Enterprise App Publishing (In-House Distribution)

Use this request when you need to distribute an internal-use only app to Northwestern University employees. Enterprise apps are deployed privately through a Mobile Device Management (MDM) solution (e.g., Jamf) or a secure internal distribution system — they are never published on the public App Store.

Not what you need? See the Program Overview to choose the right service request.

 

When to Use This Request

  • Your app is intended exclusively for Northwestern employees — it is not available to the general public.
  • The app is a proprietary, in-house tool developed by or for Northwestern.
  • You plan to distribute via MDM (e.g., Jamf) or another secure internal distribution mechanism.
  • The App Store, Custom Apps via Apple Business Manager, Ad Hoc distribution, or TestFlight would not adequately meet your needs.
Apple’s restriction: The Apple Developer Enterprise Program is strictly for proprietary, internal-use apps distributed to your organization’s employees. Enterprise certificates and profiles must not be used to distribute apps to the general public, students (unless they are also employees), external contractors, or partner organizations. Misuse can result in Apple revoking the enterprise membership, which would disable all enterprise-distributed apps across the university.
If your app should be available to the general public (including students and external users), use the App Store Publishing request instead.

 

What You Will Receive

After your request is approved, Northwestern IT will provision and securely share:

  1. Enterprise Distribution Certificate — Used to sign your app for in-house distribution.
  2. Enterprise Provisioning Profile — Ties your app’s Bundle ID and the enterprise distribution certificate together.
  3. Push Notification Credentials (if requested):
    • p8 key (token-based) — A .p8 file along with the Key ID and Team ID, or
    • p12 certificate (certificate-based) — A .p12 file with the corresponding password.

See the Developer Guide — Certificates, Profiles, and Code Signing in Xcode for instructions on how to install and use these assets.

 

Important: Enterprise Certificate Expiry

Enterprise distribution certificates expire annually. When a certificate expires:

  • Users will no longer be able to open apps signed with the expired certificate.
  • You must re-sign the app with a renewed certificate and redistribute it.
  • Northwestern IT manages certificate renewals and will notify you in advance.
Reference: Expired or Revoked Certificates — Apple Developer — See “iOS Distribution Certificate (in-house, internal-use apps).”

 

Process Overview

Submit
Submit your service request with the required information.
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Review
Northwestern IT reviews the security and privacy questionnaire.
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Provisioning
Enterprise certificates, profiles, and credentials are generated and shared securely.
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Development
You integrate the signing assets and build your app. See the Developer Guide.
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Distribution
The signed app is deployed to employees via your MDM solution or secure internal system.
Step 1   Step 2   Step 3   Step 4   Step 5
Note: Enterprise apps do not go through Apple’s App Store Review process. However, the app must still comply with Northwestern’s internal security and privacy requirements, and the enterprise certificate must only be used for internal distribution.

 

Apple Documentation References