[ios] iPhone App Minus App Store?

If I create an application on my Mac, is there any way I can get it to run on an iPhone without going through the app store?

It doesn't matter if the iPhone has to be jailbroken, as long as I can still run an application created using the official SDK. For reasons I won't get into, I can't have this program going through the app store.

This question is related to ios iphone

The answer is


It's worth noting that if you go the jailbroken route, it's possible (likely?) that an iPhone OS update would kill your ability to run these apps. I'd go the official route and pay the $99 to get authorized. In addition to not having to worry about your apps being clobbered, you also get the opportunity (should you choose) to release your apps on the store.


If you patch /Developer/Platforms/iPhoneOS.platform/Info.plist and then try to debug a application running on the device using a real development provisionen profile from Apple it will probably not work. Symptoms are weird error messages from com.apple.debugserver and that you can use any bundle identifier without getting a error when building in Xcode. The solution is to restore Info.plist.


With the upcoming Xcode 7 it's now possible to install apps on your devices without an apple developer license, so now it is possible to skip the app store and you don't have to jailbreak your device.

Now everyone can get their app on their Apple device.

Xcode 7 and Swift now make it easier for everyone to build apps and run them directly on their Apple devices. Simply sign in with your Apple ID, and turn your idea into an app that you can touch on your iPad, iPhone, or Apple Watch. Download Xcode 7 beta and try it yourself today. Program membership is not required.

Quoted from: https://developer.apple.com/xcode/

Update:

XCode 7 is now released:

Free On-Device Development Now everyone can run and test their own app on a device—for free. You can run and debug your own creations on a Mac, iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, or Apple Watch without any fees, and no programs to join. All you need to do is enter your free Apple ID into Xcode. You can even use the same Apple ID you already use for the App Store or iTunes. Once you’ve perfected your app the Apple Developer Program can help you get it on the App Store.

See Launching Your App on Devices for detailed information about installing and running on devices.


*Changes/Notes to make this work for Xcode 3.2.1 and iPhone SDK 3.1.2

Manual Deployment over WiFi

2) Be sure to restart Xcode after modifying the Info.plist

3) The "uicache" command is not found, using killall -HUP SpringBoard worked fine for me.

Other then that, I can confirm this works fine.

Mac users, using PwnageTool 3.1.4 worked great for Jailbreaking (DL via torrent).


Yes, once you have joined the iPhone Developer Program, and paid Apple $99, you can provision your applications on up to 100 iOS devices.


  • Build your app
  • Upload to a crack site
  • (If you app is good enough) the crack version will be posted minutes later and ready for everyone to download ;-)

After copying the the app to the iPhone in the way described by @Jason Weathered, make sure to "chmod +x" of the app, otherwise it won't run.


With the help of this post, I have made a script that will install via the app Installous for rapid deployment:

# compress application.
/bin/mkdir -p $CONFIGURATION_BUILD_DIR/Payload
/bin/cp -R $CONFIGURATION_BUILD_DIR/MyApp.app $CONFIGURATION_BUILD_DIR/Payload
/bin/cp iTunesCrap/logo_itunes.png $CONFIGURATION_BUILD_DIR/iTunesArtwork
/bin/cp iTunesCrap/iTunesMetadata.plist $CONFIGURATION_BUILD_DIR/iTunesMetadata.plist

cd $CONFIGURATION_BUILD_DIR

# zip up the HelloWorld directory

/usr/bin/zip -r MyApp.ipa Payload iTunesArtwork iTunesMetadata.plist

What Is missing in the post referenced above, is the iTunesMetadata. Without this, Installous will not install apps correctly. Here is an example of an iTunesMetadata:

<?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>appleId</key>
    <string></string>
    <key>artistId</key>
    <integer>0</integer>
    <key>artistName</key>
    <string>MYCOMPANY</string>
    <key>buy-only</key>
    <true/>
    <key>buyParams</key>
    <string></string>
    <key>copyright</key>
    <string></string>
    <key>drmVersionNumber</key>
    <integer>0</integer>
    <key>fileExtension</key>
    <string>.app</string>
    <key>genre</key>
    <string></string>
    <key>genreId</key>
    <integer>0</integer>
    <key>itemId</key>
    <integer>0</integer>
    <key>itemName</key>
    <string>MYAPP</string>
    <key>kind</key>
    <string>software</string>
    <key>playlistArtistName</key>
    <string>MYCOMPANY</string>
    <key>playlistName</key>
    <string>MYAPP</string>
    <key>price</key>
    <integer>0</integer>
    <key>priceDisplay</key>
    <string>nil</string>
    <key>rating</key>
    <dict>
        <key>content</key>
        <string></string>
        <key>label</key>
        <string>4+</string>
        <key>rank</key>
        <integer>100</integer>
        <key>system</key>
        <string>itunes-games</string>
    </dict>
    <key>releaseDate</key>
    <string>Sunday, December 12, 2010</string>
    <key>s</key>
    <integer>143441</integer>
    <key>softwareIcon57x57URL</key>
    <string></string>
    <key>softwareIconNeedsShine</key>
    <false/>
    <key>softwareSupportedDeviceIds</key>
    <array>
        <integer>1</integer>
    </array>
    <key>softwareVersionBundleId</key>
    <string>com.mycompany.myapp</string>
    <key>softwareVersionExternalIdentifier</key>
    <integer>0</integer>
    <key>softwareVersionExternalIdentifiers</key>
    <array>
        <integer>1466803</integer>
        <integer>1529132</integer>
        <integer>1602608</integer>
        <integer>1651681</integer>
        <integer>1750461</integer>
        <integer>1930253</integer>
        <integer>1961532</integer>
        <integer>1973932</integer>
        <integer>2026202</integer>
        <integer>2526384</integer>
        <integer>2641622</integer>
        <integer>2703653</integer>
    </array>
    <key>vendorId</key>
    <integer>0</integer>
    <key>versionRestrictions</key>
    <integer>0</integer>
</dict>
</plist>

Obviously, replace all instances of MyApp with the name of your app and MyCompany with the name of your company.

Basically, this will install on any jailbroken device with Installous installed. After it is set up, this results in very fast deployment, as it can be installed from anywhere, just upload it to your companies website, and download the file directly to the device, and copy / move it to ~/Documents/Installous/Downloads.