Branded Mobile Apps with Mobile Publisher

Get Started with Mobile Publisher

Define what Mobile Publisher is. Explain why companies use Mobile Publisher.
  • Despite the pervasiveness of mobile phones, most companies haven’t fully delivered on its promise. Its hard to build mobile apps.
  • The Salesforce Platform can help overcome this challenge. It lets you create enterprise-grade and consumer-grade secure mobile apps that work across devices.
    • Enterprise: core strategy for developing and deploying apps to employees is the Salesforce mobile app.
      • Provides quick access to CRM data.
      • Admins can build custom apps.
      • Developers can use lightning web development to create more sophisticated solutions.
    • Consumer: core strategy for partners and customers is the Salesforce Lightning Community.
      • Provides partners and customers with Lightning Community templates.
      • Create communities with point-and-click customizations.
  • Mobile Publisher is a fully branded version of your Salesforce app or mobile Lightning Community implementation, including app icon, name, colors.
    • Allows admins to publish employee and customer apps directly to the Google Play and the Apple App Store.
  • Advantages of using Mobile Publisher to create a branded app for your employees:
    • It can increase Salesforce adoption
    • It requires no mobile development expertise
  • Ideas for Mobile Apps:
    • Employees
      • Human Resources
        • Recruiting, Onboarding, Benefits Enrollment, Approvals, Peer Feedback, Conference Room Booking
      • Finance
        • Invoices, Billing, Purchasing, Budgets, Expense Management, Time Management
      • Retail
        • Item Locator, Loyalty Program Enrollment, VIP Management, Shopper History, Promotions
    • Partners
      • Distribution
        • Inventory Management, Requisitions, Product Tracking, Delivery Updates, Product Placement
    • Customers
      • Finance
        • Online Trading, Banking
      • Insurance
        • Policy Tracking, Billing, Purchasing
      • Retail
        • Purchasing, Customer Service, Returns

Create Your Branded App

Describe the overall process for creating a branded mobile app with Mobile Publisher. List the elements that you can brand in your branded app. Choose the right distribution type based on your use case. Create and save a Mobile Publisher project.
  • The overall process for creating a branded mobile app is:
    1. Sign up for the Mobile Publisher program.
    2. Design branded assets and upload to Salesforce.
    3. Choose an app distribution type.
    4. Receive a beta version of your app.
    5. Thoroughly test the beta version.
    6. Approve the app, and allow Salesforce to submit it to Google and Apple.
  • Branded apps are just a duplicate of the Salesforce app and the mobile Lightning Community already customized.
    • Before deploying the branded apps, probably makes sense to customize the following in the Salesforce app:
      • Set up any quick actions that would speed up workflows
      • Customize the mobile navigation so landing page is Chatter feed, for example
      • Set up any new lightning apps
    • Customize the mobile lighting Community:
      • Customize a theme to match the brand and style
      • Create a custom search component
  • First step with Mobile Publisher is to customize several Branded assets:
    • App Icon
    • App Name
    • Launch Screen
    • Color Scheme
    • Application Store listing
  • Mobile Publisher isn’t available in Setup until your org licenses the feature.
  • Two distribution types available:
    • Salesforce Managed Distribution: Salesforce manages distribution of the customer branded app via their developer account
    • Customer Delegated Distribution: Branded app is published via your developer account
  • Each app can also be distributed:
    • To internal employees only, via Apple Business Manager (ABM), and not publicly available on the App Store
    • To external customers, via App Store
    • It isn’t necessarily easy to move apps between those distribution channels:
      • B2B, B2C, B2E - different policies for Apple, Google
  • The first step to create a branded app is to: Create your branded assets
  • The elements you can brand in a Mobile Publisher app are: App Icon, Launch Screen
  • Salesforce Managed Distribution type uses: Salesforce’s developer account
  • The Mobile Publisher project includes: an Android app and an iOS app

Test and Submit the App

Request and install the managed package for a branded app. Describe the process of beta testing a branded app. Request a beta and test the app. Submit the app to the application stores.
  • A managed package is a container that includes the components of a Salesforce application. It is a mechanism for installing apps in Salesforce orgs.
  • It is necessary to install a managed package for your branded app because: Your app can’t function properly without the managed package. It is necessary, for example, for push notifications to work.
  • When the beta version of the Android app is available, the admin and the person designated as the organization’s internal beta tester receive a notification email.
  • After the beta tester installs the beta version of the app, they can test the visual appearance of the app.
  • After the admin approves an iOS branded app in Salesforce, Salesforce submits the app to the App Store for final review.

Maintain the App

Explain why a branded app might require updating. Create a new version of a branded app.
  • Two types of maintenance:
    • Salesforce-initiated updates: such as if Apple/Google make a change to their app submission form
    • Organizations’s Updates: such as if the logo needs to be updated
  • Branded apps require maintenance when Apple makes s change to their app submission form or when you want to update the logo on the app’s launch screen
  • You can make a new version of an app that’s live by creating a vnew version of the mySalesforce app in Salesforce setup.