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Publish a custom app by uploading an app package

  • Article
  • 6 minutes to read
  • Applies to:
    Microsoft Teams

When you publish a custom Teams app, it's available to users in your organization's app store. There are two ways to publish a custom app and the way that you use depends on how you get the app. This article focuses on how to publish a custom app by uploading an app package (in .zip format) that a developer sends you. The other method, approving a custom app, is used when a developer submits an app directly to the Manage apps page through the Teams App Submission API. To learn more about that method, see Publish a custom app submitted through the Teams App Submission API.

This article provides end-to-end guidance for how to take your Teams app from development to deployment to discovery. This guidance focuses on the Teams aspects of the app and is intended for admins and IT pros. For more information about developing Teams apps, see the Teams developer documentation.

Overview of your app from development to deployment.

Create your app

The Microsoft Teams developer platform makes it easy for developers to integrate your own apps and services to improve productivity, make decisions faster, and create collaboration around existing content and workflows. Apps built on the Teams platform are bridges between the Teams client and your services and workflows, bringing them directly into the context of your collaboration platform. For more information, go to the Teams developer documentation.

Validate

Receive the app package

When the app is ready for use in production, the developer produces an app package using Developer Portal. The developer shares the app package in .zip format with you.

All apps in Teams store pass a mandatory app validation to comply with the app quality and security standards of the Teams apps store. In addition, Microsoft strongly encourages app developers to participate in an optional app compliance program that indicates enhanced compliance, security, and privacy controls. For more information, see Teams app validation guidelines.

Allow trusted users to upload custom apps

To validate that the app is working correctly in your production tenant, you need to allow yourself and/or trusted users to upload custom apps in the production tenant. You use app setup policies to do this.

Note

If you're uncomfortable with uploading the app to your production tenant for validation, even for yourself or trusted users, you can skip this step and follow the steps in the Upload and Set up and manage sections to publish the unvalidated app to your organization's app store. Then, restrict access to that app to only yourself and users you trust. These users can then get the app from your organization's app store to perform validation. After the app is validated, use the same permission policies to open access and roll the app out for production use.

To allow trusted users to upload custom apps, follow these steps:

  1. Turn on the Allow interaction with custom apps org-wide app setting. To do this:

    1. In the left navigation of the Microsoft Teams admin center, go to Teams apps > Manage apps, and then select Org-wide app settings.

    2. Under Custom apps, turn on Allow interaction with custom apps, and then select Save.

  2. Turn off the Upload custom apps setting in the global app setup policy. To do this:

    1. In the left navigation of the Microsoft Teams admin center, go to Teams apps > Setup policies, and then select the Global (Org-wide default) policy.

    2. Turn off Upload custom apps, and then select Save.

  3. Create a new app setup policy that allows uploading custom apps and assign it to your set of trusted users. To do this:

    1. In the left navigation of the Microsoft Teams admin center, go to Teams apps > Setup policies, and then select the Add. Give the new policy a name and description, turn on Upload custom apps, and then select Save.

    2. Select the new policy you created, and then select Manage users. Search for a user, select Add, and then select Apply. Repeat this step to assign the policy to all your trusted users.

      Screenshot of the Add app setup policy page.

These users can now upload the app manifest to validate that the app is working correctly in the production tenant.

Upload

To make the app available to users in your organization's app store, upload the app.

  1. In the left navigation of the Microsoft Teams admin center, go to Teams apps > Manage apps.

  2. Select Upload, select Upload, select the app package that you received from the developer, and select Open.

    Screenshot of custom app upload in the admin center.

Set up and manage

Control access to the app

By default, all users in your organization can access the app in your organization's app store. To restrict and control who has permission to use the app, you can create and assign an app permission policy. To learn more, see Manage app permission policies in Teams.

Pin and install the app for users to discover

By default, for users to find the app they have to go to your organization's app store and browse or search for it. To make it easy for users to get to the app, you can pin the app to the app bar in Teams. To pin the app, create an app setup policy and assign it to users. To learn more, see Manage app setup policies in Teams.

Search the audit log for Teams app events

You can search the audit log to view Teams apps activity in your organization. To learn more about auditing Teams activities, see search the audit log for events in Teams.

Before you can search the audit log, you have to first turn on auditing in the Security & Compliance Center. To learn more, see Turn audit log search on or off. Keep in mind that audit data is only available from the point at which you turned on auditing.

Discover and adopt

Users who have permissions to the app can find it in your organization's app store. Go to Built for Your Organization Name on the Apps page to find your organization's custom apps.

Screenshot of Teams store showing custom app published for organization

If you created and assigned an app setup policy, the app is pinned to the app bar in Teams for easy access for those users who were assigned the policy.

Update a custom app

To update an app, developers follow the steps in the Create your app and Validate sections.

You can update the app on the Manage apps page in the Microsoft Teams admin center. To update the app, in the left navigation of the Microsoft Teams admin center, go to Teams apps > Manage apps. select the app name, and then select Update. Updating the app replaces the existing app, and all app permission policies and app setup policies remain enforced for the updated app.

User update experience

In most cases, after you publish a new version of an app, it is automatically updated for users who have added the app to their Teams client. For more information, see user app update experience.

Remove a custom app from your organization's store

To remove an app, follow these steps:

  1. Sign in to the Teams admin center.
  2. Access Teams apps > Manage apps page.
  3. Click on the name of the app to open the app details page.
  4. Next to the app banner, select Actions > Delete.
  5. On the dialog, select Delete.