Building a Branded iOS App

To build a branded iOS app, you need to supply your own artwork and use the ownBrander wizard in your account on customer.owncloud.com. The ownBrander wizard details the required image specifications.

If not already done, maintain the Common Section in ownBrander.

Then click on the iOS section. Here you will find the Required section to fill out, see below. You will also see two additional sections: Optional and Advanced. These are not mandatory for the processing of your branding experience.

Your first ownBrander task is to review the iOS page on ownBrander for your image requirements. You will need a lot of them, in specific sizes and formats, and they’re all listed on the ownBrander page.

When you have completed and submitted your app, email your three provisioning profiles and P12 certificate to support@owncloud.com.

Enter your application name. This can be anything; in this example it is the same name used in our signing certificate examples.

Next, enter your ownCloud server URL. This hard-codes it into your app. If you leave this blank then your users will have to enter it every time they use the app.

Check Server URL Visible to make your ownCloud server URL the default, and to allow your users to enter a different URL.

Now check the all-important App ID. Make sure that this is exactly the same as the App ID you created on developer.apple.com. See Create App IDs for more details.

You must also enter the App Group you created.

Check Show multi-account or disconnect if you plan to allow your users to have more than one ownCloud account.

Check Enable SAML authentication if that is what you use on your ownCloud server. Otherwise leave it blank.

Number of uploads shown controls the length of the most recent uploads list on the app. Defaults to 30.

The next section is for uploading your custom artwork to be built into the app. The ownBuilder app tells you exactly which images you need, and their required size. You only need one Splash Screen image, and ownBrander will automatically resize and crop it for different-sized screens. You must also select a background color, which ensures that the splash screen image is always at the correct size ratio. (Click the example images on the right to enlarge them.)

You may enter a custom User agent, which is useful for traffic analysis and whitelisting your app.

Check Recommend to open a Twitter, Facebook, and email recommendation configurator.

If you have online help, enter the URL here.

Activate the option feedback creates an option for your users to either enable or not enable the feedback option on their devices. If you enable this, enter your Feedback email address.

Enter your Imprint URL (your "about" page).

Check Show a "new account" link in app to allow new users to request a new account.

Upload an icon that will be displayed by default when there is no file preview to display.

By default, both internal sharing and sharing by link are enabled. You have the options to disable one or both of these.

You may disable background transfers if you are using mobile device management (MDM), such as Mobile Iron, that does not support background jobs, or if you simply do not want to allow the app to work in the background. By default, the ownCloud iOS app supports background file transfers by taking advantage of Apple’s xhttps://developer.apple.com/documentation/uikit[UIKit].

The default version number of your branded app is the same as the official ownCloud app. You have the option to customize your version number. Once you do this, you will have to update it manually for new releases. This must be the same as the version number that you enter in iTunes. Your version number is visible to your users.

You may also customize the build number, which defaults to 1.0.0. This must also be manually updated when you customize it. Your build number is used by iTunes to uniquely identify your app. When the build number changes, iTunes automatically syncs the updates for your users. The build number is not visible to your users.

That completes the required elements of your branded iOS app.

The Suggested section allows you to customize additional elements such as text, background colors and icons. The Suggested items are all optional.

The Advanced section allows you to optionally customize the color of messages such as connection status, error messages, letter separators, buttons, and additional icons.

Once you have uploaded all of your images and completed your customizations, click the Generate iOS App button and take a well-deserved break. Remember to email your four Ad Hoc provisioning profiles and P12 certificate to support@owncloud.com.

You may go back and make changes, and when you click the Generate iOS App button the build system will use your latest changes.

Check your account on customer.owncloud.com in 48 hours to see your new branded ownCloud app.