CODEWITHSUNDEEP
iphoneiosad-hoc-distribution
kschuler
kschuler

Reputation: 25

Installing an Ad Hoc app for testing without synchronizing iTunes

I have an iPhone app that I'm distributing to testers. I followed these instructions: https://developer.apple.com/library/ios/#documentation/ToolsLanguages/Conceptual/YourFirstAppStoreSubmission/TestYourApponManyDevicesandiOSVersions/TestYourApponManyDevicesandiOSVersions.html

And they work except for one of my testers, who does not use iTunes to synchronize his apps. He has many apps already on his phone and doesn't want to synch to iTunes because it sounds like it will delete them. So...Is there any other way to get a testing app onto an iPhone besides synchronizing with iTunes?

Upvotes: 1

Views: 6841

Answers (3)

Till
Till

Reputation: 27587

Since your user is afraid of the iTunes Sync Process (for good reason), why not recommending him to use the iPhone Configuration Ultility.

That tool does not do a complete sync but only transmits the app you specified to.

It is free, easy to use and very reliable. Well, sometimes it has its hickups on Windoze systems but that seems to be a normal experience for users of that OS.

Upvotes: 1

Mike M
Mike M

Reputation: 4436

I strongly recommend TestFlight. It's free and it's easy and they manage all that server side work.

Upvotes: 1

AliSoftware
AliSoftware

Reputation: 32681

Simply distribute it using OTA ("Over The Air" distribution).

  • When you Archive your application using Xcode (menu Product -> Archive, I hope that's what you do already to keep debugging symbols so that you can symbolicate crash logs when testers send some back to you!), once you click on "Distribute", select the "OTA Distribution" option and follow the steps.
  • Don't forget to check the "Distribute for Enterprise" checkbox in the appropriate step and fill the requested informations (Product Name, URL of the IPA when you will upload it on your server, etc).
  • Once your .ipa and the associated .plist is created, upload them both on a web server, and make a link to "itms-services://?action=download-manifest&url=<the_url_to_your_plist_file_here>".

When the users will open this link from their iPhone, it will prompt to install the application on their device directly, without the need to plug their device to any computer.

There are many tutorials on the net about this, simply google about iPhone OTA distribution.

Upvotes: 7

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