Basically the title.
Some Context:
I'm working on a simple Electron app which will be used inside of the company I work at. I just got the publisher and update process working on Windows using electron-builder. I am now trying to get it to work on Mac.
I've created a certificate for testing purposes. My question would be if I can use said certificate to sign the app and make electron-updater accept the certificate.
The application will only be used by a few dozen people, so signing up for the Apple Developer program seems like a waste.
Thanks for reading, have a nice day.
Related
Got a new SSD for my mac (so it is like starting over), and am trying to set it up for Xamarin iOS development (again). After much fun with Apple procedures I am ready to upload to the App store, but get this message:
This message pops up when I am after the Archive is built, after I select Upload (after Sign and Distribute). It seems the important part is Authentication failed Sign in with the app-specific password you generated.
Sign in? Sign in to what? I have my app specific password, but what do I do with it?
There certainly seems to be a lot of web pages trying to push me to appcenter.ms, but I should not be forced to use a Microsoft service to distribute my app and do not wish to go that route at this time.
Below are some hints to help others who like me are not full time iOS app developers and are tired of massive web pages explaining the process.
Important things to know/remember for Xamarin/iOS development (obviously you need a Apple developer account, need to install XCode, VS, Xamarin):
you need to tell XCode your Apple developer credentials
you need to tell VS your Apple developer credentials
you need to tell Apple the UID of your build box, test devices
you need a developer certificate and distribution certificate from Apple
you need to create two provisioning profiles, one for development and one for distribution
somehow building a Xamarin iOS demonstration project in VS on my Mac made the iOS simulators available to other projects
you may need a special Apple intermediate certificate (AppleWWDRCAG3.cer) and install it, even though various webpages said that was only necessary if your XCode was an old version (I had the latest XCode and still had to find/install it)
There isn't much documentation regarding the ios side of testing on test lab, especially regarding ci. I am currently trying to set up testing on test lab on ci (bamboo), but not being well versed with all things ios, I have found myself wondering that the best way to go about this is.
First off, signing is a big issue. It seems the easiest way to sign is using a developer cert, but I want to know if either a distribution or enterprise cert would be more appropriate. When trying to sign with either of those I get errors though. Reading about these certs has almost made me confident that they are more geared towards releasing rather than testing. But the fact that they won't be tied to a user is attractive. Which cert is best to use and why?
As for actual implementation, I was considering the fastlane firebase plugin but am not sure if there are other alternatives other than simply using scripts.
Any information would be appreciated.
Update:
We decided to opt to use a standard iOS Developer certificate that was assigned to a general account for our machines. Using this certificate, we were able to sign the resulting build and then used the Firebase Fastlane Plugin to send it over to Firebase. Ideally though, we wanted to sign using an Enterprise or Distribution cert to avoid having a Developer cert exist on our machines, still hoping to hear if anyone knows about how to do this :)
Developer cert is fine. Test Lab is resigning the app anyway when running the tests.
Some CI systems already provide an integration with Test Lab. If not, you have a few client apps you can consider. In no particular order:
gcloud, 1st party support
flank, 3rd party test runner with active developer(s)
Fastlane, where AFAIK multiple 3rd party plugins are available.
Multiple websites offer the possibility of downloading app(s) directly from their site, without the use of the App Store (emu4ios.net, iemulators.com, gba4iosapp.com).
By following the guidelines provided on these sites, the app will be downloaded and installed on my device.
My question is, how is this achieved, and how may I accomplish this with my own app/website?
You need an enterprise certificate. And as soon as you do this, your certificate will be revoked. However if the user sets their day back before the certificate was revoked the app will install properly.
Please note, enterprise certificates are expensive, and its probably better you buy the normal developer package.
I'm developing an iPhone + iPad app for a client who doesn't have a Mac and are not willing to give their Apple ID to me so that I could sign and submit the app for them.
Is there any way for them submitting the app giving that I provide them all the necessary screenshots and Xcode project folder?
I somewhere read (can't find again) that I could also send them Signing Tool and that will do the job. Is this correct?
I don't have a Dev license.
Edit
The client has the Dev License.
If you can trust on a third party then you can go with App Cloud -
http://support.brightcove.com/en/app-cloud/docs/step-step-guide-publishing-apple-app-store-using-windows
It requires some info from you and will compile and submit app for you.
I didn't used this but seems it will work in your case.
You are going to have great difficulty submitting an app without a dev licence. For starters, you'll need to purchase a iOS Developer account to verify your system as well as an additional iOS testing platforms you are using.
You should start by creating your own Apple ID here. From there, you can provision your system and submit an App (once you have obtained the correct keys).
I have posted this question on SO since I think it is the most logical place to find people with a lot of experience with the iOS Enterprise program.
For my company, we are developing an in-house app. We would like to deploy this app with the minimum effort required on the user's side <1>, as it should be possible to quickly install it for incoming colleagues. Additionally, we can't always guarantee an up and running internet connection at install time <2>. The in-house app is to be downloaded on our premises from a webserver through wifi.
We are currently not enrolled in the enterprise program, as we're investigating whether or not our goals can be realized.
As for <1>, what we've found is that UDIDs are not necessary to include in the provisioning profile for enterprise deployment. What is needed, is a provisioning profile. Now, here are my first concrete questions:
are any additional steps necessary before a provisioning profile can be installed?
can the provisioning profile be embedded within the app as can be done for OTA betas? This would save a user the step of installing the profile.
For <2>, the following issues come to mind:
here it states that access is needed to ax.init.itunes.apple.com and ocsp.apple.com. The former for querying the max allowable GPRS app file size. It doesn't sound relevant when your goal is to distribute over wifi, but the page says "If this site isn’t reachable, installation may fail." so it does concern me a bit. The latter one seems less severe as it is stated that "Inability to contact or get a response from the OCSP server isn’t interpreted as a revocation", which means that it should be possible to not contact this server right away.
I'm assuming that I can use any URL scheme to point to a local server that provides the app bundle and that there are no restrictions on server configuration.
Summarizing the two: is it possible to install an in-house app from a local server without a functioning internet connection?
Thanks for the help; it's greatly appreciated. As I have no prior experience with Enterprise deployment, it is tough to be confident that I'm not missing out on the nitty gritty details in Apple's documentation.
Provisioning profile can be embedded.
Your employee's devices requires internet connection when they are downloading the app, so that the device can contact Apple servers you mentioned.