What happens when you remove an Apple ID in iTunes Connect VPP (B2B)

Question

We are currently investigating using the B2B distribution for an app for one of our clients.

We are in the middle of configuring it and our client asked us an interesting question: What happens to the already installed apps (on devices) when you remove an Apple ID from the list of authorised Apple Volume Purchase Program (VPP) accounts on iTunes Connect. Is it automatically uninstalled from devices or does it remains available but no new installation is possible?

I couldn't find a definitive answer on Apple's iTunes Connect documentation.

My guess is that apps remain on installed devices but that the account cannot install the app on new devices.

Any lead, if possible pointing to Apple's documentation, would be greatly appreciated.

References:

• WWDC 2012 - Building and Distributing Custom B2B Apps for iOS
• iTunes Connect Developer Guide - Configuring a Custom B2B App

Answer 1

From personal experience with the B2B distribution, it is exactly as you just said it is. The app does not get removed from the device, as this is not possible without the user deleting it (or on company devices the administrator). The app id will then however not be able to receive any updates or redownload the app from the app store. Also, the app cannot be installed on any new devices with this Apple iD (as it can't even be redownloaded on the original device).

On a side note, when we faced the problem that we needed specific users to stop using the app, we had all of the devices registered with a specific id. We checked the iDs that we needed to disable and added code to simply forced a crash on viewDidLoad so that that iD could not use the app anymore and couldn't redownload it.

Hope that helps, Julian