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Possible Duplicate:
How do you beta test an iphone app?

In Android you can export your app and get the .apk file that can be installed on any phone for testing. Is this possible with Xcode and iOS? I mean, I got assigned a job and I want to send my first demo.

My questions are the following:

1) What should I send? is there something similar with .apk file?
2) I know the procedure of publishing an app. If i just want to send it fro testing do I have to create a distribution profile and all that staff? The thing is the final app will not be published from my developer account but from the employee's. Is that a problem?
3) Does the person that I will send my file needs Xcode to run the app or something? I do not want to send him my code before he pays me.

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ghostrider
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    #3 - Why dont you do a screen recording and send him the video file? You dont have to worry that he will use your app before paying you that way. – iDev Dec 26 '12 at 01:28

2 Answers2

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You can send demo files of your apps by building them as "ADHOC" versions, but to do this you'll need the device identifiers (UUID's) of all the devices that you want to run your demo app on (in other words, this is the "distribution profile" you're asking about; you need to create a provisioning profile that gets included in the distributable app package). Here's some instructions that can help you get started.

The person can install your ADHOC app either through iTunes (syncing) or directly downloading & installing the ".ipa" file via their device's Safari browser. They don't need to use Xcode.

Michael Dautermann
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If your client has an iPhone, then use TestFlight - it makes the whole process of building for ad-hoc distribution much easier and a lot more efficient if you plan on sending multiple builds during development.

You can check them out on http://www.testflightapp.com - They have great getting-started docs and it only takes a few minutes to start the whole process - also, you don't need to install their SDK if you're just sending a pre-release build to somone.

To answer your questions more specifically:

  1. The file that gets exported for iOS development is an .ipa

  2. The .ipa must indeed be signed by an ad-hoc distribution certificate

  3. If you use TestFlight, your client will be able to install your app from an email - super simple!

Oh, and did I mention that it's completely free? :)

EDIT:

As mmc pointed out, you should check out the basics of Ad-Hoc distribution before using TestFlight, just for your own peace of mind. mmc recommended looking at How do you beta test an iphone app?, and an intro to TestFlight can be found in their tutorial base, here.

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Sarreph
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    TestFlight is all sorts of awesome. But please be sure to read some of the links in other answers, as well, just so that you understand what is going on. – mmc Dec 26 '12 at 01:01
  • Second that - TestFlight comes after grasping Ad-Hoc basics. – Sarreph Dec 26 '12 at 01:01