Over the air iOS app deployment notes

deploy-iOS-app.md

Steps to prepare over the air app deployment without paid apple developer account using Xcode 7:

• Build/Archive the app in Xcode 7

• go to the Xcode organizer window and locate the archive, show in finder.

• use command line to convert the archive into an ipa: xcodebuild -exportArchive -exportFormat ipa -archivePath {FILE_NAME}.xcarchive -exportPath ~/Desktop/{FILE_NAME}.ipa -exportProvisioningProfile {your provisioning profile}

• produce a manifest plist file

    <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
    <!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
    <plist version="1.0">
    <dict>
      <key>items</key>
      <array>
       <dict>
          <key>assets</key>
          <array>
            <dict>
              <key>kind</key>
              <string>software-package</string>
              <key>url</key>
              <string>http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1001/myawesomeapp.ipa</string>
            </dict>
          </array>
          <key>metadata</key>
          <dict>
            <key>bundle-identifier</key>
            <string>com.company.application</string>
            <key>bundle-version</key>
            <string>0.0.16</string>
            <key>kind</key>
            <string>software</string>
            <key>title</key>
            <string>My Awesome App</string>
          </dict>
        </dict>
      </array>
    </dict>
    </plist>
  

• urls should use https (Dropbox links in public folders provide this)

• Produce an html file linking to the plist with the itms-services protocol

    <a href="itms-services://?action=download-manifest&url=http://loqi.me/app/Geoloqi.plist">
      Download Geoloqi
    </a>
  

• Users can visit the web page and click the link to install the app.

• Users must authorize the developer certificate on their device in order to run the app. Settings > General > Profiles > app developer profile