved for testers.

Either one is enough: both make Apple email us an invitation from your team, and that email is the proof.

Either way, a person checks the proof before your app is approved. Proof alone never approves an app.

Verify a website

1. Open your app in the dashboard and go to the Ownership step. For an editor listing, open its claim page instead.
2. Choose Verify a website, enter the address of a site you run, and press Use this website. We show you a token, which looks like 7k3m-9qxa-p8tn-4hvd.
3. Add the token to that site in any one of the three ways below.
4. Press Check now, or leave it there: we check every hour for a week. Once we find it, the step says Your website is verified.

• A meta tag in your home page’s <head>: <meta name="launchonwatch-verification" content="your-token">
• A DNS TXT record on your domain: launchonwatch-verification=your-token
• A text file at https://yoursite.com/.well-known/launchonwatch-verification.txt that contains only the token.

An App Store page or a social profile can’t hold a token, so they aren’t accepted. A site on a shared host, such as you.github.io, proves only that address.

Add us to your App Store Connect team

Only the Account Holder or an Admin of your developer account can invite people. If that isn’t you, ask whoever is.

1. Sign in at appstoreconnect.apple.com and open Users and Access.
2. Press + to add a person.
3. First name: LaunchOnWatch. Leave Last name empty; if App Store Connect won’t accept that, type Team. Email: the address shown on your Ownership step.
4. Under Roles, tick only Customer Support.
5. Under Apps, choose only this app rather than all of them.
6. Press Invite. The person now appears in Users and Access as invited.
7. Back on the Ownership step, choose Invite us in App Store Connect, then Add us to your team. Tick the box confirming you sent it, and press Confirm the invitation.

Apple emails us an invitation that names your team. We never accept it, so we never get access to anything. Once your app is approved, remove us from Users and Access.

Add us as a TestFlight tester

Use this if you already test with external testers. TestFlight sends nothing until a group has a build that has passed Apple’s beta review.

1. In App Store Connect, open Apps, choose your app, and open the TestFlight tab.
2. In the sidebar, under External Testing, open a group that has an approved build.
3. Press + next to Testers and choose Add New Testers.
4. First name: LaunchOnWatch. Leave Last name empty. Email: the address shown on your Ownership step. Press Add.
5. Back on the Ownership step, choose Invite us in App Store Connect, then Add us as a TestFlight tester. Tick the box and press Confirm the invitation.

TestFlight emails us an invitation that names the app and your team. We never install the build. Remove us from the group once your app is approved.

What happens next

When your website is verified, or you have confirmed the invitation, the Ownership step is complete and you can submit.

A person checks your proof along with the rest of the submission. A website should be the app’s own or plainly yours. An invitation should come from the team that sells the app on the App Store.

If the reviewer needs more, they ask on your dashboard and by email, and say which way to use.

If something goes wrong

• The check can’t find the token: make sure the page is public and not behind a sign-in, the file holds only the token, and a new DNS record has had time to spread, which can take a few hours.
• You can’t see Users and Access: only the Account Holder and Admins can. Ask whoever owns your developer account.
• TestFlight has no Add New Testers option: the group needs an approved build first. Without one, use the team invitation.
• Still stuck? Use the contact form or write to our contact form.