App Store Linking

Follow this guide to get your App Store account key for use with Apptonomy.

• You need the Owner or Manager role in your Apptonomy organization. See Members & roles.

1. Go to: App Store Connect API

Don't see the App Store Connect API tab?

2. Make sure the Team Keys tab is selected.
3. Click Generate API Key or the Add (+) button.
4. Enter a name for the key. The name is for your reference only and isn’t part of the key itself.
5. Under Access, choose the role for the key. The simplest choice is Admin, which lets Apptonomy do everything for your app(s): publish your listing, pull revenue and proceeds, and pull your full performance analytics. If you’d rather grant narrower access, you can select specific roles instead — but check the table below first, because some features (App Analytics in particular) only work with an Admin key.

6. Click Generate
7. The new key appears in the Active keys list.
8. Download the .p8 key file.

9. Copy the Key ID and Issuer ID for use with Apptonomy. (Issuer ID is at the top of the page)

10. Find your Vendor Number. Apptonomy needs this to ingest revenue and developer-proceeds data from Apple’s Sales & Trends API.

    1. Go to Payments and Financial Reports in App Store Connect.
    2. Your Vendor Number appears near the top of the page — a 6-10 digit numeric value.
    3. Copy it and paste it into the Vendor Number field when linking your App Store account in Apptonomy.

That’s it! Now return to Apptonomy and click the Connect App Store button. You’ll enter four things:

• App ID — your app’s numeric App Store ID. Apptonomy pre-fills this from the listing you selected when you created the project, so you usually don’t need to touch it.
• Key ID — the 10-character ID of the key you just generated.
• Issuer ID — the 36-character issuer ID from the top of the API Keys page.
• Vendor Number (optional) — needed only for revenue and proceeds data (see above).

Then upload the .p8 file and Apptonomy runs its validation checks.

Reply to reviews

The User Reviews page lists your app’s written reviews from both stores with the reply that is live on each. On the App Store you can post a reply, edit it and delete it from Apptonomy. Replies go out through the App Store Connect key you linked here, so the key’s role decides whether replying works.

• The key needs the Admin role. Apple lets only an Account Holder, Admin or Customer Support user respond to reviews, and a team API key can carry Admin but not Customer Support. An App Manager key reads your reviews but Apple refuses its replies.
• Apple has no way to check this in advance. Apptonomy finds out on the first reply. If Apple refuses it, the User Reviews page and your project show a notice naming the fix, and reading reviews keeps working. The notice clears after the next reply Apple accepts.
• Replies are pending until Apple publishes them, which can take up to 24 hours. The page marks a reply as pending until then, and marks a reply you changed as edited.
• Replies you make in App Store Connect show up too. Apptonomy reads every reply on your reviews, wherever it was written.
• Generate reply writes a draft in the review’s language when you ask for one. Nothing is posted until you press Post reply.
• What visitors see first. Above the reviews, the page shows the reviews the App Store puts first on your listing in each storefront, in Apple’s own Most Helpful order, read from the store with each refresh of the page and each night. A 1- or 2-star review in the first three places is flagged, and you can reply to it right there. After you reply, the page shows if the review changes place or drops out of the reviews shown. Apple does not let any developer choose, pin or reorder these reviews: replying in the slot, asking for ratings with the App Store’s own in-app review prompt, and using Report a Concern in App Store Connect on a review that breaks Apple’s rules are what an app team can do.
• Replying, editing, deleting and generating drafts need a Pro plan or above. Every plan can read reviews.

Troubleshooting

The API key tab isn’t visible, or key generation is blocked

Creating an App Store Connect API key requires an account with the Admin role. If you don’t see the Integrations → App Store Connect API area, ask an Admin on your Apple team to generate the key (with the Admin role) and share the Key ID, Issuer ID, and .p8 file with you.

Apptonomy reports a permission error after linking

This almost always means the key doesn’t have the access it needs. Regenerate the key with the Admin role (the simplest fix — see the role table above for the exact roles each feature needs), then re-enter the new Key ID, Issuer ID, and .p8 file. You cannot change the roles on an existing key — you must generate a new one.

Apple refuses a reply to a review

The key you linked doesn’t have the Admin role, so Apple refuses replies even though reviews still load. Generate a new team key with the Admin role and link it in the project’s Store Link settings. You cannot change the role of an existing key. See Reply to reviews.

Revenue and proceeds data is missing

The Vendor Number is optional for linking but required for revenue data. If your dashboards show listing and ranking data but no revenue, add your Vendor Number: open the project’s Store Link settings and edit the App Store credential. See finding your Vendor Number above.

Sales show up, but performance analytics stay empty

Your key can read Sales & Trends (units and proceeds) but not App Analytics. Apple only lets an Admin-role key set up App Analytics reporting, so a key with just App Manager or Sales pulls your revenue while leaving impressions, product page views, conversion, and downloads-by-source empty. Regenerate the key with the Admin role and re-link to fill in the analytics dashboards. Note that a brand-new connection also takes about a day before Apple’s first analytics data lands.

Related

• Google Play Linking
• Credential Security
• Apple’s API key documentation