Is there anyway I can ad hoc distribute my app without asking for information about the beta-testers device?
In other words, I want to distribute my app to some friends for testing. Can I do this without requesting info from them first?
If this is not possible, exactly what info do I need to get from them before I am able to set up an ad hoc version for them?
Use TestFlight. It will allow you to invite users and will add them on-the-fly. It's a really great tool for managing ad-hoc and beta tests for iOS.
If you do it on your own, the only info you really need is the UDID of their device.
This isn't possible.
All you need is the UDID from each tester. You could suggest they use an app like this to send you their UDID to make things simple for them.
I'm pretty sure you need their device UUID and device name. That way you can add them to the provisioning profile so the app will run on their device, and this also allows apple to limit distribution to those on your list (max 100 devices). You then need to build the app with this provisioning profile, get your beta testers to install the provisioning profile on their device, and then finally install the app.
You could ask your users to download the excellent ad hoc helper from the app store which let's them send an email with all the info automatically generated.
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My Company is building an app which we want the external customers to try out before submitting to the app store. Since in-house builds can only be distributed to employees of the company, what's the best way to get the app to beta customers without going through the app store?
If the customer signs up for a developer or enterprise account and gives us their certificate, is it ok to sign the app on their behalf and give it to them?
Thanks!
Update: Number of devices is more than 100.
If you have less than 100 devices you want to run the app on, you can do adhoc builds and distribute them via your own web server or TestFlight. You will need the UDID of every device that it will be installed on, though. I usually suggest people run Ad Hoc Helper for that. See iPhone ad hoc build using Xcode 4 and http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ad-hoc-helper/id285691333?mt=8
My answer requires devices to be jailbroken.
Since you say you need more than 100 devices, you could fake sign the app. This will allow you to install on as many devices as you need.
P.S. I recommend option #2 on the fake signing link I gave you.
Is it possible to give an ad hoc build for iPhone, without asking for device id?
I want to deploy the app to a couple of people but I don't want to ask for device id to create a profile and all that stuff.
Is that possible?
if not, what is the easiest way to do it?
Simply put, no.
If you're concerned about the complexity of getting the UDIDs from your testers, I recommend having them install & use Ad Hoc Helper, which makes the process very simple (as long as they have e-mail set up on the device).
You can't do an AdHoc build without device ids as that would give you a distribution channel outside of the appstore. AdHoc is designed for testing only
An enterprise account does not have any device id requirements for deployment but you do need to be a company with DnB number etc and pay the $300 annual fee.
Not easily.
Apple likes to control the distribution channel. If you could distribute your app without knowing device IDs in advance, you could make a competing app store. Apple requires that you list device IDs and limits you to 100-some devices, which presumably should be enough for development/testing purposes.
Some possible solutions:
If you're distributing to other developers, they can re-sign the app with their own provisioning profile and certificate (i.e. replace MyApp.app/embedded.mobileprovision, CODESIGN_ALLOCATE=/Developer/Platforms/iPhoneOS.platform/Developer/usr/bin/codesign_allocate codesign -f -s 'iPhone Developer' MyApp.app. Additionally, you might need to specify entitlements).
The iOS Developer Enterprise Program presumably has a higher limit, but I suspect you still need to list device IDs.
A jailbroken phone will run unsigned apps.
No, it's not possible (unless you (and your people) work with jailbroken devices).
Assuming you are not going to put your app on iTunes, I guess you have to ask their device ids, at least for once.
However, once you have their ids, the remaining part would be as simple as to give them an URL. They just go to the URL with their mobile Safari, and can directly download the app.
Here's a link to show how to do that:
http://www.readwriteweb.com/mobile/2010/12/apple-best-kept-secret-how-to-do-ad-hoc-installs.php
This isn't a coding question, but is to to do with beta testing my app and so I think it's relevant for here.
I want to give my app to people to try, such as online friends and my parents, neither of whom live anywhere near me. Am i able to provision an iPod Touch or iPhone for testing my app, and put the app onto that iPod or iPhone without doing it directly from my computer?
