I have found a problem trying to install an ad hoc distribution on my itunes.
1) I have distribution certificate
2) I have distribution profile
3) I have add entitlements.plist, although from what I read this is no longer required. it looks like the plist does not even have a get-task-allow bool anymore to set. I have tried with adding this and leaving it, as well as no entitlments.plist
After compiling (which goes off without a hitch), I drag the application to my itunes. It looks like it works (although no loading time), and asks if I want to replace a mobileprovision file that already exists (if I do it multiple times).
The App icon never appears in itunes, syncing does nothing. Its as if it isn't getting copied, but there isn't an error message to tell me what i'm doing wrong. This was working last month with a different app. I do not understand why it isn't working now...
Thanks,
Chris
If you are running iOS 4, you can use over-the-air distribution to install an AdHoc build directly from Mobile Safari. This is a little painful to setup the first time, but removes the hassle of having to mess with iTunes from the process.
http://jeffreysambells.com/posts/2010/06/22/ios-wireless-app-distribution/
Related
I have been reading several tutorials and watching some iTube videos to see how I best prepare my app for Ad Hoc distribution. However the information I got is not really consistent, it goes from the 5 step explanation from the Developer Center of Apple to a almost 3 minutes video, where I would have to set some Code Signing options in XCode, create and zip the Archive etc.
My questions:
1.
Is there a tutorial available, which explains everything required, but not too much? I somehow feel, for instance, that code signing is not really required.
2.
After I tried to install the app using iTunes, the synch claimed that it was not able to install it. Is there some log available in iTunes, so I can check for further error details?
3.
How about switching from Ad Hoc distribution mode to normal developer mode? After I followed the steps from the video and prepared my app for Ad Hoc distribution, I was not able to install it on my device anymore, I got the error
Build target Abiliator
Check dependencies
[BEROR]CodeSign error: code signing is required for product type 'Application' in SDK 'iOS 5.0'
This is the video tutorial on iTube I followed: Demo of iPhone app Ad Hoc distribution
Thanks for your feedback and have a great weekend.
OK, looked up the Error
" the following job tried to hijack the service..." and saw that a reboot of the iPhone may solve the issue... and guess what, I was chasing a phantom all day long.....
It works perfectly.
So last hint for anyone, having a similar issue, after installing an app via Ad Hoc the first time: Reboot iPhone, otherwise the app may crash.
Cheers and now good nite :-)
PS: Just to round this thread up here the steps I did at the end (as mentioned, I am using XCode 4.2.1) :
Added my device on the Provisioning Portal (this had been done long time ago, however it is an important step, as the beta testers device IDs also need to be registered here before you re-create and download the distribution profile)
Created and downloaded an iOS Distribution Certificate in the Provisioning Portal
Imported the certificate in my Keychain
Created a Ad Hoc Provisioning File in the Provisioning Portal
Downloaded that profile
Double clicked the profile, which added it to the XCode Organizer Provisioning Profile Section)
Added the options Any SDK and Any iOS SDK in for Ad Hoc Distribution Code Signing Identity in the Code Signing section of my project AND my target and set the values with my Ad Hoc Provisioning File I just created and imported
Made sure the option in my app .plist file "Application requires iPhone environment" was set to true
Ran a clean (Product / Clean) and then a build only (Product Build)
Made sure the app was not installed on my iPhone (as I was testing before via XCode)
Copied the target (group Products via Show in Finder) to iTunes via Drag and Drop (I dropped it into the Media section)
Copied the Ad Hoc Provisioning File into iTunes via Drag and Drop (also to the Media section)
Made sure the app was checked for the synch, synched iTunes with the iPhone
Lastly rebooted my iPhone! However, I am pretty sure, that this might occur on the Developers device only. I assume that the reason for that was a process, still remaining on the iPhone, from my last test via XCode.
I did not use an entitlements file. I have actually to find out, what that file is really for, I have read that it might be required only, if using iCloud. And XCode 4.2 developers, there is nothing like File / New / Entitlement Template anymore in XCode. The file is created as soon as you check the option Entitlements and give the file your desired name in the Summary tab of your target.
You may also want to download the iPhone Configuration Utility from apple
I will also recommend this to my beta testers, as it allows you to see the console log of the iPhone, which of course might be very helpful in case of errors.
Hope this summary helps others, setting up their app for the first Ad Hoc distribution.
