Sharing Unsigned OSX Apps [closed]

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I'm just starting to develop some OSX apps, and would prefer not to pay the $99 developer fee until I have something legitimate to put out. My issue is that I'm trying to share the small apps I do have with some friends by archiving them in Xcode as unsigned applications. While I can send these via e-mail and airdrop and it works just fine, if I want to put one of them up on a site like Mediafire so that other people can download them (without me having to email everyone individually), the app gets separated into a bunch of different files for the icon, plist, etc. Is there any way I can share an unsigned app like this and just keep it so that people can download and open the app as is? (or do something like a dmg, which seems to be the route many 3rd party apps go).

Answer 1

Go to the finder and Zip the Application you create. This can be done easily by selecting your App and then choosing File > Compress. The ZIP file is good for downloads, but will present a warning to the user that they are using an unsigned binary.

Answer 2

You can use Xcode to create an Archive, go to Organizer, select the Archives tab at the top and select Distribute, Save for Enterprise or Ad-Hoc Deployment. Then you will have to choose your dev code signing identity. Click next and it will ask you where you want to save your .ipa file.

You can distribute this along with your dev provisioning profile and have your friends drag and drop the ipa and profile onto itunes to install the app.

I know this works with Ad Hoc distribution (which you probably need to pay the $99 for) but it may work with just a developer cert/provisioning profile.