Publish app to App Store using someone else's Mac? [closed] - iphone

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I have built an app using HTML5 / JavaScript, and it works well as a mobile web app, bu tI would like to publish it to the Apple App Store.
I don't own a Macbook, so I'll be relying on using a friend's Macbook. Will I encounter any unforeseen problems with setting up Xcode and iTunes connect etc. when the Macbook I'm using is registered with someone else?
Not having done this before, I'd prefer to get it right the first time, so I'm just wondering if anyone else has found any 'gotchas' while trying to do this?
Thanks for the advice.

You will need to request developer keys from your friend's Mac. This means his Mac will have the private keys in his keychain. For your own safety, you'll want to copy those private keys somewhere safe (your own flash drive, Dropbox, etc) and then delete them from your friend's Mac.
Additionally, every time you want to update your App(s) you'll need to restore these keys.
This is not counting the time you'll spend downloading and installing the developer tools if your friend doesn't already have them installed on his Mac.
Trust me, key management is not something any iOS developer enjoys and by attempting this on an "untrusted" system you're potentially opening yourself up to additional effort and/or security risks.
I'd highly recommend you look at purchasing your own Mac.
However, if that is not an optional at all, at bare minimum insist that your friend setup a new account for you. Use this account for deploying your app. After you're done, backup your entire keychain (this way you won't accidentally miss anything important), and then have your friend delete your profile. This is the safest way to do this on someone else's Mac.
See http://support.apple.com/kb/PH4077 for information about backing up your keychain on OS X.

This is certainly possible. I recommend creating a new user account on your friend's Mac. This will let you have your own environment separate from your friend's. All certificates and private keys will be in your personal login keychain (any provisioning profiles will be system wide, but unusable without the keys and certificates).
Instead of placing the keys and certificates on your login keychain I recommend creating another keychain and putting that stuff there. Protect that keychain with a different password.

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How can I make an app available without adding it to the Apple app store? [closed]

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I want to create an iPhone/iPad application for a restaurant menu. The application works only for this restaurant. I want to install the application without uploading it in the app store.
I don't want to install the application into the devices as developer device.
What options do I have for this kind of distribution scenario?
Look at docu for Enterprise Apps. But then the restaurant needs an Apple Enterprise license, and everybody installing the app must be an employee of the restaurant.
Developper and ad-hoc apps work only for a limited time (3 months if i remember correctly).
Apple offers two ways you can do this. (The third is jailbreaking.)
The older way, an Enterprise membership. This is more designed for large organizations with an IT department:
$300 annually
you deploy directly to the device
terms of the contract say: may only deploy onto devices owned by the business (and yes, they can tell if you abuse this)
apps last 1 year, must be re-signed and re-deployed
kinda labor-intensive and fiddly, especially if the developer and device manager are different people, or use different signing keys; really needs an MDM system to work well
since Apple doesn't review your code, you can use private API if you want. woo hoo.
There's a newer way, which I highly recommend: the B2B App Store.
works with your $100 developer membership
deployment uses Apple for hosting, doesn't expire
needs no special software; works well with Apple Configurator
app is private to whoever you specify
the business gets access by signing up for the free "volume purchase program".
In fact, the whole process is almost exactly like a normal app store app, except that the app is not public. Apple reviews it, puts it in the "secret" store. Developer specifies some Apple IDs; only those Apple IDs can see the app in the store (through the volume purchase interface.) They can install it, AND/OR generate redemption codes for it (which work for anyone.) It's very slick. There's a good 2012 WWDC video about it for dev program members.
https://developer.apple.com/programs/volume/b2b/
Both programs require the business to have a DUNS number. This is generally not a problem.

