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I know about other 3rd parties but I'm trying to do Ad Hoc OTA using Dropbox. 99% of the material available is out of date, for iOS4 and pre-dates Xcode 5

After sifting it all this works for me up to a point: I get to download on another device from Dropbox but only partially. But the process continually re-starts halfway through and never completes.

// an email link to ..
// a regular html file on my website using the following:
<a href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/(my_DB_link)/ipa.html">Tap Here</a>

// the .html file above points to another file on DropBox's servers,
// which is another .html file pointing to the .plist manifest
<a href="itms-services://?action=download-manifest&url=https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/(my_plist_link)/myApp.plist">Your Beta, Sir</a>

// line 14 in the .plist points back to my website
<string>http://www.example.com.au/apps/myApp.ipa</string>

I'm using the .plist generated by Xcode, all the places below suggest editing their example, but none worked to get get me thus far I tried just linking from an email to my .plist pointing to my.ipa in dropbox. Nope. Not in a million years.

Has anyone done it successfully from scratch since October 2013 ?

that's my question, but some background notes: the reason for the fancy dance is that I learned that iOS7 expects the .ipa to be served up under HTTPS: I didn't feel like spending a week learning network coding. So I'm using Dropbox to fool itms-services for a trusted certificate.

yes the device is on my provisioning file,and its a distribution profile, not a development profile

one with the latest date http://digitalpublishing.tumblr.com/post/29479304378/installing-your-developer-app-over-the-air-without

2hrs with this link didnt produce a solution, but worth it for other things that can go wrong wireless iphone app distribution - problem with itms-services protocol

For newcomers here's some links where not to waste your time on the subject, there's other sites but smack of content-theivery. ( they drained my laptop battery nearly twice, I want some value for my hours ).

http://shinydevelopment.com/blog/over-the-air-ios-provisioning-and-distribution/

http://iosdevelopertips.com/xcode/distribute-ad-hoc-applications-over-the-air-ota.html

http://aaronparecki.com/articles/2011/01/21/1/how-to-distribute-your-ios-apps-over-the-air

http://dr-palaniraja.blogspot.com.au/2011/06/distribute-your-iphoneipad-adhoc-builds.html

http://www.techaheadcorp.com/blog/iphone/wireless-ad-hoc-distribution.php

http://www.buzztouch.com/forum/thread.php?tid=C170BC9A655DAC18CF67787&currentPage=1

http://3qilabs.com/how-to-ad-hoc-distribute-your-ios-app-via-a-website-and-ota/

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aremvee
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  • it predates xcode 5 because the format of IPAs didn't change and this isn't related to the IDE – Daij-Djan Mar 01 '14 at 10:28
  • +1 but you really put a lot of time in it – Daij-Djan Mar 01 '14 at 10:29
  • I've spent more time trying to get a beta out to a tester on the other side of the world than to submit to iTunes and wait for a bug report. But I feel its worth the pursuit. My http markups must be correct to get so far. On reflection the issue must be after .plist execution – aremvee Mar 01 '14 at 11:07

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I think this qualifies better as an answer to my own question, than a comment or an edit: Apple have deprecated UDID in some way, and the beta tester used an app called UDID TOOL. ( He is a PC user wanting to avoid an iTunes install. Agreed )

I notice his UDID starts with fffffff as does my wife's when i use UDID TOOL. Comparing it to my Authorised devices list in Member Centre, her phone doesn't start with anything like it

So the first wrinkle to put straight is to find a way of retrieving his UDID correctly. I found this in a tweet from Daiwi

aremvee
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