Apple struck an agreement to acquire Buddybuild, a Canada-based app tools start-up, to enable developers to easily test and improve apps on an ongoing basis.

In a blog post, Buddybuild confirmed its team had joined Apple’s Xcode engineering group to “build amazing developer tools for the entire iOS community”. Xcode is Apple’s suite of development tools for iOS, macOS, watchOS and TVos.

Financial details of the deal were undisclosed.

Buddybuild said its team would continue to be based in Vancouver, Canada, which it described as “a hotbed of developer engineering talent”, and its service will remain available to existing customers to build, test and ship iOS apps to testers.

For Apple, the deal helps with its ongoing efforts to attract developers, and ease the process for apps to integrate with its OS.

According to its website, Buddybuild currently integrates with high profile workplace platforms such as Slack and Trello, with the aim of ensuring a seamless experience across different platforms.

Apple will also hope the buy will help with its ambitions, announced in an earnings call in January 2017, to double its $7.2 billion software and services revenue at the time by 2020.

App Annie figures show app revenue from the Android-powered Google Play and the iOS App Store combined reached $17 billion in Q3 2017.

Apple, despite being outstripped by the number of Android-powered devices on the market, is still significantly ahead in terms of app revenue generated on its App Store, accounting for $11 billion of the total.