App bundle protection - signed bundle *may* be modified [closed]

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Maybe you all know that .app bundle is easily accessible for reading via such tools like iExplorer (surpirise for those who thought only iTunes File Sharing allows to access data on iPhone). Maybe you've also read iOS Programming Guide, section entitled 'Installing App-Specific Data Files as First Launch'. Related paragraph estates:
"... Because iOs apps are code signed, modifying files inside your bundle invalidates your app's signature and prevents your app from launching in the future. ..."
That's obivously false, at least to some point.
I've tried to modify several files within SEVERAL free third-party apps purchased from AppStore and sucessfully modified content of several files. Voala, app launched without any problem. The thing is, that I've used iExplorer mentioned above, no hacking, cracking, jail-breaking. Just a development-enabled device, and published, reviewed apps.
What should I do?
The code signing is only verified when the app is installed on the device through iTunes, Xcode, the iPhone Configuration Utility, etc. So the wording of the programming guide is a little misleading.
This probably comes down to performance - there are some very large apps out there and having to verify the checksum of all the application's resources every time it is launched would take too long.
And the point of code signing is not really to prevent tampering, but to detect tampering. Or more correctly, it's simply a way to state that you built this specific binary with these specific resources. The attacker could completely remove the code signing if they wanted.
So there will always be ways to modify an application's resources or even code through debugging, etc. You can't really protect against this.

iOS development and client control-- What are my legal and best options? [closed]

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I work for a company that would like to create an app that we can distribute to our customers. We manufacture industrial equipment and we would like to provide an iPhone/iPad app to our customers that can interact with their equipment.
The problem is that we would prefer that the app not be downloaded from the App Store. We would like for this application to be available for our customers free-of-charge and would also like for them to have the ability to download and install the application on as many devices as they desire. However, we do not want non-customers (ahem, competitors) to be able to download and use our application.
What options are available? We have considered allowing the app to be available through the app store but in that case the app would be locked until the user entered an application key. This would keep the app free to download and it would give us the ability to control who could use our software. I'm not sure, however, if that is allowable by the Apple TOS.
The Enterprise license sounds like a potential option. If it is, what are the specific steps necessary for installing an iOS app on an Apple device if not through the App Store? I'm also not sure if it would break the TOS to distribute our app for this purpose under the Enterprise license. Is that the case?
What options do I have? Please realize, I don't own a Mac and I've never even attempted to write or distribute an iOS application-- I'm 100% new to all of this. Thanks for you help.
EDIT
Thank you all for the wonderful responses that I have so far received. Half of the questions that I have stem from the fact that I can't find the actual TOS agreement that I would have to sign if I became a standard or enterprise developer. (Yes, I've googled it.) Does anyone have a link to such documents?
If you want to distribute your app outside the App Store, you need to get an iOS Developer Entreprise license ($299/year). You're going to need a Dun & Bradstreet (D-U-N-S) number to enroll and can only deploy to 500 (registered) devices.
Edit: Another option would be to demand the user some authentication (such as user/pass) to use the app (think Facebook or Twitter). You could provide your clients with the credentials to ensure only a certain users have access to the app.
I think #ibeitia's answer is the best one, but here's an additional option: put the app on the app store, but make it all-but-useless without a login to your server.
For example, the Google+ app is useless unless you have a Google account.
You'd have to give a login to Apple so they can vet it, and of course I can't guarantee they'll allow it, but it's an option I'd consider.
(If you do go down that route, send an email to Apple's approval team asking for clarification before you start development!)
I work for a company that would like to create an app that we can
distribute to our customers.
From http://developer.apple.com/support/ios/enterprise.html (bold is mine)
I am a developer who wants to create an in house app for my client.
Can I join the iOS Developer Enterprise Program to do that?
The iOS Developer Enterprise Program should be used to develop and
distribute proprietary in-house applications to your own employees
within your own company. As such, your company would not qualify for
direct Program enrollment in this situation. We would suggest that
your client apply for enrollment in the Program, and, once enrolled in
the Program, your client may add the appropriate developers from your
company to their iOS Development Team.
The Enterprise Developer program doesn't allow you to sell your app to your customers. It's the customer, not you, who should enroll in the program.
I think your best bet will be to use Apple's B 2 B program:
http://www.apple.com/business/vpp/
This will allow you to have apps in Apple's business app store (not the ordinary app store), and control who gets the apps. You'd provide the redemption codes to your customers.
btw, I can confirm that providing an app with a login to make it useful would be okay with Apple - I've done it before.
Well your options are really limited.
You could go with the enterprise license but this is still limited to 500 device which still need to be register with the some how. (never had to work with the enterprise license).
But could you not make your app available in the appstore foor free but only make it work with you equipment. Thus make the app search for the equipment (via bonjour of wifi) and only work when it finds the device. This will make getting the accepted a bit harder but will work. There are some IP camera manager that work that way.
If your competitors really want your app they will get it one way or an other.
Just be sure you release an app before the competitors, do that way your company has the advantage.

