Apple Developer


Apple Developer is Apple Inc.'s website for software development tools, application programming interfaces, and technical resources. It contains resources to help software developers write software for the macOS, iOS, iPadOS, watchOS, and tvOS platforms.
The applications are created in Xcode, or sometimes using other supported 3rd party programs. The apps can then be submitted to App Store Connect, another one of Apple's website for approval the internal review team. Once approved, they can be distributed publicly via the respective app stores, i.e. App Store for iOS and iPadOS apps, iMessage app store for Messages apps and Sticker pack apps, App Store for Apple TV apps, watchOS app store for Apple Watch apps with watchOS 6 and later, and via App Store for earlier versions of watchOS. macOS apps are a notable exception to this, as they can be distributed similarly via Apple's Mac App Store or independently on the World Wide Web.

Software leaks

There have been several leaks of secret Apple software through the prerelease program, most notably the Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger leaks, in which Apple sued three men who allegedly obtained advance copies of Mac OS X 10.4 prerelease builds from the site and leaked it to BitTorrent.
OS X Lion, OS X Mountain Lion, and OS X Mavericks, were leaked several times as well. However, to combat this issue Apple installed an alert system in the preview builds, alerting them if they had been uploaded by a tester to a BitTorrent system.

Attempted hacks

On July 18, 2013, an intruder attempted to access sensitive personal information on Apple's developer servers. The information was encrypted, but Apple could not guarantee that some information about developers may have been accessed. The Developer website was taken down for "maintenance" that Thursday, and was said to be undergoing maintenance through Sunday, when Apple posted a notice on the site notifying users of the attempted hack. They have stated that they will be re-building their servers and the developer system to prevent this from happening in the future.