Introduction & Background

Amego offers branded apps for companies to publish under their own app store accounts. Your branded icon is on the user's device and you have total control over the app's appearance and behavior: it's a representation of your brand on the attendee's device. The app can also be used year-round to support your whole event portfolio, adding efficiency for how your event team brings events online.

Apple and Google app stores require that apps like Amego are not published by Amego, but by the company they're representing: you. In fact, if anyone but you tried to publish your app it would be flagged for "impersonation." This is a protection for you and your brand — you would not want random apps being created that seem to imply they are yours.

For that reason, Amego cannot publish your event apps in the Amego store. Each Amego customer needs to provide a way to help Amego publish your app on your organization or company app store. We provide three methods in this document, in order of ease and convenience. Please note, personal app store accounts cannot be used.

Please review these options, and once we've heard from you, we will work with your team to get the apps set up immediately. Once initially set up, subsequent steps are greatly reduced.

Don't have any app store presence yet? See Appendix A at the end of this article for more information on establishing your organization or company app store presence.

Understanding Amego's Role

Amego will be the app administrator in both app stores. You grant access to our user account (the email address your Amego account team provides) using the instructions below, one time. With these instructions and permissions, Amego will be able to administer your published app moving forward.

Amego manages your app store listing, screenshots, and distributes new releases on your behalf. In some cases, Amego may need your input for branding decisions, marketing copy, etc., and Amego will be responsible for communicating with any app store personnel. Amego does not respond to app store reviews on your behalf.

How We Publish Apps

Amego sets up your initial app store presence with a combination of manual and automatic activities. Items that require app store releases include:

  • New Amego functionality, which is rolled out on a regular basis
  • Changes to your app icon or app icon label
  • Changes to fonts inside your app
  • Some changes to your app store listing

Almost every other element of your app is dynamically updated through the Amego CMS of your app. After your app's initial release, every submission is automated. Our typical screenshots included are:

  • Home
  • Agenda
  • Library
  • Session Detail

Changes to screenshots require new app builds.

Restricting Our Access

Once your apps are initially set up, you can edit our user record and remove any access to apps other than the Amego app, where we will need to remain an app manager indefinitely.

If your organization prohibits third parties from accessing your app stores, the process becomes much more complicated. Please refer to Appendix B — manual app setup.

Distributing Your App Store Links

Once your apps are live, you can view their status and get links at app.amego.com/app-status.

If You Have Existing Apps

Replacing an existing app is the easiest path. Your users will be updated with Amego's app and you will maintain any continuity from prior app builds. To transfer the app, go into Google and remove the old app admins, then add the Amego app admin email as the new app admin. Then do the same in Apple, adding the Amego app manager email as the new app manager.

Finally, check the end of this article to generate and send us a new .p8 key for sending push notifications.

New Apps: Steps to Create App Store Access

Each app store follows a different process for setting up your company's app store presence. There are three steps:

  1. Set up Apple access
  2. Set up Google access
  3. Set up push keys

Apple iTunes Store (appstoreconnect.apple.com)

With Apple, you grant us access and we create the app for you.

  1. Sign in to App Store Connect and click on Users and Access.
  2. Click on the plus sign to add a new user.
  3. Fill in the new user section with our info: First Name: Amego, Last Name: Developer, Email: the Amego app admin email provided by your account team. Then click "App Manager." Under Additional Resources, check "Access to Reports," "Access to Certificates, Identities & Profiles," "Access to Cloud Managed Distribution Certificate," and "Create Apps."

Apple setup is completed.

Google Play Store (play.google.com/console)

With Google, you create your app first, then give us access to only that specific app.

  1. Go to Google Play Console and create an app. Click on All apps, then click Create app.
  2. Edit app details. Complete the form, using the app name preferred by your events marketing team.
  3. Go to Users and Permissions to invite our user. Go back to All apps on the left, click Users and permissions, then Invite new users.
  4. Invite our email address. At the top of the form, enter the Amego app admin email and leave the box unchecked. In App permissions, select the app you created in Step 1 by clicking Add app at the bottom.
  5. Make our user an admin for the Amego app. In Account permissions, check the Admin box, then click Invite user on the bottom-right of the screen.

Google setup is completed.

Keys for Push Notifications

Option 1: p8 Keys

.p8 keys are the newer option, don't expire, and can be used across multiple apps. We prefer to use these when possible.

  1. Go to the Apple developer authkeys page and create a new key.
  2. Select "Apple Push Notifications service (APNs)."
  3. Download the .p8 file.
  4. Send the .p8 file to Amego at support@amego.com or through the secure file transfer system of your choice.

Option 2: p12 Keys

.p12 keys are the older option, expire after one year, and can only be used by one app. This is a backup option if .p8 is somehow not available.

General reminder: if you're using a .p12 certificate instead of a .p8, keep in mind that .p12 certificates expire annually and can only be used by one app. They are an older option and should serve as a backup if .p8 is unavailable. To avoid disruptions, set calendar reminders to update the keys before they expire.

Appendix A: Creating Apple and Google Accounts

Apple: join the developer program for your organization, then return to the instructions above, log into App Store Connect, and proceed.

Google: create a developer account for your organization, review Google's developer checklist, then return to the instructions above, log into Google Play Console, and proceed.

Appendix B: Manual App Setup

Requirements

  • Amego account
  • Apple Developer account

Apple Account Setup

Create App Identifiers. Note: the AMEGO_APP_ID can be any text string you want to use and is usually a shortened version of your app or event name.

  1. Create a new App Group with name: group.com.amego.app{{AMEGO_APP_ID}}.onesignal
  2. Create a new app identifier with name: com.amego.app{{AMEGO_APP_ID}}. Select capabilities: App Groups (configure and select the newly created app group), Associated Domains, and Push Notifications.
  3. Create a new app identifier for OneSignal with name: com.amego.app{{AMEGO_APP_ID}}.OneSignalNotificationServiceExtension. Select capabilities: App Groups (select the newly created app group).

Create New App in App Store Connect

  1. Go to App Store Connect and click the plus button.
  2. Fill in the platform (iOS), bundle ID (com.amego.app{{AMEGO_APP_ID}}), and SKU (your Amego app ID or any value you want).

Create Apple Distribution Signing Certificate

  1. Create a new certificate and select "Apple Distribution" under the Software section.
  2. Upload a Signing Certificate Request.
  3. Download the .cer file.

Extract the .p12 key from the .cer file by opening it in Keychain Access, finding the newly imported Apple Distribution certificate, expanding it, exporting the key, and setting a password (save this password — you'll need it later).

Create Provision Profiles

  1. Create a provision profile for identifier com.amego.app{{AMEGO_APP_ID}}: select "App Store" under Distribution, select the identifier, select the signing certificate you created earlier, name the profile, and download the .mobileprovision file.
  2. Create a second provision profile for identifier com.amego.app{{AMEGO_APP_ID}}.OneSignalNotificationServiceExtension using the same process.

Important Note on Certificates and Provisioning Profiles

To ensure your app builds successfully and features like push notifications function properly, the Amego team may need to create new certificates and provisioning profiles, or remove outdated or conflicting certificates. Please make sure the access you grant allows us to manage these components within your Apple Developer account. Limited or incorrect permissions can delay the setup process. If you're unsure what level of access is required, contact your Customer Success Manager or refer to Apple's documentation on roles and permissions.