I may just be looking in all the wrong places, but is there no way to compile a Cocoa Touch application for ARM without paying for a developer account and certificate?
EDIT: To clarify: I am trying to build for a jailbroken device. I simply want to test code on-device without paying for anything.
You're not going to like this answer, but I and everyone else on SO will tell you that developing for a jailbroken device is 10 times worse than developing legitimately with a developer account. It's not really that expensive, and if you don't have a mac, a low end Mac Mini isn't all that costly either. If you would just want to get some mobile handset practice in, might I suggest developing with Google's Android. The SDK is free and you can get a nifty plugin for Eclipse that has a device emulator as well as a GUI builder. The only downside is that the device support is minimal at the moment. But hey, you can be on the bleeding edge of a technological revolution.
Unless you have jailbroken your iPhone/iPod Touch an Apple iPhone Developer account is required.
Related
I'm interested to know if I can have access to all the libraries, ide, etc for the iphone/ipad/macos without paying the 90 bucks(for learning purpose).
Do I have to pay to have access to everything in order to start developing? I'm not talking about the istore by the way. I know that there is a fee for that.
Thanks.
You can download the SDK and simulator for free. If you want to install it on a iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad for testing, or submit to the store, you have to pay the $99.
http://developer.apple.com/programs/ios/develop.html#compare
The simulator is useful for some testing, but it has many limitations. If you're developing applications that use the camera or other hardware devices, certain types of multi-touch, etc you're going to want to try it on a real device sooner rather than later.
Developing for the Mac is, on the other hand, completely free.
You can start developing iPhone/iPad apps for free but you must pay in order to test your applications on real devices. Without paying you can just test your applications in the simulator.
You can use the iPhone Simulator for free, but to install on your device you'll need to join the developer program in order to create the certificates needed to install apps on a real device, even if it's just yours. This assumes that you don't have a jailbroken device.
As you may all know (if not, click here), Apple has finally decided to allow apps created using Adobe Flash CS5's iPod Packager on the store. Owning a PC and not a Mac, this is great news for me as I longed to give a crack to iPod development.
I did try to use a fake certificate (yes I admit it) to publish an app and test it on my brother's iPod Touch (running on iOS 4.0), but the app wouldn't install. Is it because the iPod detected the certificate, or does he need to update his device?
My real question, however, is if it's worth paying 99$ for a developper certificate or not now? I was leaning towards the idea but the restriction has just been relieved (if you'll allow me the expression).
Thanks.
-Christopher
I've done quite a bit of AS3 Hacking along with Objective-C hacking, and on a surface level, the workflows are somewhat similar. There are plenty of differences, for instance the syntax has quite a learning curve, and creating UI elements is a breeze in Xcode, and has to be done by hand in flash (unless you like the way flex looks), whereas tapping into opengl and even using core animation can be daunting to a flash developer used to animating things around the screen.
This is important, because I really don't think it's worth the $99 unless you plan on developing in Xcode. A ton of the power of being an apple developer is in that amazing IDE, and missing out on that makes iOS development sound terrible.
There is however, 1 reason I would still buy it: if you already have an app you'd like to release, and all you want to do is get it on the app store. If you have a game you'd like to try releasing, it's absolutely worth the $99. Even if you were to develop it in Obj-C, there's still no guarantee it'll make it through the apple approval process, so you're not really risking much more than any other developer. What you wouldn't want to do is pick up the certificate, then sit on it and wait for it to expire while you're working in an IDE that has no relation to the program.
Buy the certificate if:
a) You already have a mostly-complete app you'd like to release on iPhone.
or
b) You also plan on setting up a Mac dev environment (and probably not until you have it set up).
Don't buy it if:
a) You don't plan on buying a Mac, using Xcode, or releasing an Obj-C app.
or
b) You are just toying with the idea of making an iPhone app, and haven't made any steps towards it yet.
I would definitely not base your decision on if apple will rescind it's decision or not - it's unlikely that they will not allow adobe packaged apps without good reason, and even if they do, it's the same risk any developer takes when making an app for release on the apple store. Apple can just deny it if they feel like it, and there's not much you can do about it.
Think of the $99 as the cost of the privilege to submit an app to apple for review. Even if you plan on developing on a Mac, Xcode is free, and there's no real reason to get a certificate unless you plan on testing on an iPhone or releasing your app. If you're still in a planning stage, skip it until you're ready to go.
I was wondering the same thing. Looking at the way the Android vs. Apple app thing is moving, I'd say yes -- it's worth paying $99/year to be a real mac app dev.
However -- I don't think that developing on anything other than a Mac with XCode is worthwhile.
Adobe Flash Builder (used to be called Flex) 4.5 also exports to iOS apps ( http://www.adobe.com/devnet/air/articles/packaging-air-apps-ios.html), which is great and all, but the fact of the matter is
A) it requires the Adobe AIR runtime to be installed on the phone
B) memory management is a totally different story between as3 and ios
The result of an auto-conversion is bloated file size and poor performance (see comments here: http://www.adobe.com/devnet/flash/articles/optimize_content_ios.html). and related issue here: Size of the Flash Builder 4.5 application after packaging with iTunes
Not to mention there is no reliable emulator for iOS that you can legally get your hands on... I actually just got a mac mini and XCode -- mac mini ~$500... but XCode is a great SDK, and the emulators rock.