Yes, you need to generate an Ad-Hoc build. You get the beta testers to send you the UDID for their phones, then build an Ad-Hoc build targeting those devices and email it to them. They install it by dragging it into iTunes and then syncing their phone.
In reality it can be a bit of a trial the first time you generate an Ad-Hoc build. Apple's docs cover all the facts but lack a simple step-by-step guide. I'd strongly suggest you check out TestFlight - it's free to use and it makes the whole process much easier.
(If you're feeling really adventurous you could try out Anticipation, a simple Ad Hoc distribution tool I wrote that runs on Google App Engine. It's free and open source, so help yourself!)
You are looking for Ad Hoc Distribution in Provisioning Portal. Basically, you will need to create an Ad Hoc Distribution Profile that has the Unique Device ID's of the devices your friends will use to test.
In Xcode, you will build your app with the above-mentioned distribution file using Build and Archive. When You open Organizer and click on the archived app, you will choose Share -> Email. This will open your mail client and attach the .ipa and the correct distribution file for your users to drop onto iTunes and Sync.
You want to look in to Ad Hoc Distribution. You'll create an Ad Hoc Distribution Provisioning Profile on the Provisioning Portal, then Build & Archive, then "Share" the archive signed with your Ad Hoc profile.
Check out this article, it walks you through it and shows a nice way to distribute it online. Note that you have to repeat the process every time you make a change to your app or add a new device to the profile.
You have to create an ad-hoc version of your app.
You need to get the UUID of the users devices. Erica Sadun created an app that helps you doing this. It gets the uuid on the device and emails it to you. Those UUID goes into a special provisioning profile you create in the provisioning center on dev.apple.
For ad hoc deployment I use Hockey Framework. Some php files you put on your webserver with the ad hoc version and the provisioning profile.
Beta testers can then install the app by visiting the website with their devices.
For a review at the customers side we would like to email him a prerelease of the app (it is in a prerelease state, so not available at the iTunes store). What is the best way so he can install the app on his iPhone?
thx in advance
Stefan
You can either do ad Hoc distribution (which requieres the more expensive "enterprise" developer license) or you can ask your customer for his phone's UDID, add it to the devices section on the iphone developer portal, afterwards add the device to the profisioningprofile of your app.
ad Hoc distribution is not necessary in this case. I have 50 Beta testers on my current app and have them all provisioned manually (which is a pain for 50 devices, but still...)
I think you can save the additional cost of aquiring an ad Hoc developer license.
Ad Hoc distribution. See iPhone Developer Portal on how to do this.
I want to create an iphone app for personal use.
Can I just put it on my phone and use it or do I have to go through the iphone store process to get it on my phone?
Thanks.
As long as you have a valid developer certificate to sign the app and you have a development provisioning profile and your device is registered as a test device. For that you need to be registered as an iPhone Developer Program member.
In other words, you have to pay Apple $99 to be able to put your own app on your own phone.
Yes, you can run your own apps on your phone. You need a paid iPhone developer account though.
Purchase a developer account for $99 from Apple. Create a developer provisioning file and build to your device. The annoyance will be the provisioning file is good for a limited time, requiring you to update it periodically and rebuild.
To run an app on an un-jailbroken iDevice, it needs to be signed. Registered developers get personal signing keys (and also have to register the device) which lets them test their apps. They also can do ad-hoc distribution, meaning compiling and signing an app so that other people can use it without being registered. This is limited in the number of users who can use it though.
Enterprise developers can sign apps for internal distribution, sorta like unlimited ad-hoc, but that program is expensive and unnecessary for what most people do.
As pointed out by others here, you can sign up as a developer to temporarily install apps on your device for testing purposes, but you would constantly need to renew your phone's installed provisioning profile to keep using it over time.
The only way to permanently put your own application on an un-jailbroken phone is to publish it to the app-store and download it through iTunes. Of course, Apple would need to accept the app so you would need to face the same regulations as other apps sold via iTunes, and your app would be public to everyone.