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I am publishing my first iOS app to the App Store. However, the company that hired us wants to see the app work before we publish. Is there a way under the $99 developers plan to allow them to see the app work on a real iPhone?

pnuts
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user2593041
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  • Sure. How else are you supposed to test it before submitting? You can deploy to up to 100 devices (registered with Apple) for testing. – Thilo Oct 07 '14 at 02:00
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    possible duplicate of [How do you beta test an iphone app?](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/40154/how-do-you-beta-test-an-iphone-app) – Thilo Oct 07 '14 at 02:01
  • I saw that part about 100 devices, but is there a place to actually upload the app in that section so they can download it? – user2593041 Oct 07 '14 at 02:10
  • It seems this is a bit easier now with iOS8: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/25802364/beta-testing-with-internal-testers-for-ios-8 – Thilo Oct 07 '14 at 02:15
  • You can upload the app to any web server, look into how enterprise deployment works (you need to upload the ipa file, and a png app icon, and an XML file describing where to find the png and ipa. The URL goes to the XML file). Note that you do not need an enterprise developer account to use enterprise deployment — it works with all developer accounts. Alternatively, you can just email the IPA to them, and they can use iTunes to install it. – Abhi Beckert Oct 07 '14 at 02:26

2 Answers2

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This is possible through multiple platforms.

iOS 8

As mentioned above, refer to the following link: http://blog.thebetafamily.com/2014/09/10/testflight-beta-testing-ios-8/

iOS 7 and below

  1. Test Flight - https://www.testflightapp.com (Acquired by Apple and available on iOS8 as described above)
  2. Hockey App - http://hockeyapp.net

Test Flight is free and simple to use. All you need to do is upload the certificate and it'll take care of the rest. Test Flight used to support other OS like Android. But after the acquisition, I think it only supports iOS.

Hockey App is also simple. But only supports certain numbers of builds or projects for the free version. Hockey App provides direct update during the app launch if a new build has been uploaded.

Anil
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For completeness there is another way. Although I've used TestFlight very happily for years, it can prove to be too complicated for some testers!

If your app has been approved by Apple (but you've set release date in the future), you can give people promo codes (which you can get from iTunesConnect) and they can download the unreleased app. This is great for getting your app to reviewers.

From iOS Developer Library:

Promo codes apply to a specific app version, so when users redeem promo codes for a version of an app that hasn't been released yet, they download the prerelease version.

https://developer.apple.com/library/ios/documentation/LanguagesUtilities/Conceptual/iTunesConnect_Guide/Chapters/ProvidingPromoCodes.html

Obviously in your case, you probably want to get your client's approval before even submitting to Apple, therefore @Anil's answer is better for you.

siburb
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