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I have read many articles including this article and this article and here is what I think I have gathered so far:

  1. There are two means of distributing your app, via Ad-Hoc and via App Store.
  2. Ad-Hoc distribution is LIMITED TO 100 downloads (mainly from registered "beta" testers)
  3. App Store is the only location for unlimited public distribution of any app.

So, I am asking for clarification on #'s 2 and 3. The main reason for this post is because the company I am working for would like to distribute their app to their customers (potentially thousands) without going through the App Store, and so far, it seems as though this won't be possible.

Please help clarify, thank you. :)

Community
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BenS
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  • It is not possible to make an app available to public for download. There are some ways you could try, download the ipa of your app and upload it to online, there are some services which offer you to install the app on device through an url. But I believe this way doesn;t work if the ipa is signed to particular deviuces. As far as I know testFlight is the clean solution! – Teja Nandamuri Jun 23 '16 at 13:22
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    Who are the potential customers? If they belong to one or more organizations which can control distribution, then Enterprise profiles are an option. – Phillip Mills Jun 23 '16 at 13:24
  • @Phillip, the customer's are clients that help install and maintain our products. But there could potentially be thousands, how does the Enterprise solution make it available to non-employees? – BenS Jun 23 '16 at 13:27
  • It only makes sense if they work for a limited number of organizations. Each would get an enterprise account, provide you with credentials, and have you sign their "flavour" of the app. Otherwise, as far as I know, you're looking at a store submission. (There are already a fair number of store apps that only work if you own specific other products.) – Phillip Mills Jun 23 '16 at 13:29
  • Thanks @PhillipMills. Let me see if I can sum up what you've said: If I were to distribute under the Enterprise program, I could make the app available on my company's website for clients to download, but I would have to approve/add each client's credentials to the list of accepted devices? – BenS Jun 23 '16 at 13:33
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    Not quite, Enterprise doesn't use device IDs. You would actually sign a version of your app with unique Enterprise profiles that matched each individual client organization. As I said, "It only makes sense if they [the clients] work for a limited number of organizations". – Phillip Mills Jun 23 '16 at 13:39
  • @PhillipMills, I see that makes a lot more sense. In THAT case, they [the clients] work for more organizations than I think I would want to create an Enterprise profile for..does this mean that Enterprise program might NOT be the way to go? And the App Store would be the only way to achieve this feat? – BenS Jun 23 '16 at 13:43
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    Probably. (It's really not in Apple's best interest to allow public distribution outside the store. Even for free apps, they want to ensure some level of quality. The Enterprise loophole has some business-to-business implications so they may consider that a reasonable check on "flaky" software.) – Phillip Mills Jun 23 '16 at 13:51

2 Answers2

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With an enterprise account you can:

... export your app for distribution to your employees and outside the store

caxix
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To achieve that you requested your company needs to have the ENTERPRISE account. Having the such kind of account allows you to sign the app with special certificate and then this app runs on any device with no limit (not limited by provisioning profile up to 100 devices). Then you can put the download link on site and distribute it outside the AppStore.

Maxim Guzun
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    Doesn't the ENTERPRISE solution ONLY work for employee's under the registered company? In my case, I need the App to be available to my Customers, not Co-Workers. – BenS Jun 23 '16 at 13:25
  • When you sign a build with enterprise signing, any iOS device can install that build. Though it is meant for enterprises, there are no restrictions for other devices from installing that app if they have the link. – 7vikram7 Jun 24 '16 at 07:24