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I have an IPA signed for ad-hoc distribution. I can install it fine with Flash Builder. I'd like to install a release version via iTunes 12, though. Dragging it onto:

  • The device name
  • The app section
  • The app list
  • The Home Screens section

...does not work? Does anyone have any idea how to do this with the new iTunes 12?

Peter O.
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Tometheus
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    Itunes Updated to 12.7, Apps tab has been removed, any clues on how to install the ipa – Ashwin G Sep 14 '17 at 13:55
  • @AshwinG I've found solution here: https://apple.stackexchange.com/q/298391/152097 – Marek R Sep 27 '17 at 14:22
  • Please refer the solution that I answered here https://stackoverflow.com/a/46520816/1722622 – zoom8amit Oct 02 '17 at 13:17
  • @AshwinG see the answer below in this post https://stackoverflow.com/a/46539113/1084174 – Sazzad Hissain Khan Oct 04 '17 at 12:16
  • I found the solution, and have posted the answer is in this post - https://stackoverflow.com/questions/46224843/with-apps-option-removed-from-latest-itunes-12-7-how-to-install-adhoc-ipa/46305127?noredirect=1#comment80015618_46305127 – Ashwin G Oct 05 '17 at 15:16

16 Answers16

280

Note : If you are using iTunes 12.7.0 or above then use Solution 2 else use Solution 1. Solution 1 cannot be used with iTunes 12.7.0 or above since Apps section has been removed from iTunes by Apple

Solution 1 : Using iTunes 12.7 below

Tested on iTunes 12 with Mac OS X (Yosemite) 10.10.3

Also, tested on iTunes 12.3.2.35 with Mac OX X (El Capitan) 10.11.3

This process also applicable for iTunes 12.5.5 with Mac OS X (macOS Sierra) 10.12.3.

You can install IPA file using iTunes 12.x onto device using below steps :

  1. Drag-and-drop IPA file into 'Apps' tab of iTunes BEFORE you connect the device.
  2. Connect your device
  3. Select your device on iTunes
  4. Select 'Apps' tab

Screenshot for step 3 and 4

  1. Search app that you want to install

Screenshot for step 5

  1. Click on 'Install' button. This will change to 'Will Install'

Screenshot for step 6

  1. Click on 'Apply' button on right corner. This will initiate process of app installation. You can see status on top of iTunes as well as app on device.

Screenshot for step 7

Screenshot for step 7

  1. You can allow new apps to install automatically by enabling checkmark present at bottom.

Screenshot for step 8

Solution 2 : Using iTunes 12.7 and above

You can use diawi for this purpose.

  1. Open https://www.diawi.com/ in desktop/system browser

Step1

  1. Drag-and-drop IPA file in empty window. Make sure that last check mark are unselected (recommended due to security concern)

  2. Once the upload is completed then press Send button

Step2-3

  1. This will generate a link and QR code as well. (You can share this link and QR code with Client)

Step4

  1. Now open Safari browser in iPhone device and enter this link (Note that link is case-sensitive) OR You can scan the QR using Bakodo iOS app

