Microsoft Entra App Gallery Introduces Self-Service Onboarding for New Applications

Microsoft is changing how software vendors submit new applications to the Microsoft Entra App Gallery, introducing a self-service onboarding experience designed to make application validation, submission, and review easier to manage.

The new experience is now available in public preview, giving independent software vendors (ISVs) and developers a guided way to validate supported single sign-on (SSO) and user provisioning integrations before submitting an application to Microsoft for review.

General availability is scheduled to begin in mid-November 2026, with the worldwide rollout expected to finish by late December 2026.

For organizations that publish applications through the Entra App Gallery, the change could reduce some of the friction involved in preparing an app for publication by moving more of the validation and submission process into the Microsoft Entra admin center.

What is changing in the Microsoft Entra App Gallery?

The new onboarding experience brings several parts of the application publishing process into a guided workflow.

Previously, publishers preparing applications for the gallery had to work through the applicable technical requirements and submission process. The new experience is intended to help publishers identify common configuration problems earlier, before an application reaches the formal review stage.

The workflow supports validation for:

OpenID Connect (OIDC)
Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML)
User provisioning integrations

Publishers can also provide application details and supporting documentation as part of the onboarding process, submit applications directly to Microsoft, and monitor the status of their submissions.

That creates a more centralized process for organizations that regularly bring software products into the Microsoft Entra ecosystem.

Why the self-service model matters

Application gallery publishing is more than simply listing a product. Applications need to meet technical requirements for authentication and, where applicable, user provisioning.

For ISVs, problems with configuration can create additional back-and-forth during the publishing process. Finding those issues earlier can help publishers address them before submitting an application for formal review.

The new model puts more of that responsibility directly into the hands of application publishers.

The intended benefits include:

Earlier identification of integration and configuration issues
A guided submission workflow
Validation results linked to application submissions
Easier collection of required application information
Direct submission to Microsoft for review
Submission-status tracking
A mechanism for responding to reviewer feedback

The broader objective is straightforward: give developers and ISVs more visibility and control over the path from integration testing to App Gallery publication.

The Microsoft Entra admin center becomes the hub

A key part of the new experience is its integration with the Microsoft Entra admin center.

Rather than treating validation, documentation, submission, and status tracking as disconnected steps, the self-service workflow brings these activities together.

For application publishing teams, that could make it easier to understand where an application is in the process and what needs attention.

It also gives publishers a clearer opportunity to catch technical issues before Microsoft review, potentially reducing avoidable delays caused by incomplete information or unsupported configurations.

The experience is particularly relevant to ISVs whose products need to support enterprise identity scenarios across Microsoft’s customer ecosystem.

Public preview is available now

Microsoft has made the new onboarding experience available in public preview.

That means eligible publishers can begin exploring the workflow before the service reaches general availability.

The rollout timeline is:

Stage	Timing
Public Preview	Available now
General Availability begins	Mid-November 2026
Worldwide rollout expected to complete	Late December 2026

Microsoft has not indicated that organizations need to take action as part of the rollout.

However, companies that publish applications through the Entra App Gallery may want to familiarize their application publishing teams with the new workflow ahead of general availability.

Who is affected?

The update is primarily relevant to organizations involved in publishing new applications to the Microsoft Entra App Gallery.

That includes:

Independent software vendors
Application developers
Product teams responsible for enterprise integrations
Administrators involved in App Gallery publishing

Organizations that do not publish applications to the App Gallery are not expected to see an impact from the change.

There is also an important distinction for existing gallery applications.

The preview currently applies to new Microsoft Entra App Gallery application submissions. Existing applications that are already published will continue to use Microsoft’s current processes for updates and removal.

What is not changing?

The new onboarding process does not alter how end users access applications.

The update is focused on the publisher and submission side of the Microsoft Entra App Gallery rather than the end-user application experience.

That distinction matters for organizations using applications already listed in the gallery. They should not expect users to encounter a new sign-in experience simply because Microsoft is introducing this publishing workflow.

Likewise, organizations that only consume applications through Microsoft Entra and do not publish their own software do not need to change their existing processes because of this announcement.

What publishers should prepare for

There is no mandatory action associated with the rollout.

Still, ISVs and application publishing teams can use the preview period to review their existing processes and understand how the new workflow fits into their development and release cycles.

Teams preparing a new App Gallery application should pay particular attention to the relevant integration requirements.

Key areas to review

SSO configuration:
Publishers should confirm that their application meets the applicable Microsoft Entra requirements for OIDC or SAML-based single sign-on.

User provisioning:
Where provisioning is supported, teams should review the applicable requirements before beginning the submission process.

Application documentation:
The onboarding workflow requires publishers to provide application information and supporting documentation, making it useful to have those materials ready before starting a submission.

Testing and validation:
Teams can use the validation capabilities to identify issues before submitting the application for Microsoft’s review.

These steps could become especially useful for development organizations that have multiple applications moving toward enterprise marketplace or gallery publication.

A potentially smoother path from development to publication

The significance of the announcement is less about adding another administrative interface and more about changing where application publishers can identify problems.

When validation happens earlier in the publishing lifecycle, developers have an opportunity to resolve configuration issues while they are still working directly on the integration.

That can be preferable to discovering problems after an application has entered a formal review process.

For Microsoft, the approach also creates a more structured pipeline for incoming applications. Publishers get more visibility into their submissions, while Microsoft can receive applications that have already gone through a defined validation process.

The practical effect will depend on how comprehensive the validation experience proves to be once more publishers begin using it.

What comes next?

The next significant milestone is general availability, beginning in mid-November 2026.

The worldwide rollout is expected to continue through late December 2026, giving organizations several weeks during the transition to become familiar with the new workflow.

For ISVs, the public preview is an opportunity to test the process now rather than waiting until general availability.

Microsoft’s documentation around App Gallery prerequisites, SSO requirements, provisioning requirements, publishing, and application management will remain important resources as publishers work through the new model.

The bigger shift is toward a more publisher-driven App Gallery process: validate the integration, prepare the required information, submit the application, and monitor the review from within the Microsoft Entra environment.

As the preview progresses toward general availability, the key question for application teams will be how much time and troubleshooting the self-service workflow can save compared with the existing publishing process.

Recommended resources

For teams preparing an application for publication, Microsoft provides guidance covering:

App Gallery publishing prerequisites
SSO requirements
User provisioning requirements
New application publication
Updating or removing existing applications

No compliance changes have been identified as part of this announcement, although organizations should continue to evaluate the change against their own internal requirements and publishing processes.