If you're serious about developing for the iPod I would get the developer license and at least a cheap Mac Mini. If you actually develop something you want to release you'll probably want it on the app store. It takes some time to get the license so you should just start the process.
If you like to tinker and don't plan to release anything (or don't want to have to use an app store) playing with Android might be more to your liking. There's no cost to get started or to put your apps on your own device other than actually having an Android device. (The same might be true for Windows Mobile, would have to double check).
I think, yes. It is still worth paying the amount...
Do I need to buy Iphone to develop Iphone applications on MacBook Pro? Or is Iphone SDK for the job?
Thanks.
Technically no, but obviously it would be handy.
Xcode provides an iPhone simulator that can handle most testing (but without support for accelerometer or microphone).
All in all, if you plan on doing iPhone development seriously - get an iPhone.
Technically you could use the emulator with the SDK but you really want some raw devices to test on due to subtle differences.
The iPod touch does a great job for testing apps on a real device. Its performances are very closed to the iPhone and it is much cheaper.
Technically no, unless you building apps related to accelerometer, microphone, sms or auto calling applications. The SDK comes with the iPhone simulator which is more than handy
You can use the Xcode iPhone simulator as well as the iPad simulator to test your code, all of which is free. The only issue will be accessing certain filemanagement which cannot be debugged on a simulator. However, you must have a computer running on Mac OS X and a valid Apple ID to download Xcode. Finally, in order to submit Apps into the App Store, you must buy a $100 developer's license with Apple.
Hope that help! And iPhone development is a ton of fun :)
Thommy
I highly recommend to get the device you're developing for. Since some issues will only will only come up by really using your app as intended.
The touchscreen and it's behavior for example can't really be testet in the simulator. If you want to do more than the next "Fart App" you should invest the money in at least one actuel iOS device.
I will speak from personal experience with a financial prespective
Can you afford it or is the short term compensation from the work going to cover the cost? The latest models are pretty expensive, so I would suggest looking for good deals on models that are a couple of years old. When I say short term, I mean 3 years or less. Because after that, there is a good chance that you are going to need to buy a newer model to take advantage of the SDK features available at that time.
Even if you can afford it do you need it immediately? Are you soon going to be developing features that are completely dependent on hardware and impossible with a simulator ? If no please push the purchase further down the line, by which time you would have made some money (or not) and you can buy a newer model.
Having a latest device gives you the freedom to try out and build apps using the latest SDK features that Apple rolls out, so you can stay ahead in the game. On the flip side, it would be good for development only as long as at least one of the apps that you are developing for runs the highest version of iOS supported by the device at any particular time. For example I bought an iPhone 5S some years ago and now none of the apps I am working on run on iOS 12. So I have very little use for it. Ah I guess the vicious upgrade cycle gets developers too :(
I intend to write some piece of code for an iPod and an iPhone. so, i'm looking for emulators for those devices.
basically an emulator which will help me test the application I'm writing.
Thanks.
To develop iPhone apps you need to download the iPhone SDK. This includes the tools and libraries to code you applications as well as a simulator to test your code. This tools are available only for intel macs.
You can get the sdk for free here: http://developer.apple.com/iphone/
To test you code in a real iPhone, you will need to join the iPhone Developer Program (http://developer.apple.com/iphone/program/), which is not for free.
Are you talking about writing an application or writing code for your website to display properly on an iPhone?
The former requires a developer subscription with Apple to access their SDK and emulator.
For the latter, there seem to be several emulators out there to test your web site, check out:
http://iphonetester.com/
http://www.testiphone.com/
A Google search for 'iPhone emulator' should find a lot for you.
The iPhone SDK comes with an iPhone simulator that you can use with Xcode during development.
You can download the SDK from http://developer.apple.com/iphone - you need to be a registered iPhone developer, however, although this is free, after which you can use the simulator.
Note that if you want to send your applications to a physical device you need to enrol in the iPhone developer program which starts at $99.
You probably want to actually get an iPhone for that. You'll have to register the $99 but then you'll get the ability to upload apps to your iPhone/pod.
You could also jailbreak your phone/pod and do whatever you want.
There are also apps available that let you transfer stuff to and from your phone in the appstore (at least one free, if I recall correctly)
If you want to do something more with the files than just transfer them to the phone/pod, it's likely that you'll have to jailbreak your phone/pod anyway.
I keep wanting to find a better abbreviation for typing iPod/iPhone. How about iP(od/hone)? Hmm, not better!
Other than the obvious ongoing legal issues surrounding jalibreaking the iPhone, does using an jailbroken phone for "official legal SDK development" cause any issues?
Bascially can a jailbroken iPhone work fine for a production development environment, allowing the same provisioning, testing, etc as a stock iPhone in terms of the SDK and related processes?
As far as i know. there is no problem to use a jailbroken iPhone as your development iPhone.
I test all my applications on a jailbroken and a non-jailbroken phone and didn't found any differences yet.
If you have jailbroken your device and broken authenticity (to run unsigned code) it is possible you have a code signing issue that would not be aware to you unless you check the app on a non-broken device. However if you are caught up in the acceptance process a jailbroken device can be useful because you get to test on device earlier :P
That said this is very unlikely seeing as the amount of trouble you have to go through to get to that point almost guarantees you have some clue as to what you are doing.
The Apple Developer agreement has been updated to forbid developers from jailbreaking (but you did say aside from legal issues)...
To answer your question directly, no I have not had any problems :-)