Step5

  1. Once link is loaded you can see app details

  2. Now select ‘Install application’

Step 6-7

  1. This will prompt an alert asking permission for installation. Press on Install.

Step 8

  1. Now you can see the app installation begins on screen.

Step 9

Jayprakash Dubey
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    I was confused for the longest time because I was trying to drag my ipa AFTER I connected my device. Now I see that you should drag the ipa BEFORE you connect the device. – Adam Johns Dec 30 '14 at 15:58
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    @AdamJohns : In earlier version of iTunes drag-and-drop can be used for installing IPA but this is not same in iTunes 12. You need to drag-and-drop IPA before connecting device. – Jayprakash Dubey Dec 31 '14 at 06:20
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    You can drag/drop it with the device connected. Just make sure you drag it into ITUNES first, not on the Device – Michael Blake Jan 12 '15 at 15:54
  • It would really help if iTunes displayed the (+) that visually indicates you can drop the ipa somewhere. – Peter Gluck Apr 01 '15 at 18:10
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    Any idea why it would fail to install? It successfully copies, but once it gets to the "Installing" step it fails. – Nick Shelley Apr 29 '15 at 18:56
  • @NickShelley : There might be several reason. You might have installed some app from different account and trying to install required app from another account. Another reason may be of space issue. – Jayprakash Dubey May 06 '15 at 05:33
  • @PeterGluck : There should be some provision to indicate you can drag-and-drop IPA into iTunes – Jayprakash Dubey Jun 02 '15 at 04:56
  • Yeah, not working over here in iTunes 12, Mac OS 10.11. This UI is getting worse and worse. – Alex Zavatone Oct 07 '15 at 16:19
  • @AlexZavatone This is tested on 10.10.x version of Mac OS. – Jayprakash Dubey Oct 09 '15 at 06:31
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    Awesome! Still works in iTunes 12.3.2.35 , Mac OS 10.11.3. – Alex Mar 04 '16 at 14:45
  • Glad it works for some people. Drag & Drop does NOT work for iTunes 12.4.1.6, OS 10.11.4 – MobileDev Jun 23 '16 at 21:22
  • @NickShelley the issue you describe can be caused by the app being built with a provisioning profile that isn't valid for the device you are installing it to. – rooby Dec 23 '16 at 06:25
  • @JayprakashDubey I am not able to see "Apps" section in my iTunes `12.7.0.166` even when device is not connected...can you please help ? – Bunny Oct 04 '17 at 06:02
  • @Bunny : Check updated answer. This is for you buddy! – Jayprakash Dubey Oct 05 '17 at 06:54
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    Also if you are on 12.7+ you can download this from apple to downgrade your itunes that will allow you to the the above steps. https://support.apple.com/fr-fr/HT208079 - hope this helps as well – PinoyDev Dec 06 '17 at 21:59
  • @JoeC : Then try using older version of iTunes. – Jayprakash Dubey Apr 10 '18 at 04:54
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    This is all very elaborate, but there is a much easier way, as documented in [this answer](/a/52653852/749509) - just drag the IPA onto the "On my device" area in iTunes. – O'Rooney Oct 16 '18 at 00:46
  • After using diawi, the IPA get installed but after that, it never gets lighten up. And if I click it, nothing happened. – Jeremy Parker Aug 02 '19 at 15:15
  • @JeremyParker what kind of develop account do u have? – Rostan Sep 05 '19 at 16:19
  • @Rostan I didn't sign up, just did it in guest mode – Jeremy Parker Sep 06 '19 at 14:03
  • you need to have a development account to build the ipa, and the device have to be included into provision profiles. https://stackoverflow.com/questions/5763977/provisionsalldevices-vs-provisioneddevices-in-embedded-mobileprovision – Rostan Sep 06 '19 at 14:04
118

iTunes 12.7 ( Xcode needed )

You cannot install a release ipa directly on your device. Ipa generated withAppStore Distribution Profile requires to be distributed from App Store or TestFlight. However, I found that app panel was removed even for installing ad hoc ipa from iTunes 12.7. I found a workaround to install ad-hoc apps which might help to them who cannot install even ad hoc ipa. Please follow the instructions below,

  1. Connect your device
  2. Open Xcode and go to Window -> Devices
  3. Select the connected device from left panel
  4. Brows the IPA from Installed Apps -> + button
  5. Wait few seconds and its done!

enter image description here

Sazzad Hissain Khan
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    Thank you. It worked for me. Is there a way to share .ipa to others and ask them to install in this manner. Will it work in other people MacBooks. – Kartiikeya Jan 11 '18 at 05:49
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    Yes it will work if the other iphone is added to the provisioning profiles the ipa build with. If other device is not added you can create enterprise ipa and send it to install. – Sazzad Hissain Khan Jun 01 '18 at 14:51
  • I only have the "Paired Watches" section. There's not an "Installed Apps" section. – Brandon Willis Jun 30 '18 at 19:36
  • Downvoting simply because nobody read the question and this answer still got upvotes. –  Feb 19 '20 at 16:10
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    @ConradB I have updated the answer. Thanks for bringing up that point. – Sazzad Hissain Khan Feb 19 '20 at 16:30
  • Changed to a upvote, thanks Sazzad. Short answers are always good in my books :-) I was working-from-home on a Windows box, and my mac was remote to me. And just had to get the ipa installed somehow, the device is in the prov profile, so iTunes does let you drag. The UI is however far from consistent. –  Feb 21 '20 at 09:44
  • He was asking for adhoc distribution which doesn't require the app store. – Entretoize May 28 '20 at 06:48
43

