Understanding app and in-app product submission
May 03, 2013
Applies to: Windows Phone 8 only
 Note: |
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You can only add in-app products to apps targeting Windows Phone 8 or later. |
When you submit a new app, in-app product, or an update to an existing app or in-app product on Windows Phone Dev Center, you can follow its progress through the different states of certification. Here’s some info to help you understand how this process works and what you’ll see in Dev Center as it takes place.
Here’s what happens when you submit an app, in-app product, or update:
We’ll verify that it meets the certification requirements specified in App certification requirements for Windows Phone. All apps and in-app products must comply with these policies and requirements before they can be published in the Windows Phone Store.
Your submission passes certification and is either published to Store if submitted using the Automatically, as soon as it’s certified option or put into Ready to be published state if submitted using the Manually publish option, or it fails certification and must be edited and resubmitted.
You can see the progress of your app or in-app product submission in the Messages section of the Dashboard. You can also see the status in Lifecycle and My apps. Here are the different states used to keep you informed about your submission.
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Some of these states don’t apply to in-app products, but you may still see them briefly in Dev Center when you submit an in-app product. That’s because each submission goes through every state, even if the inapplicable state is quickly skipped. |
Submission status | Description | |
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1. | Not completed | You have started a submission but haven’t submitted it yet. |
2. | Processing submission | We have started processing your submission. |
3. | XAP processing failed | One or more XAP files in the submission have failed static validation. You need to fix the errors and upload a new XAP. |
4. | In signing stage | XAP files in the submission are being signed so that they are trusted on Windows Phone. |
5. | Signing passed or | XAP files in the submission have been successfully signed. |
Signing failed or | One or more XAP files in the submission failed signing. | |
Malware detected | One or more XAPs in the submission failed signing since malware was detected. | |
6. | Processing certification | Your submission has been submitted for certification. Please be patient as this stage is the longest to complete. |
7. | Certification passed or | Your submission has successfully passed through certification. |
Certification failed | Your submission has failed certification. You can view the certification failure details by visiting Dev Center. | |
8. | Ready to be published | Your submission has passed certification and is ready to be published to users. If you are publishing manually, on your app’s or in-app product’s Lifecycle view, click Publish. |
9. | Published | The submission has been applied and your app or in-app product has been created or updated accordingly. It may take up to 24 hours for the app or in-app product (new or update) to show up in the Store. |
10. | Submission canceled | Your submission has been canceled. You are free to edit and resubmit. |
After a submission has been published, you can submit an update to the app or in-app product. Resubmitting ensures that the updated functionality changes meet the content policy guidelines and work as designed.
Note that there are no longer separate actions called Edit Pricing or Edit Catalog Details. All edits are now done through actions called Update app or Update in-app product. When the update is submitted, the system identifies the kind of change that was made to the app or in-app product. If only the price was changed, the submission should go through much more quickly since it doesn’t need to go through some of the stages explained above. If we detect that one or more certification-triggering updates were made, the submission will need to be recertified and will take longer. The entire submission moves forward as one unit and will be published together. For example, if you updated a XAP and changed the price tier, then both of these will be made live at the same time.
Any of the following updates will trigger certification:
App
Category changes
Addition of game rating certificate
Offers
Addition of countries or regions with stricter content rules
XAPs
Addition of new XAPs or update of existing XAPs
Description changes
Tile changes
Screenshot changes
If your app or in-app product needs to be certified, it will take us up to 5 to 7 business days to make sure it meets our certification requirements. If not, the changes you’ve made will be available to publish or made live within 24 hours. We’ll send you an email when your app is ready or if we have more questions about your submission. If you need further help, contact us through Dev Center support.
