Appcenter: Additional options when deploying from App Center to App Store Connect

[dj-dev]

Describe the solution you'd like
When deploying an iOS app directly from App Center to App Store Connect, we would like options in App Center for:

1. Enabling/disabling Automatic submission to Apple for review
2. Switching between Version Release options "Manually release this version" and "Automatically release this version"

Currently when we deploy from App Center to App Store Connect, the release is automatically sent to Apple for review and the Version Release option is set to "Automatically release this version". This is not the desired behavior since we often upload the binary in advance to see if it passes the automated checks. And we often need to release the app to market at a specific time which is why we need the "Manually release this version" option.

Describe alternatives you've considered
All we can think of for now is developer rejecting the build, setting the version release option to "Manually release this version", then re-releasing when we are ready. This is not ideal since there is a high risk of Apple approving an app and it being automatically released to market before we are ready.

Additional context
We see that App Center uses fastlane for automating deployments to App Store Connect. Here is a relevant page of their API related to this request:
https://docs.fastlane.tools/actions/upload_to_app_store/
See the following parameters:
submit_for_review
automatic_release

Thanks

[Libranner]

+1

[kuyazee]

Another option to just upload the ipa file would be nice. This could be beneficial for internal Testflight usage.

[Oddj0b]

This is great feedback, thank you. I hope this will get enough attention so that we can start working on it.

[dj-dev]

Hi @Oddj0b, does it look likely that this solution will be implemented any time soon? We have an internal ticket open waiting for this functionality. Thanks

[lemessur]

I strongly support adding these flags and turning them off by default. The app store submission process is full of highly consequential steps that can't be undone. Most mobile releases include a backend deployment step that must be carefully coordinated with the release of the app.

I can't imagine very many developers would want to have their apps released whenever Apple finishes approving them, even if they don't have a backend component to worry about. This has marketing and business implications as well.

[Frans-L]

This feature is a deal-breaking for many teams, at least for us.
Unfortunately, it seems like this feature is not coming 🙁

[msftbot[bot]]

This issue has been automatically marked as stale because it has not had any activity for 60 days. It will be closed if no further activity occurs within 15 days of this comment.

[msftbot[bot]]

This issue will now be closed because it hasn't had any activity for 15 days after stale. Please feel free to open a new issue if you still have a question/issue or suggestion.