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When I try to install an app on iOS 9.0 by tapping an itms-services:// URL in Safari, nothing happens. This appears in the iOS device console:

itunesstored[586] <Warning>: ExternalDownloadManifest: Skipping download and install of: XXXXXXX
JAL
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wang
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  • Same thing happens again with iOS 9.2.x, updating store version from Crashlytics. Deleting first and then installing works fine, but the update-scenario fails ... – dogsgod Feb 01 '16 at 13:25

4 Answers4

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This also happens if your device has an App Store version of your app installed, and you try to install an in-house version with the same Bundle ID.

When you do this, the device will simply ignore you tapping on your "Install" button to kick off the OTA install, and silently log that annoying message.

ExternalDownloadManifest: Skipping download and install of: XXXXXXX

Nothing gets displayed on the device, you're left to work out what's gone wrong for yourself.

So the obvious solution is to uninstall your App Store version of your app before attempting to install your in-house version.

Seriously, every year, I waste countless hours creating and deploying OTA apps with Xcode, and the Xcode/iOS error-reporting is non-existant.

It's really Apple at it's very worst.

Mike Gledhill
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    This does not really answer the question. If you have a different question, you can ask it by clicking [Ask Question](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/ask). You can also [add a bounty](http://stackoverflow.com/help/privileges/set-bounties) to draw more attention to this question. - [From Review](/review/low-quality-posts/12408344) – Eiko May 19 '16 at 14:46
  • It absolutely does answer the question. I was having this exact same issue, and spent ages checking lots of Xcode settings as I was sure that I had got something wrong. But in fact, my iPad was ignoring the "install" tap, due to the scenario mentioned in my Answer. No one else had suggested this as being the cause, it *is* helpful to other developers, and it is a direct Answer to the posted question. – Mike Gledhill May 19 '16 at 17:46
  • Thank you for this response. I encountered precisely this issue when trying to install a build using Crashlytics Beta on top of the App Store version of the app. Finally narrowed in on the right log line to bring me here. – Aidan O Dec 27 '17 at 17:26
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Elaborating on Mike Gledhill's answer:

I had this problem upgrading from a production build to a newer Ad Hoc build from HockeyApp with the same Bundle ID. This was a security change added to iOS 8.4 and above to prevent the "Masque" attack.

Manifest Masque Attack leverages the CVE-2015-3722/3725 vulnerability to demolish an existing app on iOS when a victim installs an in-house iOS app wirelessly using enterprise provisioning from a website. The demolished app (the attack target) can be either a regular app downloaded from official App Store or even an important system app, such as Apple Watch, Apple Pay, App Store, Safari, Settings, etc. This vulnerability affects all iOS 7.x and iOS 8.x versions prior to iOS 8.4. We first notified Apple of this vulnerability in August 2014.

Source

Official solution from Apple:

You should use TestFlight to test upgrades to your App Store app rather than enterprise distribution.

rdar://22088607

JAL
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    What I really don't understand: if Apple has implemented this from a security point of view, fine... but why don't they display any kind of message or warning on the screen ? – Mike Gledhill May 19 '16 at 17:39
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This happens when the version you're installing has a different bundle ID than a version already installed on the device.

JW.
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  • Thank you, this was the cause of my Ad-Hoc install failing. But it's SO annoying that the iPad doesn't display any kind of error... it just ignores the problem. I wish Apple would add *some kind* of error reporting... – Mike Gledhill May 17 '16 at 07:06
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Seeing this recently with TestFairy builds when trying to install them on top of an already installed build from the App Store (Xcode 7, iOS 9)

TestFlight builds do upgrade properly however (not surprised).

See also Enterprise App Update Distribution on iOS 8

Community
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Ari Braginsky
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