How to make a .mobileconfig/profile that downloads a .app file. I have an app that is not for the public, just for friends and i want to make a easy way for them to download for free.
I have searched all over internet without finding how.
You can’t.
As of 2022 Apple supports Unlisted Apps. But you would need to join Apple Developer Program.
Related
I have created a simple music player app that I would like to share with friends and family and not necessarily on the public app store. What would be the cheapest way to do that? From what I understand, I need to pay for a developer membership in order to use TestFlight, but I worry that if I do that, it still might be refused during app review.
Does anyone have any pointers on not getting refused during app review in order to get it on TestFlight? Or is there another way of doing this? The app is super simple, no login, no ads, no transactions involved. It does involve downloading songs from youtube using an api I did not create (freemium based) and using the phones local storage for the song files. Any advice appreciated.
Thanks
There is no other way to share except the TestFlight. You may have other options by sharing UDID, but this is too many hassles.
You will need at least Apple Developer account and have to pay for that. Once you have the account, you can get the UDID from your friends device and share with them by by distribute ios app using adhocs provision.
More details here:
https://developer.apple.com/library/archive/documentation/ToolsLanguages/Conceptual/DevPortalGuide/DistributinganApp/DistributinganApp.html
You can create one ipa file and upload it in diawi.
It will generate one link you can share that link to your family members and through that they can install the app
https://www.diawi.com/
First check the steps how to generate ipa file
I have an enterprise account. I can test apps on my device from XCode. How do I send apps to other people to test?
I believe TestFlight is not available for enterprise accounts. A long time ago, ipa files used to be the way to go. With ITunes being replaced by the Music app on the Mac, the ipa file route no longer seems possible.
I couldn't find any information either on Stack Overflow or on Apple's documentations. Thanks in advance for any suggestions.
You can use over-the-air installation, by uploading the ipa and Manifest.plist to a server and letting the users install the app using an install link like itms-services://?action=download-manifest&url=Manifest.plist . (See this tutorial for example.)
But it's probably easier to use a 3rd party deployment service instead, like Bitwise, HockeyApp, Firebase, etc.
I am an Android developer and I don't really know much about how this iOS building app works.
I currently develop a Flutter application and I share it with my coworkers using TestFairy. So far I share only Android build but we need to share an iOS version now too. Is there a simple and free way to do this? If not with TestFairy maybe with a different tool?
Edit: By free I mean without having to pay for Apple Developer account.
The correct answer is no, there is no way to do this without Apple Developer account.
Maybe you can extract some IPA file from debugging build and install it on an iPhone which has jailbreak, but I think this is not what you looking for.
No you can't. Here is the link, it clearly says you will need enterprise account for distribution through TestFairy
Is there any way to distribute ios applications through my own website, not using app store?
I mean is there any way that enables end users to download the .ipa file from my website with their browser application and install it directly on their iOS devices?
I have looked around in the web and googled it, but it doesn't seem to be any option for it out there, I just want to make sure of it.
Thank You
There are several possibilities, which probably won't match your needs:
Since last month it's possible to test apps on a device without the need of a paid membership.
There's a possibility to deploy an app through a service like TestFlight, but this needs either a profile installed on the device (like HockeyApp) or always new build since the old ones expire after 30 days.
You could deploy an app with the Enterprise Program
The easy way you describe is not possible.
Apart from the options mentioned above there are 2 more methods.
Method 1:
You could ask the user to open a webpage in safari browser with the following link in it.
href="itms-services://?action=download-manifest&url=url of the manifest file"
The app is installed as soon as the user clicks the link.
Method 2:
You can also leverage iOS mdm solutions like Hexnode MDM though its bit of an overkill.
here is a link on how to distribute app without app store
UPDATE:
BuddyBuild service will stop on 1-3-2018, the other alternative I know is https://www.diawi.com
Old ANSWER:
Try BuddyBuild , after making a build you can take link to IPA file and distribute it as shown.
The options include:
App Store (free or paid)
Enterprise Distribution (must be within an organization)
Open source distribution
It does not sound like any of these will meet your requirements, so no.
Further explanation:
Just to be clear, the limitation is not in distributing your .ipa file, it is the ability for users to install it on their phone. iOS requires an app be signed by Apple (from the App Store), from an Enterprise certificate, or from a developer certificate when a valid provisioning profile includes the target device.
Basically there are three ways
App store
With this method anyone with an iPhone can have access to the application. You can distribute an unlimited number of applications like this. Apple gets a 30% cut. Of course, Apple must approve your application.
Ad hoc
You can distribute applications using ad hoc without going through the app store, but you are limited to a maximum of 100 devices. With this method you can distribute your application from a web site, email, etc.
Enterprise
The method is for internal distribution in companies with more than 500 employees. Apple does not provide any more public detail that I could find on this method.
It doesn't sound like any of these methods meet your criteria unless you have fewer than 100 customers and don't plan to exceed that number. It sounds like from the question your customers are not internal to your company.
I would advise contacting Apple. They might be able to arrange some kind of custom distribution deal.
You if don't want to upload your files to the already mentioned web services, you can host your IPA in your own computer and distribute over the internet using ngrok and the approach given by jithin.
I've created a server that does exactly that and also is protected by password. You can check it out here:
https://github.com/Edudjr/IPAServer
To send build to testers or client I am generally using installonair.com which allows to upload IPA file and generate short URL which we can provide to other users and they can download and install easily from that link.
There are other options as well like Apple Testflight, hockeyapp but I found installonair.com is the quick one.
If you have and Enterprise membership you can do this, but it really isn't what they want you to do on a large scale.
Take a look at this question: Deploying an iOS Application Using Apple Enterprise Developer Program
You can use enterprise distribution services like BuildCannon, but you still need an apple enterprise account. I use a custom solution, but it's a pain to maintain.
I recently downloaded GBA4iOS and NDS4iOS! I though they were really cool, and I noticed that they didn't need to be installed from the App Store.
I am a registered Apple iOS Developer, so I can create certificates. I was wondering how I would allow my App to be downloaded from my website. Please help! Thank you! :)
You would need a different account than the regular developer account. Eg. one for enterprise distribution. However, although technically possible doing so would certainly put your account and its certificates on risk.
Google for iOS OTA installations (Over The Air) for more details.
We do this a lot, but within the organizational limits of our company of course.