How to build flutter iOS app without AppStore - ios

I made an app for me and my friends and I don't intend on publishing it on the app store, it's easy to build the apk file for android and send it to them but some have iPhones. Is it possible to build the IPA without an apple dev account, macOS and all those certificates?
I would install it with cydia impactor and renting a mac server to do the build is no problem.I read the post on flutter.dev but it's overwhelming for what I want to do.

It's possible to create an unsigned iOS .ipa without code signing or Apple Developer account.
Run the Flutter app first to an iOS simulator to generate iOS build on /build/ios.
Create a folder anywhere you like with
the name Payload - note that this is case sensitive.
Navigate
to /build/ios/iphonesimulator and copy Runner.app to the
Payload folder you've created.
Compress the Payload folder with
default .zip format
Rename Payload.zip to Payload.ipa

Related

How to install .ipa file from Github Releases

I have an IPA which is signed with the correct profile for an iOS test device that I have. If I airdrop the IPA file, it installs and works correctly.
I have a Github Actions workflow which builds, exports and signs the IPA, and stores it as a release artifact. I want to be able to install that from the Github iOS App or from Safari, but when I download the IPA, it just goes into my files without any action to install. Is there a way to install the IPA in this context?
We used to use AppCenter, which allowed you to download and install the deployed IPA from a page in Safari, so I'm wondering what they were doing differently which instructed the phone to install the IPA instead of downloading it as a file?

Generating an IPA file for a flutter project without a paid dev account

so I just finished a Flutter mobile app and I want to install on my personal iPhone. I know about the 7 days restriction, but buy an apple dev account for 99$/year was a bit too much for me so I used an external service. You pay them a lil bit of money and give them your iPhone's udid and they give you back the certificate and provisioning profile files and you can use an external signer to sign your apps. I have already done this for an app of mine a few month ago. But now I'm struggling with generating the ipa.
How can I generate the ipa file with the free apple account?
He again, so the way to generate an unsigned flutter ipa is by first going to Xcode and changing the build configuration of the scheme to Release :
Click on Runner, and Edit scheme
Select Release for the Build Configuration of the Run schema
And then on the terminal in Android Studio run the following command :
flutter build ios --release
This will take a minute or two and when it's done go to this folder : your-app/build/ios/Release-iphoneos and you should find your runner.app file. Create a folder named PayLoad next to it and copy and paste the runner.app file inside this folder. After that you wanna compress your Payload to get a new file named Payload.zip. Change its extension to ipa and you're done.
You can now use whatever you want to codesign this ipa file.

Flutter ios build for testing

I would Like to know how I can build a release app without registering it to the app store. I would Like to have the APK file and share it with friends for testing purposes without registering the app. Cant find information connected with this.
Thanks!
UPDATE:
Found solution for getting .ipa file which was installed with Cydia Impactor on a real device:
# flutter build
flutter build ios --release --no-codesign
# make folder, add .app then zip it and rename it to .ipa
mkdir -p Payload
mv ./build/ios/iphoneos/Runner.app Payload
zip -r -y Payload.zip Payload/Runner.app
mv Payload.zip Payload.ipa
# the following are options, remove Payload folder
rm -Rf Payload
You can follow this article to make .ipa file. (.apk is for android only, for iOS it's .ipa)
https://medium.com/mλgnξtλr/how-to-export-a-ipa-file-from-xcode-without-a-dev-account-bac8b2645ad3
Keep in mind that, apple is signing build to be installed on real devices, so you have to turn that off, and after making an ipa file, you can upload it to www.diawi.com and get link from there to share it with your friend. This diawi links are not working some times, in that case you can use cydiaimpector tool for installing the build.
For this installation, your friend has to put their apple id and password upon requested, here NOTE that if your two factor authentication is ON, then you have to create app specific password to be entered in.
How to create app-specific password?
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=3&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwiSvpjUo-fjAhXt8XMBHRtBDlUQFjACegQIDBAI&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.imore.com%2Fhow-generate-app-specific-passwords-iphone-ipad-mac&usg=AOvVaw3chF3FoIcfHZLR6jExh_EZ

How to build .ipa and install it on iphone form xcode?

I have installed MacOS 10.12 Using VMware and successfully implemented Ionic 2 app for IOS. I have also generated an .ipa file using the following method:
Clean your project.
Build your project.
Go to products menu -> select build for -> select Profiling.
In project navigator, find your .app product.
Right click on it and click show in finder.
There you will find folder named "Release-iphoneos", in
this folder you will find your .app extension file.
Create a
folder named "Payload", copy that .app file in this folder.
Archive your folder.
After archive, rename your folder to name of
your app and change its extension from ".zip" to ".ipa"
Your ipa is ready for sharing.
From the above technique I got my .ipa file. Then, to install this app on iPhone i am using www.diawi.com . Now the problem is, when i am installing app from my safari browser on iphone download issue is showing. My internet connection is all good. I can also see the installation process on my iphone but app is not installing.
Note: I don't have Apple developer program. I need to build and install this app for testing in different iPhones.
Please suggest any other way to install my app on iPhone or another technique to build and share the app. My configuration is as follows:
Mac OS - 10.12 Sierra(VM-ware machine), Xcode- 8.3.3.
I tried so many articles but not sure where am i getting wrong. please suggest.
For that you will need to be enrolled with the Apple developer program (99$ a year). There is no other way.
Or you need to install it manually by plugging the iPhone in the computer and running the code in XCode (keep in mind that the default certificate will let your app run for 7 days then it will get expired)
to make .ipa file Archive your project and export your binary as developent or deployment.
You can install your .ipa file manually.Connect your iPhone with your computer and drag .ipa file in your iPhone application folder.

Wirelessly install app from XCode on (jailbroken) iDevice

I build my app for iPhone (without code-signing, with help of Jailcoder utility). How to install it on my jailbroken device over Wi-Fi? I need only to install it, without running/debugging from XCode.
As an approach I tried to pack it as IPA and download in Installous, but installation failed with unexpected content error message.
Is there a working method?
I found basic instructions for transferring IPA's to jailbroken iPhones over WiFi here: http://www.ehow.com/how_12098417_send-ipa-ipod-touch.html
Cheers!
I solved it via Installous. Previously the build was not configured for my device and thats why there was an error.
Steps:
archive build in XCode (Product->Archive)
reveal the archive folder in finder, get app folder from it
place app folder into Payload folder and compress this all
change extension from .zip to .ipa
in Installous get device IP adress, than enter it in desktop browser
upload ipa file
You can do it by generating a build, transferring it to your device using sftp, and then installing it on the device by using installipa. Here is a tutorial i wrote on it.

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