Question about the feasibility of an app

Hello!

I'm currently working on the iOS app for an armory management system. The function of this system is basically to manage the armory of a police station. All weapons in the armory are tagged with RFID tags and with the help of a scanner, the system keeps track of weapons taken in and out of the armory. The app also can be used to take inventory.

This app cannot be used by the general public. It has an authentication flow and the only users will be law enforcement officers.

Due to the nature of this app, it will have iconography and mentions of guns/weapons within the app.

My question is, will that affect the app from getting accepted into the App Store? I've noticed there are apps like iGun Pro are available in the App Store but they're under Gaming.

Can a normal app such as this be available in the App Store or will we have to go with an enterprise account and distribute the app outside of the App Store?

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isuru_cenango
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Hi, If I can ask, what is the benefit of getting this app on the app store versus an inhouse distribution? From the sounds of it, this would benefit more from an Ad Hoc or Enterprise distribution, especially since you mentioned it "Cannot be used by the general public". Let me know if I am missing something on why you feel you need it distributed via the app store, and I can try to help out some more.

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wfreeman
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  • Hi, thanks for the response. This first version of the app is like an MVP. The client is going to run it at a single police station for a while. They're hoping to get this out quickly and they already have a individual Apple Developer account. So they're hoping to see if it can be done with minimal effort and cost for now.

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    isuru_cenango

  • With all the information given, I would suggest using an AD HOC or Enterprise distribution instead of the app store. App store will require more time for the validation process, and it sounds like you won't benefit from the pros of using the app store. Generally speaking, you should expect to utilize app store distribution if you expect to launch to the public at large, whereas here you seem to be targeting specific groups with your app, and specifically so for this first MVP launch. With the added fact this is an MVP, utilizing another distribution method (whether that be something akin to appcenter.ms or loading APK's manually to their phones) would be much faster. This is of course just an opinion from me, and more factors may change your decision. I know this only partially answers your initial question, but hopefully this gets you thinking about the way to distribute your app effectively.

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    wfreeman
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