How to integrate your App Store Connect account for reviews management

This article provides a step-by-step guide to integrating your App Store Connect accounts with MobileAction’s Reviews Manager. It includes required permissions, integration steps, and key differences from analytics-based integrations.

Completing this integration is essential for enabling access to the user review pages and response features within your MobileAction dashboard.

These tools allow you to monitor user sentiment, track review trends, and directly respond to feedback, helping you stay engaged with your audience and maintain your app’s reputation across both stores.

Before starting the integration process, it’s important to clarify the roles and permissions required, as well as how to prepare the necessary components. This will ensure a smooth, technically sound integration without access issues or data limitations.

Understanding roles and permissions

To integrate App Store Connect successfully, you need to understand the difference between user roles and API key access levels, they are not the same but both are essential for integration.

• The user role refers to your permissions within the App Store Connect dashboard.
• The API key access level defines what data MobileAction can access.

A user with the Account Holder role in App Store Connect must initiate the integration process. This is not optional; Apple only allows Account Holders to generate API keys used in third-party integrations.

• The Account Holder is the individual who originally enrolled the team in the Apple Developer Program.
• To confirm whether you have this role, go to Users and Access in your App Store Connect dashboard.

Even if you are the Account Holder, you need to create an API key that has the right level of access to support data collection. This leads us to Admin access. The integration will fail if the API key lacks Admin access and vice versa. Both must be correctly set for the integration to function properly.

Why the Admin access is required for the API Key

To ensure a technically complete and error-free integration, the API key must be created with Admin access. This is not one of several options; it is currently the only practical and reliable method to enable access to all the data required for analytics and performance tracking. Keys with lower-level access often result in incomplete data or failed API calls. Creating the key with Admin access prevents these issues.

That said, Admin access through the API key does not give MobileAction control over your account. Specifically, MobileAction cannot:

• Delete your apps
• Manage your users or their roles
• Access legal, tax, or banking information

These restrictions are built into Apple’s API infrastructure. The access MobileAction receives is strictly limited to what is necessary for integration. Granting Admin access poses no risk to your app or account security.

Integration preparation checklist

Before you begin the actual integration in the MobileAction dashboard, there are a few essential steps to complete within App Store Connect. These steps ensure that you have the correct permissions and credentials in place so that the technical integration proceeds without issues.

This checklist outlines everything you need to prepare ahead of time—from verifying your role to downloading the correct key files. Completing this preparation will help you avoid common errors and speed up the integration process. Please take a few minutes to go through each step carefully.

1- Confirm the integrator is the Account Holder in App Store Connect.

2- Navigate to Users and Access > Integrations > Keys > App Store Connect API tab and generate a new API key with Admin access.

3- Download the .p8 file immediately after generating the key. Apple allows this only once. If lost, you must revoke the key and start again.

4- To proceed with the setup in the MobileAction dashboard, please gather the following items, which are required inputs for the integration module below. The numbered labels will help you locate each item within App Store Connect. 

a) API (Key) ID (1) - From Users and Access > Integrations > Keys tab
b) Issuer ID (2) - From Users and Access > Integrations > Keys tab, displayed above the key list

c) Vendor ID (3) - Located in Payments and Financial Reports, top left

Having these ready in advance will allow for a fast and efficient integration experience.

Integration process in the MobileAction platform

Please read the following instructions carefully to avoid technical issues and ensure a smooth, fast, and error-free integration process.

Enter required credentials
In the MobileAction integration window, fill in the following fields:

• • API (Key) ID
  • Issuer ID
  • Vendor ID
  • Upload your .p8 file (the private key you downloaded from App Store Connect)
    

App verification
After submitting the credentials, you will see a list of all apps associated with your App Store Connect account. Carefully review the list to confirm the expected apps are visible.

Complete the integration
Once everything is correctly entered and verified, click to complete the integration. MobileAction will validate the data and confirm a successful integration.

If all information is accurate and access levels are set properly, the integration will complete without issues.

For any errors or unexpected behavior, please check the error you get through the Integrations dashboard within MobileAction, revisit the setup steps or reach out to your MobileAction contact for support or our live chat.

FAQs

Q1: What role do I need in App Store Connect to initiate the integration?

You must have the Account Holder role to generate API keys and manage the integration.

Q2: What should I do if I can’t find my .p8 file?

The .p8 file can only be downloaded once. If lost, you must revoke the key in App Store Connect and generate a new one.

Q3: Where do I find the API ID, Issuer ID, and Vendor ID in App Store Connect?

All can be found under Users and Access > Integrations > Keys, except Vendor ID, which is located in Payments and Financial Reports.

Q4: Is Admin access safe to give to MobileAction?

Yes. Admin access is scoped and does not permit us to modify your apps, access legal/banking info, or manage users.

Q5: Can I reuse an existing API key for integration?

Only if you have the .p8 file and the key has the required permissions. If unsure, it’s safer to create a new one.