Are there limitations to doing iPhone development on an iPhone without a contract? That is, can one purchase a used iPhone from ebay and successfully develop software for the iPhone? Will GPS work?
It will work just fine in general, I've been using a first generation iphone sent from my employer in the states for months as a test and development phone without any issue. I have been using wifi for all network related stuff and tested 3G on my own personal phone using ad hoc builds. This phone doesn't have a valid phone contract and I just flipped it into airplane mode then turned on the wifi.
The gps appears to function fine too, I haven't done anything with gps info via the api yet, but it looks like it is pulling in the data in maps just fine.
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I've written a fairly basic app for the iPhone, which I would like to test on at least one device and then get it onto the market place.
I don't need a data plan, so I'm considering buying an iPod touch, but I understand it doesn't have a camera, video, compass. While I don't need those for my current app, I might for a future one, nothing for sure there.
My concern about purchasing an iPhone, used or new, is that I believe I won't be able to use it without a sim card unless I jailbreak it. I'd prefer not to get involved with jailbreaking, as I'm unclear how it would my efforts to test the app on the device and/or get the app onto the app store.
If I get a new iPhone, I would have to cancel the contract immediately, and my same concern about the lack of a sim card would apply.
I'd be interested in people's experience with this issue, e.g. starting out with iPhone apps and not having an iPhone, is with this issue.
The newest iPod Touch does have a camera: http://www.apple.com/ipodtouch/
You should be able to test nearly everything you'd need to test on an iPod Touch.
Also, if you want to support older devices, it might be a good idea to also pick up a used, older, iPod Touch on eBay or somewhere, so you can test on a non-Retina display.
I have development going on without an iPhone but is preferred to develop with a device cause you could test your codes once in awhile. iPod Touch 4 does have camera. Anyway i think iPhone would still be able to function properly without a sim card just that you can't call. Otherwise getting an iPad is not that bad, since you can run both iPad and iPhone apps in iPad.
You may want to get the oldest slowest model of device running the oldest version of iOS on which you want you apps to be compatible. This may also be a low cost way to get into testing on devices. If your apps are commercially successful, you will be able to afford acquiring more newer test devices, but the old one may be the most valuable one for app testing purposes.
I have been using my old iPhone 3G for developement, mostly because it allows me to see how my code runs on one of the slowest devices out there.
The phone is not currently signed up with AT&T and it still works fine for development. For data access the wifi works fine without a carrier account. It also has the camera and (basic) GPS/mapping.
I could probably pick up a used iPhone 3G off one of the auction site relatively cheaply.
I have a few quick questions about the iPhone software development. I did some research about the topic, but there are a few specific things I would like to ask here, because I will have to estimate the cost of the required hardware and software, before I am allowed to buy anything. I never did any Mac development nor have I ever owned an iPhone, so needless to say this is quite hard for me.
I will buy an iMac mini with 2 GB RAM for iPhone development. I will have to use it at the same time as my regular PC, but the majority of the time I won't use the Mac at all. Do I have to buy an additional monitor, a mouse and a keyboard or is there a better solution?
I will have to port a C library to the iPhone platform and develop an iPhone application that uses the ported library. Do I need anything else than the iPhone SDK to do this?
If I use an external library (see above), can I test the application with the integrated emulator, or is it recommend to buy the device?
I will have to send data to a remote webservice. Aside from this I don't require any other features. Can I just buy the iPhone online from another country (the iPhones here are sim locked), or should I buy one with a contract?
When the application is ready, it will be installed on a few iPhones owned by our customer. Because of security reasons it is crucial that there is no third party involved in this process (i.e. the application should not be distributed on the app store). Is this possible?
If you don't use both computers at the same time it's perfectly possible to use the same monitor and keyboard / mouse for both computer
With the SDK you're set, also, you probably won't need to port the library since C is a subset of objective-C and your library will be available for use with the sdk right away.