From iTunes 12.7 apple removes App Store, So we unable to for find App option

We have another way to install iOS app using iTunes 12.7 as below

1)drag and drop your .app file to iTunes.

2)It will create .ipa file, you can find that at ~/Music/iTunes/iTunes Media/Mobile Applications/

3)connect the device you want to install that app.

4)drag .ipa file from finder to iTunes on my Device section as shown in below section. enter image description here

Ganesh Ubale
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    drag and drop no longer works. cmd+c on ipa, cmd+v with any item (music) selected on my device will work. – Juraj Antas Nov 16 '18 at 14:02
  • the ipa provisioning profile must include your device, then drag-drop does work (on Windows at least). The ipa must also be a newer version and not same or older than already installed. –  Feb 21 '20 at 09:47
  • Dragging and dropping worked for me with iPads, but strangely enough I had to do the copy/paste (Control/Command C/V) for IPAs. – Necreaux Oct 15 '20 at 13:48
28

I don't remember this being very difficult with iTunes 12, but at least for iTunes 12.8 (and likely for the previous couple of minor versions also) it's pretty straightforward even though the Apps button is not there, as demonstrated in the below two steps:

  1. While your device is connected to your laptop/desktop click the device icon on iTunes 12.8:

enter image description here

  1. Drag your .ipa file from Finder or Desktop and drop it into the "On My Device" area.

enter image description here

Wait for the sync to finish and the app is on your device!

CodeBrew
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  • Yes, still working in 12.9. Did they remove this feature in 12.7 and then put it back in 12.8, or did people just miss it? – O'Rooney Oct 15 '18 at 03:43
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    chances are people just missed it. I never remember it's being very difficult to install via iTunes as long as you know to drag into the "On My Devices" section after the apps button is gone. – CodeBrew Oct 15 '18 at 19:49
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    Yeah. This needs to become the accepted answer because its kind of trivial compared to the incredibly lengths in the currently accepted answer. – O'Rooney Oct 16 '18 at 00:47
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    This works only if your phone library is connected with the itunes library. Every device can only connected with one itunes library on a desktop device. I solved that by clicking "Manually manage music and videos" under Options. Then I would asked to reconnect the device library with the current mac device. Then I can install the ad-hoc-App over this way. That seems to me for an developer problem, where work with multiple devices that they not own. – matzino Oct 31 '18 at 15:38
  • @matzino I ticked this box but this still doesn't work for me (I useiTunes 12.10.7.3 on Windows). – Jean Paul Jun 24 '20 at 17:56
  • This doesn't work for me anymore, either. I suspect the Microsoft Store version of iTunes doesn't have the permissions to handle drag-drop anymore. – O'Rooney May 31 '22 at 00:04
22

For newest iTunes 12.7 and above can easily install IPA by copy and paste

  1. Select and copy your .ipa (cmd+c or ctrl+c)
  2. Connect phone to laptop
  3. Open iTunes and select your device tab on top left of iTunes
  4. Select the music tab
  5. Paste the ipa (cmd+v or ctrl+v) not drag
david valentino
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In my case Drag & Drop didn't work.

  1. I had to first Sync iTunes with the iOS device (Sync button on the bottom right)
  2. I had to add the IPA file through iTunes menu bar: File -> Add to Library...
  3. I had to press the "Install" button for my app in the "Apps" screen
  4. I had to press the "Apply" button on the bottom right
Lars Blumberg
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18

Edit: See Jayprakash Dubey's answer for iTunes 12.7

From the menu shown in the following screenshot, choose Apps. You can drag and drop you IPA file in the next view.

enter image description here

After that, go to your device's page, you'll see the list of apps, install your app and press Apply from the bottom bar.

