We're a marketplace that connects our contractors with customers. We want to release an iOS app (React Native) for our contractors but we don't want the app to be on the public App Store. For Android we use the Alpha Channel feature, which gives us a link that we can send people to download the app.
The Enterprise program isn't suitable for us I think because we can't ask our contractors to enrol in a program?
The Custom B2B program doesn't seem to be a good fit since we are not selling or white labelling any apps?
Is there another option or am I wrong with the above mentioned assumptions?
Options for Distributing Your iOS App to a Limited Audience
Imagine you’ve built an iOS app for a limited set of users. Since it requires authentication, the app is useless to the general public. Is the public App Store the only option to deploy this app without express shipping devices through the mail?
I’ve identified 5 options that you should know about.
1) The Public App Store
Distribute the app on the public App Store. Only people authorized to use the app can authenticate and use its features. Requiring a small price (such as 99 cents) will discourage casual installations.
Submitting to the public App Store requires an iOS Developer license for $99 per year.
Pros
Apple provides the distribution service – The App Store. It is highly available and well understood by users.
The App Store promotes your company on a highly visible marketplace.
Cons
The App Store approval process is required for initial app deployment and app updates. You may be required to make changes to the app. The approval process used to take weeks, but currently only takes a day or two.
The App Store provides information about your app to competitors including a description of the app’s features, screenshots and an indication when the app is updated.
If you charge a price for the app, 30% of the revenue goes to Apple.
2) iOS Developer Enterprise Program
The iOS Enterprise Distribution program allows a company to distribute their own “in-house” apps directly. It is intended for employees of the licensee company only and that licensee must be a company or organization with a DUNS number. The cost is $299 per year for this license compared to $99 per year for the iOS Developer License. A given device can have apps installed from only one iOS Enterprise License at a time.
*Note: The following is an excerpt from the iOS Enterprise Distribution License Agreement
“Internal Use Applications developed under this Agreement may be deployed on Deployment Devices in two ways: (1) deployment for internal use by Employees, and (2) deployment for use by Customers either on Your physical premises or under the direct supervision and physical control of Your Employees in other locations, subject to Apple’s right to review and approve such deployment as set forth herein.”
Pros
The App Store approval process is not required.
The general public cannot see a listing for your app, purchase or install it. It is not on the App Store.
Cons
The Enterprise program is intended for employees and contractors of the licensee only.
The licensee is responsible for distributing and updating the app. This can be done manually by email, making the app available on an Intranet site, through a Mobile Device Management System (MDM), etc.
The cost is $299 per year for the Enterprise Developer Account compared to $99 per year for the iOS Developer Account.
*Note: The Enterprise program does not enable you to deploy apps to the Public App Store. For that you need to be enrolled in the standard iOS Developer Program.
3) Custom B2B Apps Program
Apple has programs for volume purchasing and custom B2B apps. These programs operate from the online Business Store. The Volume Purchasing Program allows businesses to buy apps from the public App Store in bulk. Custom B2B Apps extend the Volume Purchase Program for custom B2B apps built by third-party developers. The third-party developer determines which Volume Purchase customer(s) can purchase a given app. Such apps are not available on the public App Store but only through the Business Store.
Pros
More convenient for larger distributions. Each individual installation does not require a user to make a purchase through the public app store and expense the cost. Instead, users are given a coupon that they can use to install the app.
Apple provides the distribution service – the Business Store. This provides some features of an MDM.
The general public cannot see the listing, purchase or install the app.
Cons
Requires App Store approval process for initial app and updates.
If you charge a price for the app, 30% of the revenue goes to Apple.
B2B apps are only available to businesses enrolled in the Volume Purchase Program. The Volume Purchase Program is limited to the following countries as of September, 2017: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Hong Kong, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
*Note: An iOS Developer License is required to use the Custom B2B Apps Program. Limiting an app to the B2B App Store is an option when submitting to the Public App Store.
4) Ad Hoc Distribution (intended for Testing)
Ad Hoc Distribution allows you to distribute apps to up to 100 iOS devices for testing. You must register these devices manually by their ID. Devices can be removed/replaced once each membership year). Ad Hoc Distribution is a feature of both the iOS Developer Program and the iOS Developer Enterprise Program. This may be all that is needed for a prototype or trade show.
Pros
The App Store approval process is not required.
The general public cannot see the listing, purchase or install the app.
Over-the-air installation from a hyperlink (hosted on your web server or on an iOS Beta Testing Service *mentioned next) or by emailing to a computer with iTunes installed (and then installing to the device).
Cons
Limited to 100 devices (devices can be removed/replaced once each membership year).
The UDID (Unique Device IDentifier ) of each device must be associated with your provisioning profile. This is a manual process.
Your team must manage deployments and updates.
The related developer provisioning profile expires in one year. This means that the app will run on a given device for a maximum of one year. When the Developer Provisioning profile expires the app will need to be rebuilt with a new provisioning profile.
5) iOS Beta Testing Service: TestFlight
TestFlight is a free over-the-air platform used to distribute beta and internal iOS applications to team members. Developers can manage testing and receive feedback from their team with TestFlight’s Dashboard.
TestFlight makes use of your iOS Enterprise License or Developer License to create Enterprise and Ad Hoc provisioned apps.
Pros
The same Pros as #2 iOS Developer Enterprise Program or #4 Ad Hoc Distribution depending on which iOS license you use.
Distribution and feedback is managed with a free, cloud based service.
Cons
The same Cons as #2 iOS Developer Enterprise Program or #4 Ad Hoc Distribution depending on which license you use minus the Con about managing deployments and updates. According to Apple, TestFlight builds are only valid for 90 days. Apps cannot be opened after that period.
