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I just installed an app from a website - with no profile, no UDID, no anything. It just started installing. How is this possible? I am not jailbroken, not running the new beta 6. When it finished installing I tapped on it and it asked me if I was sure I wanted to run this app.

Link to app that installs 'silently'

Simon East
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malaki1974
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  • Tested this myself and the person asking the question is describing its behavior correctly. I was a bit skeptical at first... but that is exactly what it does. Seems strange. – MikeS Jul 31 '12 at 19:00

1 Answers1

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They seem to have an Enterprise Developer Account that allows over the air distribution to any iPad without the need to add each device's UDID.

The process to provide such an app is similar to providing an AdHoc Distribution with your "normal" Developer Account. You build your app for distribution and upload the .ipa bundle and a manifest .plist file to your server. Then you can use a link like this to make the app downloadable to users:

<a href="itms-services://?action=download-manifest&url=http://example.com/manifest.plist">Install App</a>

The only difference with an Enterprise Developer Account is, that you do not have to provide the UDID for each device you want to use. The link works with any device.

Simon East
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joern
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    opening an enterprise app to the world without restricting access to it will - from my understanding - violate Apple's terms and conditions as it bypasses the AppStore. This is allowed for enterprise internal apps, though... or am I wrong here? – marcus Aug 01 '12 at 10:05
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    I think you are quite right. Plus it does not really make sense to do it. Normally you would secure this installation link behind some login to control who can install it. I have no idea, why those guys are doing it. – joern Aug 01 '12 at 10:12
  • This is a very handy marketing tool for businesses. How are Apple supposed to keep this behaviour under control? – jowie Oct 19 '12 at 11:33
  • Apple doesn't really care because the account costs a lot more per year and requires that you have more than 100 employees. – Chewie The Chorkie Nov 08 '12 at 18:12
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    They removed the 100 employees restriction – jcesarmobile Jan 16 '13 at 14:31