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I have a client who want their own App, and only to have it in their own shop for clients, not in the iOS App Store. I was wondering if it is possible to create an App, not to submit it to App Store, but to upload it to a website, and make it available for direct download to 50 devices?

Carsten Whimster
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Steven
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  • See also this question: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/7261255/deploying-an-ios-application-using-apple-enterprise-developer-program – xpereta Nov 26 '15 at 11:33
  • Are the 50 devices going to be used in-house by employees of your client? Or are they going to be used by individual customers of your client? – xpereta Nov 27 '15 at 09:27
  • It will be around 100 Devices in different shop. – Steven Nov 28 '15 at 19:50

3 Answers3

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For a situation like this they should really use the Business to Business app store.

https://developer.apple.com/programs/volume/b2b/

This will enable them to limit the availability of the app to invitation only. It allows private distribution and you can set your own pricing (can be free if appropriate). This is available with the standard developer license (not the Enterprise one).

Adam Richardson
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  • damn I never heard of this, is it something new? – LS_ Nov 26 '15 at 11:58
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    @Signo they introduced it at 2012 WWDC but it seems they never really talk about it which is odd as it can be really useful in the corporate world – Adam Richardson Nov 26 '15 at 12:00
  • Yeah exactly, until today I only knew about Enterprise Program, this is really useful! Thanks a lot! – LS_ Nov 26 '15 at 12:01
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    For this to work the clients must enroll in the Volume Purchase Program for Business? And from what I understand, in the scenario described in the question, each of the 50 clients should enroll in the VPP program. And this program is intended to volume purchase apps to be used inside the enrolled organization. It is not meant to be used to distribute an app to clients. – xpereta Nov 27 '15 at 09:24
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There is no officially sanctioned way to do this, that I know of, other than Enterprise-internal, or by using the developer's (your) license, which doesn't sound like what you need.

Be careful: https://www.theiphonewiki.com/wiki/Misuse_of_enterprise_and_developer_certificates

Apple has very tight control over the platform, and specifically prevent what your client wants.

I would question why your client wants to circumvent Apple here. While it is true that Apple take 30% of the price, they also provide a lot of infrastructure and security in return. Perhaps they want to maximize profit, or their content doesn't satisfy Apple's restrictions?

Developing a web app may be an alternative. When done right these can provide similar interfaces, and access can be controlled, and Apple is out of the equation.

Failing that, you could create a separate developer account for this, and the 50 devices could be registered individually by their ID. This will not be anonymous any longer, and it will have to be renewed yearly.

Carsten Whimster
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  • Adding Adam's suggestion to the list for completeness: Business 2 Business, but for this, the clients also need to be registered in the Volume Purchasing Program, and so it does not sound like a solution here. – Carsten Whimster Nov 27 '15 at 13:09
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Technically yes you can distribute an app outside of the App Store using the Enterprise Deployment Program.

However, according to the terms of the Enterprise Deployment Program the distribution is limited to only employees of your organization, and in your scenario you mention that they want to distribute the app to their clients.

See the full details in the Apple documentation here: https://developer.apple.com/library/ios/documentation/IDEs/Conceptual/AppDistributionGuide/DistributingEnterpriseProgramApps/DistributingEnterpriseProgramApps.html

xpereta
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  • To improve the answer I'd appreciate some feedback on the downvotes, thank you. – xpereta Nov 27 '15 at 10:00
  • But how some developer create an App and they upload it in Web not in Appstore, so you can download it through the Web? – Steven Nov 28 '15 at 19:56
  • John, you can't really do what you ask in general, you can do something similar but according to the terms of Apple it is restricted for use inside the organization, not to be distributed to the public in general. See Carsten Whimster's answer. – xpereta Nov 29 '15 at 09:18