What is the Indie Apps Alliance?

The Indie Apps Alliance (IAA) is a community of independent app developers dedicated to creating and delivering high-quality apps for various platforms, supporting and cross-promoting each other in order to make their work stand out from the mass of low-quality apps that are overwhelming the iTunes App Store.

What platforms are supported by the Alliance?

At the moment we are concentrated mainly on the iOS platforms (iPhone, iTouch and iPad), but a future expansion to Android is very likely to happen if the project takes on!

Why create an Alliance?

As indie developers it has become very difficult to stand out from the hundreds of thousands of low-quality apps that are clogging up the App Store.  Moreover, big corporations such as EA and Gameloft are getting most of the attention (and revenues) thanks to the huge marketing budgets at their disposal and their quality brand name. One main goal of the IAA is to create a recognized brand name that the public will come to know for its consistently high-quality apps and developers.

How does the IAA work?

What are the secrets of success for an app? Brand name, quality and marketing; with marketing being by far more important than the first two. The IAA will try to achieve success in all of these three areas.

Brand name: all applications selected to be part of the IAA Network must prominently feature the IAA branding (name and logo) in their splash screen.  After seeing this branding on several apps, people will come to associate the IAA brand name with quality, and they will be more likely to purchase an app that is part of the IAA Network, because they trust that the app will be of high quality.

Quality: all apps approved by the IAA have to pass a strict quality review where, based on certain standard parameters, they are evaluated on appearance, usefulness, and tested for correct functionality.  Buyers can thus be assured that any app that is included into the network will be of high quality.

Marketing: this point is a little bit tricky. How do you give exposure to your app and not spend thousands of dollars in targeted reviews and advertisements? The IAA will give to its members several channels of exposure and distribution, including:

• Press release to blogs and review websites: we will create and work with bloggers and website owners to create a monthly press release that will inform them of the latest apps added to the Alliance.
• List of Apps: a web page where people can browse the apps that are part of the network, with the latest apps being shown on the home page.
• The IAA Network: see this page for more information.  Every app that passes the review process is required to implement the IAA Network to enable cross-promotion with other IAA developers and apps.
• Promo codes give away drawings everyday! Developers can submit to the IAA a list of promo codes that will be distributed through our drawing system. More information are available here.

Sounds very cool, but does it cost me anything to join the Alliance?

No, becoming part of the Alliance is - and will always be - 100% free. We hope to receive financial support through donations, which you should really consider if you like what we're doing.

How do I join the Alliance?

The registration page will allow you to register as a member.  Once registered you will be granted access to the forums and to the other features reserved to the IAA Members.

How are apps evaluated during the review process?

It would be impossible to objectively examine an app and decide whether it is of quality or not. This is why the person reviewing your app will have to express his personal, subjective opinion to decide whether your app meets the standard quality requirements or not. As a general rule, apps admitted into the IAA Network must present the following characteristics:

• Intuitively, friendly GUI.
• A purpose: apps that will show any sign of “uselessness” will not be accepted in the Alliance.
• Neat: if your app uses sounds they should be appropriate; if your app is a game the graphics should be well polished. You get the point.
• Include the IAA Network system API (see this page for more information).
• Show the IAA logo prominently in the app's Default.png file.

We understand that some of these points may be hard to evaluate.  It is, however, completely up to the reviewer to decide whether your app has met the requirements or not.  Please don’t be frustrated if your app does not pass the review; a reason for the rejection will always be provided, along with suggestions for improvement.  You should carefully review the feedback and make the necessary changes before resubmitting your app for a subsequent review.  For a more detailed explanation check out this page.

Can I add the IAA logo to my app?

Once your app has received official approval, you may include the IAA logo in your Default.png image, and anywhere else you wish to promote the IAA in your app.  You may also include the IAA logo and the IAA Network in your app before submitting it for review, but only in Ad Hoc form.  We will soon provide a list of UDIDs to include in your Ad Hoc distributions to ensure that one of our reviewers is able to install and review your app.

It is very important to note that you must not submit an IAA-branded app to the iTunes App Store before receiving official approval from the IAA.

What if I have more questions?

Please contact us and we will try to get back to you as soon as possible.