Publish mobile apps with custom branding

  • Release version: Yokohama
  • Updated January 30, 2025
  • 3 minutes to read
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    Summary of Publish mobile apps with custom branding

    The ServiceNow Mobile Publishing application allows you to create secure, branded mobile applications that reflect your company’s unique identity. It provides customization options for both the branding visible before login (such as splash screens and app icons) and theming seen after login, enabling a consistent and personalized user experience.

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    This capability supports standard Now Mobile and Mobile Agent apps, with options to create custom app types for additional client apps. Mobile Publishing complies with Google and Apple guidelines for branded app releases and is supported on both production and sub-production ServiceNow instances.

    Key Features

    • Branding customization: Configure app names, splash screens, icons, colors, and Mobile Device Management (MDM) vendor settings to align apps with your company’s visual identity.
    • Theming: Apply post-login theming to further tailor the app interface and experience.
    • Auto-populated login URLs: Simplify user access by pre-configuring the instance URL, reducing login friction.
    • Custom app management: Manage app requests, view build progress, and access brand asset guidelines directly within ServiceNow.
    • Integration with Mobile App Builder: Supports creating and managing custom mobile app types.
    • Guided build request process: Use a structured form with helpful documentation and FAQs to submit app build requests aligned with organizational needs.

    Licensing and Availability

    Mobile Publishing is a paid plugin included in ServiceNow’s Pro, Enterprise, and App Engine subscription levels. It can also be purchased separately via the ServiceNow Store.

    Practical Use and Management

    • Track up to nine recent app builds, with detailed information on app type, distribution method (private or public), MAM vendor, and operating system.
    • Access resources such as brand asset guidelines to maintain consistent branding across iOS and Android platforms.
    • Set up prerequisite tools before submitting your first branded app request to ensure smooth publishing and distribution.
    • Distribute branded apps effectively to end-users on both Android and iOS devices.
    • Configure push notifications and other app behaviors to enhance end-user efficiency and engagement.

    Why It Matters

    For ServiceNow customers, Mobile Publishing enables the delivery of secure, enterprise-grade mobile apps that carry your brand identity, improving user adoption and reinforcing corporate branding. It streamlines app deployment and management while ensuring compliance with platform standards, ultimately enhancing the mobile experience for your workforce.

    The ServiceNow® Mobile Publishing application enables you to publish secure and branded mobile applications. These mobile apps use your unique company identity and management method.

    ServiceNow offers the following ways to customize your mobile apps:
    • Branding: Determines what users see before they reach the login screen.
    • Theming: Determines what users see after they log in.
    Mobile Publishing enables you to brand your mobile apps. You can use Mobile Publishing to create a visually distinct version of ServiceNow mobile apps with custom branding that reflects your unique company identity. Configure each of your mobile apps with a unique name, splash screen, icon, Mobile Device Management (MDM) vendor, and colors.
    For information about using theming to further customize your apps, see:

    In addition to branding and theming your mobile apps, you can also customize app behavior to make them more efficient for your end-users to use. For example, you can request a custom branded mobile app and configure an auto-populated URL so your end-users don't need to type the instance URL during login. This can be configured in the Login management section of the Request a new app form. For more information, see the Request, test, and publish a branded mobile app section that contains instructions for requesting custom branded apps for both the iOS and the Android platforms.

    For more information about the considerations for using Mobile Publishing and configuring it, see Mobile Publishing resources. For information about why your company might want to use Mobile Publishing, see Mobile Publishing use cases.
    Note:
    Mobile Publishing is supported on both production and sub-production ServiceNow instances.

    The ServiceNow publishing program complies with the suggested practices from Google and Apple for branded app releases. The program gives you a guided path to achieve your branding goals.

    Licensing

    Mobile Publishing is a paid plugin. It is included in the Pro, Enterprise, and App Engine subscription levels (SKU's) of ServiceNow. Alternatively, you can purchase the plugin on the ServiceNow Store and add it to your ServiceNow subscription. Navigate to the ServiceNow Store, log in with your credentials, and then search for mobile publishing.

    Custom-type mobile apps

    Use Mobile Publishing to brand standard Now Mobile and Mobile Agent apps that are part of the ServiceNow Mobile Platform. If you need additional client app types other than Now Mobile and Mobile Agent, you can create custom app types that have unique mobile client app names.

    For more information about custom mobile apps, see Create custom-type mobile apps with Mobile Publishing.

    For more information about the integration between Mobile Publishing and Mobile App Builder, see Mobile App Builder.

    Manage your custom-branded apps

    Navigate to All > Mobile Branding > Manage Mobile Publishing Apps in your instance. Do any of the following (refer to the numbered call-outs in the below image):
    1. View your recent app requests. A maximum of nine builds can be tracked on this page.
    2. Request a new branded app by selecting Request a new app.
    3. Get information about what you need (prerequisites) to request different apps and associated distribution types.
    4. Watch a video that guides you through the process of requesting a custom branded app and shows you how the third-party tools are used to populate mandatory fields on the request form.
    5. Access helpful resources and FAQs to get further help.
    Figure 1. Mobile Publishing overview tab page
    Mobile Publishing main page
    Scroll down to view the brand assets guide panel (refer to the below image), which supplies guidelines to help you create a consistent brand experience for iOS and Android apps.
    Figure 2. Mobile Publishing brand assets guide panel
    Mobile Publishing brand assets guide panel

    Request custom-branded apps with the build request form

    The build request form has sections that you can navigate between to make sure your build request suits your organization's requirements (refer to the numbered call-outs in the below image):
    1. Use the Back and Next buttons at the bottom of the form to access build options or to revisit options you've already selected so you can make any needed corrections.
    2. View the right panel to get help from product documentation and FAQs.
      Note:
      Hover over the FAQs to see the full question and to expand the list to see the answers.
    Figure 3. Mobile Publishing build request form
    Mobile Publishing build request form

    View custom branded app builds and check build progress

    (Refer to the below image):
    Figure 4. Mobile Publishing history tab page
    Mobile Publishing history tab full page
    Select one of the build cards on the history tab page to drill down for details about the app build (refer to the numbered call-outs in the below image):
    1. View who requested the app and their email contact information.
    2. Get details about the app type, distribution type (private or public), what mobile application management (MAM) vendor the app uses, and its operating system.
    Figure 5. Mobile Publishing build details page
    Mobile Publishing build details page