Apple Developer Program enrollment guide (2026)

What the Apple Developer Program gives you

Membership is what unlocks distribution and the tools around it:

• The ability to submit apps to the App Store and to distribute through TestFlight.
• Access to App Store Connect, where you manage app records, metadata, builds, and submissions.
• Signing identities: the certificates and provisioning profiles used to sign apps for distribution.
• Advanced capabilities and entitlements, such as push notifications, that require a registered App ID.
• Access to beta tools, app analytics, and the App Store Connect API.

You can write and run code in the simulator without paying, but installing on physical devices for distribution and submitting to the store both require the paid membership.

Individual vs organization enrollment

The choice is mostly about whose identity appears as the seller:

• Individual. You enroll under your own name, and that name shows as the seller on the App Store. It is the fastest route because Apple only verifies you as a person. There is no support for adding team members with separate roles.
• Organization. You enroll under a company, and the company name shows as the seller. It supports a team with different roles and permissions, which matters for a real business. Apple requires a legal entity and a D-U-N-S number, a free business identifier, and verifies both, which takes longer.

If you are a solo developer testing an idea, individual enrollment is usually enough, and you can move to an organization later, though transferring a seller identity is not trivial. If the app should be published under a company, enroll the organization from the start.

Steps to enroll

The flow is consistent for most applicants:

1. Create or sign in with an Apple ID, and turn on two-factor authentication, which Apple requires.
2. Go to the Apple Developer enrollment page and start enrollment under that Apple ID.
3. Choose individual or organization. For an organization, have your legal entity name, address, and D-U-N-S number ready; request a D-U-N-S number first if you do not have one.
4. Complete identity verification. Apple may ask for identification or, for organizations, confirmation of your authority to bind the company.
5. Pay the annual membership fee, 99 US dollars, to activate the account.
6. Wait for approval. Individuals often clear quickly; organizations take longer because of entity verification.

After approval you will have access to App Store Connect, where you set up the app record, which is covered in the linked App Store Connect setup guide.

After you enroll: connecting to AppFlight

AppFlight builds your app as native Swift, signs it for distribution, and submits it, but it acts under your developer account, so the membership has to exist first. Once you are enrolled, AppFlight uses your account and an App Store Connect API key to sign builds, upload to TestFlight, create the app record, set metadata, and submit for review. You stay the legal owner of the account and the apps, and you remain responsible for accurate metadata and a real privacy policy. Apple reviews every app, so a submission is not the same as an approval, but with the account in place the build and submission pipeline runs without you opening Xcode.