Other Testing Tools and Services
AppCenter: iOS, Android, Windows, MacOS and more.
Firebase App Distribution: iOS and Android distribution.
If you are not selling the app through the Apple App Store and have a target customer base, I would try the Microsoft App Center to distribute the app. It kind of works like TestFlight, but you don't have to worry about their review process.
Now we have one more option to distribute apps supported by Apple as the official way to do exactly what you are asking for: Custom Apps
Engage with businesses and educational institutions to design and build customized apps that meet the unique needs of their organization. With Apple Business Manager and Apple School Manager, you can privately and securely distribute to specific partners, clients, and franchisees. You can also distribute proprietary apps to your internal employees.
There is now (since a while back) another alternative to this problem: Unlisted app distribution
https://developer.apple.com/support/unlisted-app-distribution/
It makes it possible to publish your app on the App Store, but the only way to find the app is by a direct link.
And an important difference of this to Apple Business Manager is that you can distribute the app to both managed and unmanaged devices which makes it possible to let users buy there own devices.
I think that Unlisted app distribution is pretty new but will become more and more common when Apple now (2022) do not let companies with less than 100 employees renew their Apple Enterprise Developer Programs and force those companies to other distribution models.
Applivery allows you upload an app (Android & iOS) and distribute to employees or beta testing, without MDM or Google/Apple Store. They have a free trial...
I want to write app for company where i'm working.
It will work only with internal resources and only via authentication.
How should staff install this app, when it will be done ? How usually people do that(for example ios soft for restaurants) ? I mean that should they use jailbreak for installing it ? I think that apple won't add my app to repository because it won't have possibility to check it.
There are basically two different official iPhone application distribution methods that I am aware of:
- 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 you application from a web site, email, etc. You can upload the app by adding all the devices UDID you want to share the app on provision profile, then generate a link on testflightapp.com/
- 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.
I am an individual developer who has written an ipad app for a company. They have bout 30 devices they want to put it on, so my current plan is to create a provisioning profile that contains all the UDIDS for all those device. So here are my questions:
I surely will miss at least one device and have to either:
a. Create a new distribution provisioning profile for that device
or
b. Add it to the existing provisioning profile, in that case does it void the others
Could I submit something to the appstore that is obviously for internal use and password protect it? The company probably isn't willing to do an enterprise account, and I don't want to maintain it by getting them a new provisioning profile every year when they expire. Any ideas here?
Did you consider Ad Hoc distribution? That would allow you to add the app to a new device without having to make a new provisioning profile.
I haven't done it myself, but this looks useful:
http://www.iphonedevsdk.com/forum/iphone-sdk-development/35818-unofficial-ad-hoc-distribution-guide.html
I love TestFlight for small distributions. Also, see the Apple enterprise distribution documentation. It goes over signing and wireless distribution.
Rather if this is going to be used by the company for a longer period of time then I would advice you to go for iOS Developer Enterprise Program.
The main highlighting lines about Enterprise Program is
"Gain access to resources that will help you develop proprietary, in-house iOS apps that you can distribute to employees or members of your organization."
So you can distribute the app among your company employees directly without need to submit it on app store. That would surely be a better option.
For more details on iOS Developer Enterprise Program, you can check out this link..
iOS Developer Enterprise Program
Lets say I have a client that wishes me to build a business app for the iphone. I would still need to enroll to the standard developer program so that the app can be installed on real devices and the only way for my client to install the app is through the app store? I cannot just distribute it to my client directly?
I'm just reading about how to start developing for iphone, so i'm a total noob. Any information is appreciated.
Thanks,
Yes you do need a developer license. No you can distribute it directly if you have each device setup on your account to do so. I am also pretty sure apple has a special license that makes it easier for handling enterprise applications you might want to send them an email to ask about it.
EDIT
Ok I found a link. It is more expensive the normal but this is definitely what you want for your company. It lets you do adhoc distribution across your company.
http://developer.apple.com/programs/ios/enterprise/
You need a developer certificate to put an app on any iOS device with a stock OS.
What kind of certificate and how many you need depends on the type and amount of distribution you require, and the size of your client's company.
You most likely will need to join the iOS developer program ($99/annum) yourself to install and test your apps as you develop them. In addition you can deploy Ad Hoc installations for up to 100 devices (including your own, your testers, your clients, plus, very importantly, including all repair replacements and upgrade devices).
Your client may not need any license if they only want a few copies and are willing to have you renew your Ad Hoc installs a few times per year.
If your client wishes to deploy an app in their own name outside their company or through the iTunes App store, then they need to apply to the iOS developer program themselves.
If your client is large enough to have a published Dunn & Bradstreet rating, and wishes to deploy only to their employees, then they can apply to the more expensive Enterprise iOS Developer program, and run their own internal app store.
I need to create an IPhone app as an alternative interface to our commercial application. Our application is sold to Hospitals and installed at their location. How do I distribute this IPhone app to the doctors that practice at the individual hospitals?
Apple has a separate Developer Account type for developing and distributing apps that are not distributed through the App Store. The price is steeper ($299 instead of $99).
Details are on apple's site here:
http://developer.apple.com/iphone/
you can use adhoc type under distribution deployment reference link is: http://developer.apple.com/iphone/my/distribution/index.action
Use AdHoc distribution to compile a copy with a special provisioning profile that allows him to install it on his device through iTunes. AdHoc distribution allow you to share your application with up to 100 other iPhone or iPod touch users, and you can share your application through email or by posting it to a web site or server.