Skip to content

Apple Developer Program

Enroll in Apple Developer Program

Time Estimate

  • 15-20 minutes to complete the enrollment forms
  • up to 2 days to wait for confirmation email that enrollment has been activated

Summary

There are two options: Paid ($99/year) or Free (re-build weekly, Xcode only)

FAQs

  • "Can I use someone else's Apple Developer account?" Please refer to this Answer.
  • "Do I use my Apple ID or my child's Apple ID to enroll in the Apple Developer program?" The Apple ID you use to enroll in the developer program must be associated with an adult. It does not need to be the same Apple ID as the Looper uses on their iPhone. For example, a parent installing the Loop app on their child's iPhone should configure a separate Apple ID for their child, but should use their own Apple ID to build the Loop app for that child.
  • "How long does it take to have my Apple Development account active after I enroll?" After you enroll, make sure you look for a confirmation email. Apple says it can take up to 24-48 hours to confirm and setup a new Apple developer account. However, some people have had the process take minutes. One SURE way to make it take longer is to use a different credit card to pay for the Apple Developer account enrollment than is already associated with that Apple ID. When you do that, finishing the enrollment process may be a hassle.

Loopers Need Their Own Apple ID

The Apple ID is DIFFERENT than the Apple Developer ID.

Apple ID

Parents should set up a different Apple ID for each of their looper children and looper children should not use the parent Apple ID. Use Apple's Instructions for Create an Apple ID for your child.

The Apple Health record is a convenient record of blood glucose, insulin and carbohydrates and should be associated with only one individual.

Sharing an Apple ID among two or more loopers can cause safety issues. You don't want Sally to be dosed for Joe's lunch in addition to her own and vice versa.

  • Loop 3 does not read Carbohydrates from Apple Health by default, but if you need that feature, you can modify your feature flags.

Developer Account

To build the Loop app on a phone, you must use an Apple developer account associated with an adult (minimum age of 18). This Apple developer account is tied to the email address associated with your Apple ID. You can build apps on phones for everyone in your family with a single Apple Developer Account tied to the Apple ID of an adult.

You have two options for an individual account: free or paid.

Free Developer Account

If you decide to use a FREE developer account, here's what you need to know:

  1. You must use the Build with Mac method to build Loop.
  2. Loop apps signed with a free developer account will expire after 7 days. On the 7th day, your Loop app will simply turn white when you open it and then immediately close. To rebuild the Loop app, you will have to find a computer and rebuild the app onto your iPhone again. You cannot rebuild the app on day 5 (when it is convenient, for example), hoping to reset the 7-day clock. The app will still expire on the 7th day from when it was first signed and created.
  3. If you decide to switch to a paid account after trying out the free account, you will need to rebuild your Loop app to sign it with the new paid account. Furthermore, switching from a Free to a Paid account requires entering all the settings again (and starting a fresh pod).
  4. You will have to do an extra step during the build process to remove Siri and Apple Push capabilities to build with free accounts. Because free accounts do not have access to Apple Push notifications, you will also not be able to use Remote Commands through Nightscout.

If you decide to use a PAID developer account, here's what you need to know:

  1. The paid developer account is $99 per year. The default setting is to auto-renew annually. You can change that selection in your developer account settings at any time.
  2. If your household has multiple Loop users, only one developer account is needed. That one developer account can be used to build Loop on multiple phones.
  3. If you use the Browser Build method
    • You must Update with Browser the build once every 90 days
    • You must have a Paid Developer account
  4. If you use the Build with Mac method
    • If you have a paid developer account, you must build at least once a year
    • If you have a free account, you must build every 7 days

Switching from Free to Paid Memberships

You can try a free account first before buying a paid developer account. If you start with a free account, you'll build a Loop app (let's call it FreeLoop). When you switch to a paid account, you'll be building a totally new and separate Loop app onto your phone (let's call it PaidLoop).

The two apps will look identical on your phone and they will both have the name Loop with the same icon, but they will be functionally separate from each other. Make sure you are successful building the PaidLoop app before deleting the FreeLoop app from your phone. Use the search feature on your phone to find both apps. One will have your configuration settings (FreeLoop), the other will not (PaidLoop).

Before deleting the FreeLoop, either record all the settings or take screenshots of all the relevant settings screens.

PaidLoop will know nothing about the settings and information you had stored in FreeLoop, so you will need to re-enter all your settings (basal rates, ISF, carb ratios, etc.) and configurations into the new PaidLoop. It will also not connect or control any pods you are currently using with the old FreeLoop app. The one exception is Nightscout credentials, which are stored in your keychain. If you entered your Nightscout credentials into FreeLoop, they will persist across app removal and be used by PaidLoop.

With Loop 3, if you use Nightscout, you can import settings that were uploaded to Nightscout by FreeLoop into PaidLoop, so that simplifies the transition.

Once PaidLoop is working, delete the FreeLoop instance from your phone to avoid confusion. If you followed the directions when building, you may have configured your phone to prevent deletion of Loop. Head over to Protect that App, reverse the steps, delete FreeLoop, then do the steps again to protect PaidLoop.

Enrolling

To enroll in an individual paid Paid account, go to the Apple's Developer Program website Apple Developer website.

Be sure to use the credit card already associated with the email you are using for the developer account. If you switch credit cards, it can cause delays.

If you choose to use the free account, you don't have to do anything on that website. You'll just wait for the instructions on the Xcode Settings page and get your free account then.

Next Steps:

Take the time to read the next three articles. You will be reminded again when you begin to set up your app.