Wildcard App IDs for iPhone/iPod Touch Apps

Question

I'm writing my third app, and I already have an app in the App Store, but I still don't get this App ID business.

I created the App IDs for my first two applications like this:

XXXXXXXXXX.me.cbg.FirstApp
YYYYYYYYYY.me.cbg.SecondApp

but then Apple introduced the App ID wizard, which I used to create the App ID and provisioning profiles for my third application:

ZZZZZZZZZZ.*

So my question is: What is the "proper" way of creating App IDs for three completely independent apps?

Should I use the XXXXXXXXXX.* format or XXXXXXXXXX.me.cbg.*?

Should I create three different App IDs, or just one wildcard ID?

Answer 1

Both are "proper", it's mostly a question of the tradeoff between ease of management and allowing more granular management of certificates.

There two technical difference:

1. Applications with IDs that are identical save from the top level (e.g. com.mycompany.aaa and com.mycompany.bbb) are able to access each others saved data. If you are writing a suite of applications then this could be extremely useful.

2. You can only create a limited number of "AdHoc" certificates. If your apps have the same wildcard identifier then this limit would be imposed across all your applications.

Personally for a small developer I would recommend using a wildcard ID. It results in a lot less to manage in several areas, and hence removes a lot of potential for mistakes. Remember that for each ID you'll probably have three individual certificates (dev/adhoc/appstore).

Background:

Every iPhone application must have a unique identifier and certificate. Developers can either create a certificate per application by using a complete name (e.g. com.mycompany.aaa), or they can create a wildcard certificate/ID (e.g. com.mycompany.*) in which case the app name in the .plist file is used to complete the identifier during the DRM process.

Answer 2

Hey I just came by here, but (IMHO) I am a bit surprised that this is answered unclearly.

In my understanding you can freely submitting apps with wild card app ID if you don't want to use In App Purchase or Push Notification services in your app. If you wish to use one of them, Apple mentioned that you should be specific with your app ID.

However, additional there is another requirement, quoted from Provisioning portal:

If you are creating a suite of applications that will share the same Keychain access (e.g. sharing passwords between applications) or have a set of applications with no Keychain Access requirements, create a single App ID for all applications utilizing a trailing asterisk as a wild-card character.

Please refer to this page while you are logged into Developer Portal: iPhone Provisioning Portal - App ID How To

Hope that helps.