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.
Related
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.
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'm thinking of upgrading my iPhone 3G and was wondering if I can continue to use it for appstore application development & testing after I do so. I don't want to continue to pay for an additional line and data plan, and I wouldn't be interested in using is as a phone. Would I be able to provision and debug on it? Would it have to be jailbroken?
You definitely can. I'm currently using my deactivated 2G for development. Aside from the 100 Ad-Hoc devices you can test on, you are also allowed to provision a number of phones that you can build directly to, and it doesn't matter if they are deactivated.
as I think, your phone would function the same as iPod Touch (plus Camera). And since you can use iPod Touch for development, so you can also use your deactivated iPhone.
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
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.