To ship iOS or macOS apps you need membership in the Apple Developer Program and access to App Store Connect. The Application Platform then uses an App Store Connect API key (see Fastlane: App Store Connect API) that you create in App Store Connect.
Apple Developer Program
- Go to developer.apple.com and sign in with your Apple ID.
- Choose Account / Enroll and complete enrollment in the Apple Developer Program (annual fee; see Apple for current pricing).
- After activation you can use Certificates, Identifiers & Profiles (Developer portal) and App Store Connect at appstoreconnect.apple.com.
App Store Connect
- Manage apps, metadata, builds, and users with roles (Admin, App Manager, Developer, and others).
- For CI/CD and Fastlane you typically use a named API key (
.p8file). It does not replace your Apple ID password; it enables machine-to-machine API access.
Teams and roles
- Team: Many organizations share one team. Find the Developer Team ID in the Developer portal under Membership or account settings.
- Least privilege: Create API keys with only the access your lanes need (for example App Manager for uploads and metadata, depending on your Fastfile).
Next step
Once the account is ready, configure credentials for Fastlane and the platform: App Store credentials for Fastlane.