How do I deploy an iOS app without passing from the public store

Question

I'm currently developing an iOS app for a company as a consultant and they explicitly asked that the app should not be visible in the public app store but I need to distribute to the employees and contractors.

What are the necessary steps in order to achieve this goal? I've found info on the web about the Apple Enterprise program but the procedure for the distribution is somewhat unclear to me, as the documentation I found is messy.

Could someone please explain what do I need and what are the steps to follow in order to distribute the app in such fashion? I've made clear the steps to get to the .ipa file, I need to put the file on the devices.

Thank you.

Answer 1

1. Create a distributed provision file for you app(You need to add the device identifier who want to install the app).

2. Build you app and distributed with ad hoc

Then the employee can install the app from itunes.

You can also enable the employee to install from safari, please refer here for more detail information.

Answer 2

You can build your own server and host the application there itself.

You need to uploaded the IPA file on the server and create an HTML page through which it can be installed directly in the device.

This method is called Over The Air distribution. TestFlight uses the same method to do so.

Please refer this link for complete process:
http://aaronparecki.com/articles/2011/01/21/1/how-to-distribute-your-ios-apps-over-the-air

Answer 3

If you release only a file.ipa to install that you need the jailbreak on the device, that's if is a big company is impossible, but you have a 2 possible ways:

1) huge an slow but is effective, finish you app and pass the project on a laptop, create new buy a new developer program only for this company, setUp the laptop with new certificate and install the app on all company device manually one by one, ins very slow and huge process, but it work, no app on appStore, and no body know that your project exist.

2) publish on app store with AdHoc provisioning profile, have 100 device per App, but you can publish more same app with different name ex: App1, App2 ext.

The app is on appstore, but not visible, only the device with AdHoc Provisioning Profile can install the app.

3) make a jailbreak on a device company heheheh

Hope this help you

Answer 4

Firstly, the app store is the the primary route for App distribution for iOS.

That said, I have done beta app distribution in the past using test flight.

http://testflightapp.com/

This size has usually been small, but you are usually limited by Apple to 100 ad-hoc devices per year. If your install base is going to exceed that, then you may need to look into other methods. Such as enrolling in the Apple's enterprise Program, which depending on the size of the company you're working for, might be a better option.

https://developer.apple.com/programs/ios/enterprise/