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AppleTV (tvOS)

How to take the Eluvio Media Wallet tvOS app from a fresh fork to a live listing on the Apple TV App Store, under your organization's Apple Developer account.

The work splits into three fairly independent tracks, and most people only need one of them. Use the table below to find yours rather than reading start to finish.

Who does what

StepWhat happensUsually done by
1. Enroll your organizationCreate the Apple Developer "team" that owns the appSomeone who can sign contracts
2. Add your teamInvite colleagues, and optionally Eluvio, with the right rolesAccount Holder or Admin
3. Register the appReserve the bundle identifier and create the App Store listing recordAdmin, with engineering input
4. Configure Xcode signingPoint the project at your team instead of Eluvio'sEngineer
5. Archive and uploadBuild a release archive and send it to App Store ConnectEngineer
6. Test with TestFlightVerify the real build on real hardware before reviewEngineer and QA
7. Submit to the App StoreScreenshots, description, privacy, then submit for reviewProduct or marketing
Troubleshooting and referenceSigning and upload errors, plus the identifiers to keep track ofEngineer

Steps 1–3 involve no code and no Mac. Steps 4–6 are entirely Xcode work. Step 7 is back in the browser. If the build process is somebody else's job, you can skip straight past it.

Common shortcuts

Most clients skip part of this. The two usual cases:

  • Your organization already has an Apple Developer account. One membership covers all your apps, so there is nothing to enroll. Start at adding your team, after checking the caveats at the top of step 1 — you still need your Team ID and signed agreements.
  • Eluvio is building the app for you. Skip steps 4 and 5 entirely and rejoin at TestFlight. You still have to grant Eluvio access, register the app in your own account, and submit it yourself — Apple does not let a Developer-role collaborator submit on your behalf.

Each page states its own skip condition at the top.

note

Customizing the app itself — property ID, app icons, top shelf art — is covered separately in Customize.md in the app repo. Do that work first, or in parallel; this guide assumes the app already builds and runs the way you want it to.

Timeline

The Apple-side steps have waiting periods that you cannot compress. Start enrollment early.

StepTypical wait
Get a D-U-N-S number (if you don't have one)Up to 5 business days
Apple verifies your organization enrollment1 day – 2 weeks
Build processing after upload15 minutes – a few hours
TestFlight external beta review1–2 days
App Review (first submission)1–3 days, occasionally longer

Budget two to four weeks end to end for a first submission, most of it waiting on Apple rather than on engineering.

What you need

For the account steps (1–3):

  • Authority to bind your company to a contract, or a colleague who has it
  • Your company's legal entity name and address, exactly as registered
  • A government-issued photo ID for whoever enrolls — enrollment includes an identity check
  • An iPhone, iPad, or Mac (Apple Silicon or T2) to run the Apple Developer app, which is where organization enrollment now happens
  • A payment method on the Apple Account for the $99/year membership, billed as an auto-renewing subscription

For the build steps (4–6):

  • Xcode 26 or later (Mac App Store or developer.apple.com/download)
  • A Mac running macOS 15.6 or later, which is what Xcode 26 requires
  • A physical Apple TV running tvOS 18.0+. Strongly recommended: the simulator cannot play DRM-protected content on tvOS 18 and below, so you cannot fully verify playback without real hardware.
  • Your Eluvio property ID (starts with iq__)

Costs

  • Apple Developer Program: $99 USD/year, per organization.
  • D-U-N-S number: free from Dun & Bradstreet. Ignore any third party offering to sell you one.