Is there any way to put an .exe application on an iPhone or blackberry [closed]

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I am working for Bentley leathers and I we have a password calculator (.exe) and I am wondering if I could put it on my iPhone or the compagny BlackBerry so that way it would be easier then to have a ton of paper with me.
No since the operating systems are not windows, why don't you create a password protected website with the same functionality so that you can access that from any device with a browser
Assuming you mean a Windows .exe, no you can't, the iPhone and Blackberry apps run off their own operating systems.
I think yes on the iPhone, but it requires it to be jailbroken.
There used to be a program called iDos of Dosbox (i thing Dosbox) on the app store, It was removed because you could upload, download and run exe files directly from the app (to get the exe's you used that itunes file sharing thing used in those flash drive apps).
They released it as Idos for about a day of 2 but than got deleted (i have no idea why im talking about idos).
Final Answer...
in the new idos (again deleted), they got rid of the ability to run exe's, but if you got the first version of it called "DOSBOX" on cydia, you could probally run some simple exe's on your iPhone (you could also use installous or use app sync to get a cracked .ipa file of Dosbox.
NOTE: I have not tested this! all i know is that when i saw the newer version on dosbox (Idos) on the top 25 list in the app store, i got it. I google searched on how to get more games for it and all these sites had all this "RETURN OD DOSBOX!!!" stuff.
I then read you could us exe's on the original.
Get Portable .NET from http://ininjas.com/repo/
It lets you run Windows .NET exe files from within mobileterminal. To run:
clrwrap program.exe
To compile C# files:
cscc -o output.exe code.cs
Original post (by me):
http://ininjas.com/forum/index.php?topic=84.0
I suppose that password calculator is a software to generate session passwords for the intranet/vpn/whatever.
You can't launch it on Blackberry or on iPhone but your company can order development of this tool for someone and after that distribute it inside the company. I know at least one company who already did it for iPhone. You can order this development. For sure a lot of people will be glad to do that (bu you should go to the Jobs section with this offers). But developer will need a specification with description of password generation.

What happens to my apps after my developer account membership expires? [closed]

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When my paid developer membership runs out with Apple, what happens to my existing apps on the app store?
I know that I cannot add new apps then, but do my existing apps stay? Can I change prices? Can I get paid for sales? Can I update those apps? (Am I missing any questions here?)
One important addition to the previous answers: your apps will NOT be completely removed by Apple, so if you renew your membership later, they will return in the App Store within 24 hours. You do not need to resubmit them. Please note that this doesn't invalidate the other answers, but I thought it was worth mentioning.
What happens to my apps on the App Store if I do not renew my membership?
If your membership has already expired when you renew, your renewal will
activate once you complete the renewal process and any free apps you had
available for download will become available again within 24 hours. Any
paid apps you had available for download will become available again after
you sign in to iTunes Connect and complete your Paid Applications
contract. You do not need to resubmit your apps.
From: https://developer.apple.com/support/renewal/
From https://developer.apple.com/support/renewal/
What happens if I do not renew my iOS
Developer Program membership?
Once your membership expires, your apps will no longer be available on
the App Store and you will lose the ability to submit new apps. You
will lose access to pre-release software, the Apple Developer Forums,
Developer Technical Support, and the Certificate Utility. In addition,
your existing iOS Distribution certificates will be revoked and
invalidated. Finally, if you enrolled in the program as a company, you
will lose the ability to manage your development team.
You will, however, retain your status as a Registered Apple Developer
and will have access to free development resources.
Your apps will be removed from the app store, although it won't happen instantly. This is what an Apple sales rep told me a few months ago.
Most importantly for me, already purchased and installed apps will continue to work. Per the FAQ pointed to earlier:
If I don't renew my iOS Developer Program, will my app still function for customers who have already installed or downloaded it from the App Store?
Yes. If you do not renew your iOS Developer Program your app will still function for customers who have already installed or downloaded it. However, without renewal of your Program you will lose App Store distribution and your app will no longer be available on the App Store.
All the existing apps will not be removed from App Store, only user will not be able to manage their applications on App Store like adding new apps, updating the existing apps.