The simulator can understand external library just fine
Countries like italy sell the iphone without a contract, you won't have any problem with those. Bear in mind that if all you need an iPhone with a camera then the 3g, 3gs and even the 2g will suit your needs, as all of those have cameras.
Yes, there's an option for distribution called "Ad hoc distribution". Using that you can install you app in your client phone without going thru the appstore
Just trying to getting things straight before signing up in the development program and paying my $99. I have an older iPhone that we'd like to use for development so I don't have to do anything to my current iPhone. Does the device used for iPhone development require an AT&T plan of any kind. We need data access, but the wifi would suffice for that.
Thanks.
You should be OK with just with WiFi if you are not wanting to use the packet data or telephony in your app.
You can develop apps for the iPhone with just an iPod Touch.
HI,
I am new to development for the I phones and got the iphone from USA which is locked to at&t, i have successfully able to develop the apps on it, while it is not unlocked, now i want to unlock it so that i can use it with my local network and also wants to continue the development on it, so is it possible to continue the development on the jailblroken phones for the app store, and what problems may i encounter.
As long as the application is developed using accepted Apple practices (using the official iPhone SDK, and not open-toolchain or something like that) and does not use any private APIs, you should not have any trouble submitting an application just because you tested it on a jailbroken (or carrier unlocked) phone.
To be 100% accurate, jailbreaking and carrier unlocking are against the developer agreement, but I can't really imagine the circumstances that would lead to you being caught.
I have a first generation american iPhone that is jailbroken and works with my local network.
I had no problem deploying a self made app to my phone.
At the time writing I have iPhone OS 2.1.
I haven't yet gone through the process of submitting the application to AppStore.
I'm interested in developing software for the iPhone camera, but I don't currently own an iPhone and don't really want to pay for service. If I were just doing general app development, I'd probably just pick up an iPod Touch, but the Touch doesn't have a camera.
I know I can walk into the AT&T store, buy an iPhone and immediately cancel service. But what can I do with the resulting iPhone? Can I:
... develop apps for it using the native SDK?
... download apps from the app store (over wifi)?
... use it for everything that I can do with an iPod Touch?
More generally, is this just a bad idea for some other reason?
You could jailbreak it and use it on a non-standard plan and pay less money.
You can still develop on a phone after it's jailbroken. You can also still develop on a phone after it has been unlocked. The difference is important:
Jailbreak: You can install applications not available in the app store.
Unlock: you can run the phone on other networks besides it's default carrier (AT&T when in the USA).
Note that you cannot at this time unlock an iPhone 3g running 2.2.1, which it almost definitely will be if you buy it new. You can jailbreak both iPhone and iPhone 3G.
Also be aware that if you buy a new phone, AT&T will charge you $200 to get OUT of your new contract. I think that goes down by 10 or 20$ each month, so that after a year, it's considerably less costly to get out of the plan.
What I suggest is buying a first generation iPhone on ebay or craigslist. First generation iPhones can all be unlocked, irrespective of whether the previous owner put 2.2.1 on them. Also they are much cheaper, have the camera and are totally fine for software development. I was able to find decent first generation iPhones in Seattle just 2 months ago for about $250 - $350 dollars depending on details. Unlocking/Jailbreaking takes a matter of minutes with QuickPwn, and the phone works great as a development platform.
I believe your iPhone must be activated to be used as a target device in xcode. While it would be activated after purchase you would have problems if you cancelled your account and then needed to restore it at somepoint.
If you do wish to support the camera its possible to develop on an iPod Touch - the mechanism for taking a photo is identical to selecting a picture from the library, you specify the source (camera/library) and the rest is handled by the OS with your code receiving the final picture.
If your app is going to be very camera-centric you should invest in an iPhone, but if it's for minor functionality you can probably get by with a touch.
I believe your iPhone must be
activated to be used as a target
device in xcode. While it would be
activated after purchase you would
have problems if you cancelled your
account and then needed to restore it
at somepoint.
No it does not. You can jailbreak to start and it will work fine.