Publishing a Friend’s App Through a Company Account

The distinction between the publisher, developer credit and website domain

In principle, your company can distribute an app developed by a friend, provided the company has the necessary authorisation to distribute it and its Apple Developer Program membership remains active. Apple requires the party submitting an app to own, or have permission to use, the relevant intellectual property and any other necessary rights. Simply making an account available does not meet that requirement.[1]

The details you mentioned can be considered separately.

The seller shown on the App Store will be your company’s legal name. You cannot replace it with your friend’s name or his company’s name for an individual app.[5]

The developer name shown on the App Store defaults to the account holder’s name. An organisation account can use its own registered trade name. This name is set when the first app is added; it cannot be changed to your friend’s name on an app-by-app basis.[2]

The app’s website, support URL and privacy policy URL can generally use a domain belonging to your friend or his company. Those pages must be genuine, functional and relevant to the app, and must accurately describe contact details, operations and data handling.[3][4]

Copyright information and author credits within the app can identify the actual rights holder or author, including your friend personally or his company. This does not change the publisher registered on the App Store.[3]

For the website supplied when enrolling a company in the Apple Developer Program, Apple requires the domain to be associated with the organisation being enrolled. This is a separate requirement from the website for an individual app.[5]

Apps in regulated fields such as finance and healthcare, as well as apps involving sensitive user information, are subject to additional requirements about the entity that submits them. General authorisation alone is not enough to establish that your company can submit such an app on someone else’s behalf.[6]

If your friend wants his own name to appear directly on the App Store, enrolling as an individual is usually the more straightforward long-term option. He does not need to form a company first. If he wants his company’s name displayed, he should enrol as an organisation. You can help him with the submission process.[5]

Official Apple references

[1] App Review Guidelines: Intellectual Property
https://developer.apple.com/app-store/review/guidelines/#intellectual-property

[2] Developer name rules
https://developer.apple.com/help/app-store-connect/create-an-app-record/set-your-developer-name/

[3] App information fields
https://developer.apple.com/help/app-store-connect/reference/app-information/platform-version-information/

[4] Privacy policy requirements
https://developer.apple.com/help/app-store-connect/manage-app-information/manage-app-privacy

[5] Developer Program enrolment requirements
https://developer.apple.com/programs/enroll/

[6] Requirements concerning the submitting entity during app review
https://developer.apple.com/app-store/review/

Prepared on 23 October 2026