How can I give my unreleased iPhone app to people who are not near me to check?

Question

This is not a coding issue, but it is related to the beta testing of my application, and therefore I believe that it matters.

I want to give my application to people to try, for example, friends on the Internet and my parents, none of whom live near me. Can I provide an iPod Touch or iPhone to test my application and place the application on this iPod or iPhone without running it directly from my computer?

Answer 1

Yes, you need to create an ad-hoc assembly. You get beta testers to send you UDIDs for your phones, and then create an Ad-Hoc build for these devices and email it. They install it by dragging it to iTunes and then syncing their phone.

In fact, this may be a little trial at the first creation of the Ad-Hoc assembly. Apple's documentation covers all the facts, but there is no simple step-by-step guide. I highly recommend you check out TestFlight - it is free to use and makes the whole process easier.

(If you feel very adventurous, you can try Anticipation , the simple Ad Hoc distribution tool I wrote that runs on Google App Engine. And is open source, so help yourself!)

Answer 2

You are looking for Ad Hoc Distribution in the Provisioning Portal . Basically, you will need to create a special distribution profile that has a unique device identifier that your friends will use for testing.

In Xcode, you will create an application with the above distribution file using Build and Archive . When you open the Organizer and click on the archived application, you will select Share → Email. This will open your email client and add the .ipa and the correct distribution file for your users to switch to iTunes and Sync.

Answer 3

You want to look at Ad Hoc Distribution. You will create a Provisioning Ad Hoc profile on the Provisioning Portal, then Build and Archive, then Share, the archive signed by your Ad Hoc profile.

Refuse this article , it will guide you through it and show you a good way to distribute it on the Internet. Please note that you must repeat the process each time you make changes to your application or add a new device to your profile.

Answer 4

You need to create a special version of your application.

You need to get the UUID of user devices. Erica Sadun has created an app to help you do this. It receives uuid on the device and sends it by email. These UUIDs are included in the special provisioning profile that you create in the dev.apple training center.

To deploy ad hoc, I use the Hockey Framework . Some php files that you put on your web server using the special version and provisioning profile.
Beta testers can then install the app by visiting a website with their devices.