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My company develops an app that needs to be deployed internally (outside the App store). To do so, we need an Apple Developer Enterprise account.

We went through the process of getting a DUNS number for our business (a registered LLC) and making sure it met Apple's requirements.

After the account sat in pending status for weeks, Apple informed me over the phone that, after internal review, our application was denied. They could not provide any additional information, nor outline the criteria for entry into the program. The stated conclusively that we would not be able to get an account, without providing a reason.

Does anyone know the best way to appeal this rejection?

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    Have you called Apple Developer Support at 1-800-633-2152? They might be able to provide you next steps. – fsb May 16 '17 at 16:18
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    Yes - they informed me that I would not be able to get an account, with no further information or recourse. Was escalated to a Senior Advisor who stated she was the highest ranking person I could speak with. Very disappointing experience. – mmastrangelo May 16 '17 at 16:45
  • I think that was your appeal path. I've been in the ADP for several years and have never heard of them rejecting an application without stating a reason. Strange. – fsb May 16 '17 at 16:47
  • Did you see - apple.stackexchange.com/questions/276988/… – bmike♦ May 16 '17 at 16:57
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    We concluded that the enterprise license was not the right direction for us at this time, and didn't pursue it further. It would be helpful if Apple could provide some approval guidelines so people don't end up wasting their time on this. – mmastrangelo Jul 21 '17 at 15:23
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How many employees do you have as an LLC that only just created their DUNS? A dozen? Installing your app on a dozen devices without enterprise license but just the developer license is no problem at all.

There have been a few cases recently where enterprise licenses have been abused to distribute malware, so Apple will have some rather high standards for enterprise licenses.

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The good news is you can now start development and load apps on your personal devices without needing to pay $99. Similarly, the $99 developer account can now upload apps to TestFlight and have thousands of testers and then upgrade to the $299 Enterprise account only if they can’t figure out how to make the standard account work.

I get why people would go for enterprise initially a few years back but not it’s silly to not just make your apps as a standard developer and then transfer or upgrade to enterprise only when you really need to. You can push realistic apps through test flight and also through VPP / Apple Business Manager now without needing an enterprise account. You can notarize Mac apps soon with 10.14 and self distribute them. So many changes in the last 24 months (as I write this in August 2018) make the normal developer account so much more capable for businesses use across hundreds of end users of apps.

Apple in fact just takes enterprise applications that are premature and converts them into the $99 account so you can get started now when you don’t qualify from the looks of your application for enterprise.

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