Is it possible to deploy an APP to apple app store, but only allow internal company user to download the APP by their own? Thanks.
Yes it is possible with Apple Enterprise Developer Program.
The Apple Developer Enterprise Program allows large organizations to develop and deploy proprietary, internal-use apps to their employees. This program is for specific use cases that require private distribution directly to employees using secure internal systems or through a Mobile Device Management solution.
Just to augment what others have said there. The Enterprise program is what you want. It allows you to distribute your app to as many devices as you like. But as it's not going through the Apple app store, you will have to work out how you want to do it. There are third party servers out there for doing this sort of thing.
You can also simply "roll your own" by simply creating a web page on your LAN with a like to the downloadable app. The Apple documentation has the details on doing that.
Also note one difference between an Enterprise app and a app store app, is that the Enterprise app certificates will need to be renewed every year. Which means that you will need to update the app every year or it will stop working.
Related
How does apple decide whether an app is in-house? Is there a setting that I need to look into? Apple has rejected my application saying it is an in-house app and I cannot publish that app under Apple Developer Program.
They want me to have Apple Developer Enterprise Program to publish that app. I'll be thankful for any help.
EDIT: Here is the message from Apple
We found that your app is an in-house app, intended for employees or members of your organization. As such, it is not appropriate for the App Store.
For information on distributing proprietary, in-house apps, please refer to the iOS Developer Enterprise Program.
If you cannot - or choose not to - revise your app to be in compliance with the App Store Review Guidelines, you may wish to build an HTML5 web app instead. You can distribute web apps directly on your web site; the App Store does not accept or distribute web apps.
HTML5 is the major new version of HTML and enables audio and video to play natively in the browser without requiring proprietary plug-ins. Using HTML5, web apps can look and behave like native iPhone and iPad apps, and using HTML5's Offline Application Cache, a web app can work even when the device is offline. With web apps, you have flexibility to deliver as much or as little functionality as you desire.
To get started with iPhone or iPad web apps, please review the Safari Client-Side Storage and Offline Applications Programming Guide.
For a description of the HTML elements and attributes you can use in Safari on iPhone, check out Safari HTML Reference: Introduction.
I guess there can be many ways by which Apple can think of in-house apps and one of these can be your App Description. Here is the response from Apple that I received.
Hello,
Thank you for your response. The Application Description confirms that
the app will be used by employees of your company to stay connected
and informed of daily tasks and company information. If the app will
have an open registration and not limited to the internal use of your
company, please take the time to modify the Application Description by
providing this clarity and also accurately describe the app's features
and functionality available to all users.
Otherwise, the app is not appropriate for the App Store, and it would
be best to be distributed via the iOS Developer Enterprise Program.
As #Paulw11 said, Apple can even decide that your app is in-house if it doesn't allow everyone to use and limited to a group of people.
As far as i can understand, you are trying to publish your app from your Apple Developer Account which has "Developer Program of 99$" activated.
But to publish in house application, you would require an iOS Developer Enterprise Program which costs 299 $ yearly.
You have to enrol yourself to that and then publish the app via, your Enterprise program
Please respond accordingly if your intend was NOT to release your app as in-house application, will edit the answer accordingly
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 was asked to do a recruitment app that will recruit people for the company, so of course it will be free. When I released it, it got rejected for being very basic.
Now the client want to just release it through their site if apple don't want to accept it.
I know how to create the .ipa file through adhoc disribution which is what I use to give them copy and test it by putting it on a test site so that they can download it on their iphones.
But this is only for testing purposes, only the phones registered as devices on the dev account can download the file successfully.
So is it possible to release an app that will be used by users successfully without submitting it to apple?
With an Enterprise account you can more or less host your own private app store for an unlimited amount of devices and distribute in-house without Apple.
With a Developer account you can run ad-hoc installs via TestFlight or comparable services for up to 100 devices.
The new iTunes TestFlight integration announed at WWDC14 allows for 1000 devices.
The only solution that will look truly professional is the Enterprise App Store and it requires you to have a DUNS and an approval from Apple, but generally with a DUNS you're set. It's $299 instead of $99, but that's not so much money for most companies that have a DUNS. Also you can't use that account for publishing apps to the public App Store.
In general, yes it is possible: you can release an enterprise app outside the app store, provided that your company has the requisite enterprise agreement.
However, this is intended for internal use, and while I haven't read the agreement myself, I believe that distribution to the public at large would likely be in breach. (EDIT: As Zaph points out, this is in fact explicitly disallowed.)
