Downloading App update OTA from Amazon Aws s3 iOS - ios

Question

I'm looking to create in app updates, currently my app creates a signed url for my plist file in my Amazon was s3 bucket, I've also created a signed url for my .ipa file and stored that signed url in my plist file, as can be seen below:
URL Call in App:
NSMutableString *downloadURL = [NSMutableString string] ;
[downloadURL appendString:#"itms-services://?action=download-manifest&url="];
[downloadURL appendString:plistURL];
NSString *ipaDownloadString = [NSString stringWithString:downloadURL];
[[UIApplication sharedApplication] openURL:[NSURL URLWithString:ipaDownloadString]];
where ipaDownloadString is a signed url appended to item-services://?action etc.
Plist:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
<key>items</key>
<array>
<dict>
<key>assets</key>
<array>
<dict>
<key>kind</key>
<string>software-package</string>
<key>url</key>
<string>https://bucket_name.s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/ipa_name.ipa?AWSAccessKeyId=xxxxxxxxxxxxx&Expires=1435587320&Signature=xxxxxxxxxxxx</string>
</dict>
</array>
<key>metadata</key>
<dict>
<key>bundle-identifier</key>
<string>com.name.DropboxTest</string>
<key>bundle-version</key>
<string>1.1</string>
<key>kind</key>
<string>software</string>
<key>title</key>
<string>Dropbox Test</string>
</dict>
</dict>
</array>
</dict></plist>
The urls are working when you plug them into a browser however, the app won't download the app as it should when the link is clicked.
I have tried url encoding the url in the plist to no avail.
The plist has content-type: text/plain
the ipa has content-type |: application/octet-stream
cheers,
ben

Answer 1

I solved this myself, for those who need this information in the future:
The url in the plist file needs to be signed and and the '&''s in said url need to be encoded in the form & .
I have found the content-type on s3 has no being on the issue at all.
I have included a sample plist:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
<!-- array of downloads. -->
<key>items</key>
<array>
<dict>
<!-- an array of assets to download -->
<key>assets</key>
<array>
<!-- software-package: the ipa to install. -->
<dict>
<!-- required. the asset kind. -->
<key>kind</key>
<string>software-package</string>
<!-- required. the URL of the file to download. -->
<key>url</key>
<string>https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/bucket/path-to-ipa?AWSAccessKeyId=xxxxxxxxxxxxx&Expires=1437661858&Signature=xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx</string>
</dict>
<!-- display-image: the icon to display during download. -->
<dict>
<key>kind</key>
<string>display-image</string>
<key>url</key>
<string>link to image</string>
</dict>
<!-- full-size-image: the large 512×512 icon used by iTunes. -->
<dict>
<key>kind</key>
<string>full-size-image</string>
<key>needs-shine</key>
<true/>
<key>url</key>
<string>link to image</string>
</dict>
</array>
<key>metadata</key>
<dict>
<!-- required -->
<key>bundle-identifier</key>
<string>com.hostname.appname</string>
<!-- optional (software only) -->
<key>bundle-version</key>
<string>1.2.5.0</string>
<!-- required. the download kind. -->
<key>kind</key>
<string>software</string>
<!-- optional. displayed during download; -->
<!-- typically company name -->
<key>subtitle</key>
<string>Command Centre</string>
<!-- required. the title to display during the download. -->
<key>title</key>
<string>Command Centre</string>
</dict>
</dict>
</array>
</dict>
</plist>
I hope this helps someone in the future.

Answer 2

In my case, I replaced & with &
If I use & with & it did not work.