Mohannad A. Hassan
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Tested on iTunes 12.5.3.17

1.Open the iTunes select the “Apps” section with in that select the “Library”

enter image description here

2.Now drag and drop the file AppName.ipa in this Library section (Before connecting your iOS device to your computer machine)

enter image description here

3.Now connect your iOS device to your computer machine, we are able to see our device in iTunes…

enter image description here

4.Select your device go to “Apps” section of your device and search your App in the list of apps with "Install" button infront of it.

enter image description here

5.Now hit the “Install” button and then press the “Done” button in bottom right corner, The “Install” button will turn in to “Will Install” one alert will be shown to you with two options “Don’t Apply”, “Apply”, hit on option “Apply”.

enter image description here

6.The “App installation” will start on your device with progress….

enter image description here

7.Finally the app will be installed on your iOS device and you will be able to use it…

iShwar
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7

IPA file are generally executable file for iOS app. Approach used to install IPA in iTunes 12 is different as compared to lower versions.

Simply, add IPA file into iTunes library and search for IPA in apps section of connected device. Click on install and Apply.

6

I found a solution for Windows users. All the other solutions i tried didn't work for Windows.

I have been searching about the same problem for a few days. iTunes make obligation to update itself to iTunes newer version for ios 11 phones and iTunes 12.7 version doesn't have apps section so i couldn't download anymore my ad hoc app ipa file and provision files to iPhone.

I just found out that there is an iTunes version (12.6.3) Apple published which won’t be prompted to download new versions of iTunes and you can use this version to download your app. You can dowload it from this link: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208079

Apple say if you have a newer version of iTunes you can just download this one over it but I couldn't do it like this. First, I removed iTunes from my computer, then I removed the iTunes folder from my musics folder (you probably don't need to do that) and I downloaded iTunes for 64 bit PC from the link I wrote above. And with this iTunes i can use Apps section again and it doesn't force me to update it. So it works like the good old times.

Ali Ertugrul
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For iTunes 12.9.5.5 and above you can install the apps by Copying the IPA file and Paste it (Cmd+V or Edit -> Paste in iTunes) in any categories as Music/Films/TV Programmes etc. The app will be installed automatically on your iPhone screen.

Tested on 29 Nov 2019.

Demo: enter image description here

Flo
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Since iTunes 12.7 doesn't have "Application" section so it can't be done. As a workaround I've found this answer.

I simply installed "Apple Configurator 2". Than:

  1. Run application
  2. Connect device
  3. Unlock device
  4. Drag IPA file to visualisation of device in "Apple Configurator 2"
  5. Confirm action

I didn't had to "sign in" as described in on linked question answers

Marek R
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For iTunes 12.7.0 and above, you just need to Cmd+c your app and Cmd+v into your device on iTunes. Any tab works, including Summary, Music, Movies.

isopach
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For the macOS Catalina 10.15.3 and onwards iTunes is no longer present in the system. all iTunes contents are added in Finder itself. So instead, open the Music app and drag-drop IPA as mentioned below.

Application icon is as same as iTunes but the name is Music

Simply Drag & Drop here

iTunes is added in Finder

Shrikant Phadke
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1

Do not use any service similar to https://www.diawi.com/ as it can potentially have huge security implications. Using this kind of process and with some clever coding skills, a third party can inject extra stuff in you application. And they are basically charging you for something that you can do yourself.

In iTunes 12.7.x, it is still possible to install an ipa directly on a device with a simple drag-n-drop. Look at @ganesh ubale' solution here or the other answers at https://stackoverflow.com/a/46520816/609862 or https://stackoverflow.com/a/46229114/609862.

The Apple developer web site also have detailed information about how to configure a web site for installing an IPA wirelessly (by simply sharing the download link).

asiby
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I just reset the device (erase all settings) and sync up with iTunes and now I can drag the app over to the phone library on iTunes (even though there is no apps tab). Once you sync. the app is then on the phone.

RPM
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