Branded Mobile: Important Considerations

With Branded Mobile by Thinkific, we'll build and maintain a white-labeled app for your online courses and communities so you can focus on what you do best. This article will outline some key considerations when it comes to the Branded Mobile app solution.

About This Feature

Increase brand visibility and recognition with a white-labeled mobile app that has your own logo, colors, and style for a continuous experience across all channels.

A branded mobile app will fit into your audience’s existing routines, making it easier for them to learn and engage with your content — all on their own schedule. This means higher course completion rates, improved student satisfaction, and more revenue opportunities for your business.

There are some key considerations that you need to be aware of when it comes to the Branded Mobile solution.

This article will continue to be updated, so keep checking back for the updated list of considerations.

In-App Payments Requirements

Apple requires that any digital goods (such as paid Thinkific courses) purchasable outside of the Apple App Store must also be available to purchase within the branded mobile app using in-app purchases. If your account includes paid courses, it is likely to be flagged during the review process.

We recommend that you provide us with one or more courses for in-app purchase from the start to ensure that the Apple review process proceeds smoothly. This can be an existing course that you offer, or maybe a low-cost "taster" course or resources guide, etc.

Note that Apple may waive the requirement for in-app purchases for a few reasons. If you believe you qualify for any of the following exemptions, please let Thinkific know as quickly as possible:

Your courses are free of charge
Your courses are sold primarily to businesses (b2b), who make courses available to the end consumer (for details, see here)
Your courses are bundled with physical goods or services (b2c), such as courses bundled with textbooks or courses offered as extended learning from a conference (for details, see here)

Apple SSO and Account Duplication

Your branded mobile app built by Thinkific needs to support the Apple SSO (Single Sign On) option, as required by Apple. This gives students to ability to log in to your site using their Apple ID.

When signing in to your site using the Apple sign-in option, your students will see two options: Share My Email and Hide My Email. We recommend that your students select the option that they initially used when setting up their account. Learn more here: What is Sign in with Apple?

For students who previously used their actual email or the Share My Email option, we recommend that they do not choose Hide My Email. Choosing this option while logging in, will create a brand new account meaning that the student will not be able to access their existing account.

To mitigate this, encourage your students to use the same login option they originally used when signing up on your site.

If a student has created a duplicate account, you can delete the duplicate user by following these instructions: How to Delete a User.

If a student registers on your site using Apple Sign in option, they will be registered as Apple User, due to the way the Apple SSO (Single Sign On) interacts with our platform.