How can you customize the dialog text during an iOS Enterprise Distribution

Question

I have followed the steps to get an iOS Enterprise Distribution to detect an update and install over the air given here:

How to update ios6 enterprise apps over the air

When I push a new .ipa and .plist file, my app updates as expected. However, when it is trying to update there is an alert dialog that shows up with the following text:

<server-name> would like to install "<app-name>"

Is there a way to customize this text, or to accept the dialog automatically? I would like to inform our internal users that this is an update that they need to install. The default text would most likely cause some confusion.

Answer 1

As of the latest SDK, I'm afraid the answer here is a solid 'No'. Over-the-Air (OTA) installs ask the user for confirmation to avoid a drive-by download situation and to try and provide some transparency that this app originates from sources other than the App Store channel.

Let's hypothetically say you decided to make an extremely large multi-gigabyte app and could auto-accept / dismiss the confirmation popup. This would setup the possibility for your users to tap on a hyperlink and get routed at your OTA Manifest file triggering an OTA download over a potentially metered connection.

While you can't auto-accept / dismiss, the Enterprise OTA manifest file includes some optional manifest fields that you can implement to see if you can get something that is more in line with what you are looking for (Apple Enterprise Developer Sample Manifest file). Scroll to the bottom of the sample file and try putting a string in for "subtitle" and "title" in the Metadata dictionary.

I'd also encourage you to file an improvement ticket with Apple (bugreport.apple.com). I'd expect the "customize the text" avenue would be much more in line with Apple's style than the "auto-accept" route, but it certainly doesn't hurt to ask!