Cheers, René
code signing is simple.
first you create a mobileprovisioning profile for your apps bundle identifier also add the devices you want to built the app for. for adhoc build do it in distibution tab. download it, double click add it to keychain.
now you tak your app in xcode.select coreect profile(code signing). set command line build to distribution, oh i forgot create a new file(entitlements.plist) set debug inside it to false, add its relative path in the target, just above codesigning specified. now select the iosdevice on top left(where you select the simulator) press command+b to build the app. the app would be in the products folder(at the bottom) locate it in finder drag it to itunes, may be provisioning profile too, and sync it. done.
Go to https://developer.apple.com/devcenter/ios/index.action and login. You can find 'iOS provisioning portal'. And after going there, choose 'Distribution' section. Select "HOW TO", you can find necessary steps there.
I was able to go through all the horrible process of builing the app for ad-hoc distribution.
But I can't install it in an iphone from iTunes. It shows an error message after installing the app, then another pop up appears that says "Some items bought from the iphone, including "Blendr" couldnt be transfered to your iTunes Library because you have no autorization to use them in this computer.
It also gives the option of allowing this computer to use the items bought in the iTunes Store by selecting Store > Autorize, but the owner of the phone doesnt know his login/pass and also I need to make this proccess as fast as possible, since I will be installing this app to many phones, is there a way that the iphone doesnt sync with my iTunes and just installs the app?
Thanks
EDIT:
I figure out that iPhone was jailbreaked, so that's the reason of that error message. But I tried with an iPhone 4 not jailbreaked & iOS 5(my app is developed using iOS 4) and I couldn't drop the app in it, no error message whatsoever..
Any ideas?
You may want to check out Test Flight which is a free service that lets you manage builds and distribute them to your users for testing. It uses some funky provisioning services in iOS that allows their app to be installed and then to provision the user's device for your app. It's pretty cool and really simplifies the whole Ad Hoc distribution process.
Now, truth be told, I've only played with this service a bit, and it was about a year ago. My sense is that to use it effectively, your users have to have some savvy about what is going on to be successful with it. I have not looked too deeply into it lately, but they are still in business, and it's been over a year since I tried it. I would check it out! I plan to do just that for my next project.
EDIT:
As far as using the "traditional" Ad Hoc methods... I have always distributed Ad Hoc builds (.ipa files) along with the Ad Hoc distribution profile used to build the ipa file to users via e-mail. Users need both files. And I have always instructed users to save the files to their desktop, launch iTunes, connect their device, drag/drop the saved files onto their iTunes Library, then sync. It should be that simple.
The other errors you're seeing seem unrelated to installing an Ad Hoc build on an iPhone that has been provisioned to use it. iTunes seems to do a lot of stuff automatically around making sure it has everything downloaded from the cloud that you bought, that it's all on the devices it's supposed to be on, etc. That is all ancillary to the Ad Hoc process, except that you do have to sync your device to get the Ad Hoc build installed, so there is no avoiding having iTunes do all it's housekeeping.
Perhaps the thing to do is to resolve all those other iTunes issues before trying to install any Ad Hoc software. That is to say, get things cleaned up so that iTunes is happy with the iPhone in question when it is connected, and is able to sync it without errors. (I know; easy for me to say. But I think you have resolve those issues first.)
Instead of using a Distribution AdHoc you can create a Developer Certificate adding all the phones you need to install it to, you add the new certificate to all phones and you will be able to install it directly from XCode. Hit Run and Enjoy!
I am in beta testing stage for an application.
Some of my beta testers use Windows 7 and run iTunes within.
Some of them are just fine but a few observe some rather strange behavior.
That is: Neither the *.ipa nor the *.mobileprivision file can be dragged and dropped into the Apps section of the Mediathek within iTunes. (Doing so the icon indicates that the object cannot be dropped within iTunes)
We tried File/Add to Mediathek ... and that does not work either. No error message but the app does not show up and when adding the mobileprovision file for a second and third time no message comes up that asks whether to overwite the existing mobileprovision file.
I tried google and the search within stackoverflow but did not find anything that matches my problem.
Any suggestion is highly appreciated!
Probably not a direct answer to your question - but a workaround:
Have you tried http://testflightapp.com? Lets you send beta builds to your testers over the air without them having to go through iTunes. And it's free.
No affiliation - just a satisfied user.
Agree with Abizem. Testflight is a good, painless way of sending out builds. If you absolutely have to use the mobileprovision and .app route, just copy the mobileprovision file and do a sync. Check if that is getting added to the device (the UDID in the mobileprovision might be incorrect)
Note: the .app file will appear as a folder on a Windows system. The entire folder needs to be dragged in this case.