The situation you're describing would fall outside this.
Moreover, from a user experience standpoint, it's unreasonable to expect prospective employees to download an application from outside the app store.
This is not only technically difficult for a lot of people, but it would look incredibly unprofessional, which is the opposite of what you're after in a recruitment app.
No. Apple restricts the apps available to users only to those on App Store.
(Actually, not 100% true - you could release the app on Cydia and target only jailbroken phones, but I suspect this is not what you mean to do.)
Alternately, make a web application, using JavaScript/HTML/CSS. Anyone can use a web application, it can be installed on the launcher screen, and it does not require App Store, just a web server somewhere. If you need persistence, you might also want to look into manifest files and offline apps. Especially if your app is basic, you can make it look and feel almost as a native app using one of the very nice web frameworks such as jQuery Touch.
However, you might just leave it as a webpage - why would you restrict your recruitment pool only to people willing to install your app?
tl;dr: You can't release an ObjC app except on AppStore.
There are already multiple answers to this question, probably because it is not specific enough.
Let's gather all the information that's necessary here:
If you want an app for a company (given that you recruited people through the app, i.e. people who used the app would join the company), you should use the Enterprise Program.
If the app is meant for the general public (in this case, possibly, you would like the app as a branding, promoting app for the company), you cannot use the Enterprise account, since it violates Apple's terms. As an example, see this funny case: http://www.imore.com/how-gameboy-emulator-finding-its-way-non-jailbroken-devices
AdHoc and TestFlight should not be used for a release app. AdHoc only is meant to be used for testing purposes. Introducing non-developer related devices into your AdHoc profile would mean termination of your dev account (e.g. this aggressive and also funny case: http://www.intomobile.com/2012/07/09/apple-goes-after-sites-selling-activations-ios-6-beta/).
Finally, two interesting notes:
There is no limit to the number of devices in an Enterprise Program app. It's not 1K, at least the information out there says the opposite (e.g. the case with the link in 1). The 1k device limit will be for beta testers with TestFlight (according to http://www.neglectedpotential.com/2014/06/testflight/).
An Enterprise account cannot publish apps to the public on the AppStore (see this FAQ: https://developer.apple.com/support/ios/enterprise.html -if it doesn't work, you can load the cached version from Google, etc.). Thanks to Departamento B for this information I didn't know about.
I'm in charge of developing an application for my company. It'll only be used by my company. I found the Enterprise Program.
I read
iOS Developer Enterprise Program
but I also read something about MDM iOS that I need to implement.
Is MDM needed to distribute my app? Also, how will my coworkers be able to download the app? How does Apple know they are authorized, and not some random guy who found the link on Google?
You don’t need to do MDM for the enterprise program as far as I know. As for preventing people from downloading the app, I think you just have to keep the link private, or put it behind a URL that can only be accessed on your company network or VPN. And of course, require login, so someone can’t access your internal information just by downloading the app! Presumably, Apple will revoke your enterprise privileges if they find you are abusing them.
Source: I worked at a company that used enterprise distribution for internal beta distribution, among other things.
One of my clients has 30 iPads that are used with an in-house developed app. The "Ad Hoc" distribution model is easy to implement if the number of deployed devices is less than 100. This approach is sometimes described as a "Beta test" approach, but that's just one common use for it.
See these pages:
https://developer.apple.com/library/ios/documentation/IDEs/Conceptual/AppDistributionGuide/TestingYouriOSApp/TestingYouriOSApp.html
Ad-hoc Deployment
I have an iOS app which i want to distribute to my clients. I have almost 30 companies as my clients. Every company has their own webservice from where i get their data. Functionality and graphics will be same for every company. I think i need iOS Developer Enterprise Program to distribute my app to my clients. There are couple of things i am wondering:
1- My clients are companies, not my co-workers. Is there any legal issue if i use iOS Developer Enterprise Program to distribute app to my clients?
2- Do they need to register for any iOS Developer Program to use my app?
3- I went through apple's site and i didn't see any fixed number of devices for iOS Developer Enterprise Program. Is there any?
4- I don't want that any of my client company knows about other so i am not giving them any option to select their webservice when app is installed. It means that i will make seperate binary for every app. Do i need 30 different app ids and provisioning profiles for that or can i use only one? What is the best way to distribute app in this situation?
Thanks in advance.
You can't use the Enterprise program to distribute apps outside of your own company, instead you should look at developing custom b2b apps, these can be distributed through the app store, but aren't visible to normal users.
https://developer.apple.com/programs/volume/b2b/