If all of your testers use iOS 4 you can drop the two files on your file server and let them open the website from there iOS device. It is really simple and they don't even need a PC for testing:
http://buzzworks.de/blog/announcing-developer-framework-hockey
I really combed this site and others. I read and re-read the related links here and the Apple docs. I'm sorry, but either I am obviously missing something right under my nose, or this Apple profile/certificate stuff is a bit convoluted. Here it is:
I have a product in the App Store.
I have updated it several times and users like it.
My development profile recently expired just when I was improving the app for its next release.
I can run the app in the simulator.
I can compile and put the distribution build on my iPhone just fine.
I went to the Apple portal and renewed the development profile.
I downloaded it and installed it in Xcode.
I see it in the Organize window.
I see it on my iPhone.
I CANNOT put the debug build on my iPhone to debug or run with Instruments. The message is that either there is not a valid signed profile or it is untrusted.
I subsequently tried to download and install the certificate to my Mac's keychain.
Still no success.
I checked the code signing section of Project settings and also for the target and the root. All appears to indicate that it is using the expected development profile for debug.
Yes, I had deleted the old profile from my iPhone, from the Organizer. I cleaned the Xcode cache and all targets. I have done all of this several times and in varying sequences to try to cover every possibility.
I am ready to do anything to be able to debug with Instruments in order to check for leaks or high memory usage. Even though the distribution compile runs fine on my iPhone and plays well with other running processes, I will not release anything without a leaks/memory test.
Any ideas will be appreciated. If I missed something obvious, please forgive me - it was not due to just posting a question without searching for similar postings.
Thanks!
All problems solved! I am very happy this all happened because I learned so much about Xcode, keychains, certs and provisioning. Unfortunately, there is not a simple answer. Here are the highlights:
I needed to recreate the ad-hoc profile and install it on my device. (That was MY BIG oversight and the reason the dist build no longer ran on my device.)
Between the very first time I created my profiles and the date my development profile expired, I upgraded to the 3.1.3 Xcode SDK.
It seems that this now means you need 2 entitlements files; a debug version with the get-task-allow checked and a distribution version with get-task-allow unchecked. Each need to be set in the respective settings.
In Project settings, I needed to set both my working directory and intermediate directory to the build product directory.
BIGGIE - I had to double click on the target and reset the appropriate code signing profile. There was an old profile name still there for some reason! Now, I can debug, and drop my distribution on my device without a hitch.
So, in summary, I believe that my original problem (not being able to debug after renewing my dev profile) and the problem that resulted from all my efforts to fix the first were caused by:
the fact that I upgraded to 3.1.3 during my dev cycle
my own oversight (I apologize to Apple for my criticism)
an Xcode quirk (the old profile name hanging around in target settings).
I hope this helps others. The best advise I can give is to take a day off and then create a new empty project, going through the same process step by step.
Thank you all!!
Try re-creating your development mobileprovision file on Apple's site. Be sure to delete all old copies from Organizer (including those on the iPhone itself).
I am totally aware of billions how to and forum discussions out there about this issue. Because I could not find the solution I'm writing here.
Typical situation: I want a co-worker to test my App. I thought on Ad-Hoc distribution. I followed every kind of tutorials. But I receive always a "valid signer" issue in iTunes.
Basically:
1) have a distribution certification which works like a charm to upload apps to iTunes;
2) add UUID number of my friend's iPhone in the portal
3) use the same App ID I used till now for the AppStore xxxxxx.* so that in the Bundle Identifier I can insert, like always for the appstore, com.mydomain.nameoftheapp
4) create a provisioning file, Distribution, where I check my and my friend's iPhone
5) add it to xCode, dragging it to icon in the dock
6) create the Entitlements.plist and uncheck the only field in it
6) create a copy of Release, named Distribution and set it active
7) leave untouched the parameters in the PROJECT
8) in the TARGET, add the Entitlements.plist in Code Signing Entitlements and the provisioning file (which is present and black, not gray) under Any OS Device, leaving blank Code Signing Identity
9) Add an icon, like always, PNG 57x57
Now, I clean all the targets and then I build. Drag both the mobile provisioning file and the .app to iTunes. Rather than to send it to my friend, I try with my iPhone. But the error is always the same. Can't install because of not valid signer...
Can you help me? I can provide you with screenshots and everything it may help...
Thank you so much!
Fabio
I had the same problem, the process described in this post from the Apple developer forums solved it for me:
Remove any versions of the
application from iTunes.
Drag the mobile provision file to iTunes (it seems like nothing happened but continue on)
Sync the iPhone (again nothing should appear any different)
Drag the app to iTunes
Sync the iPhone a second time.
Good luck!