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I would like to know what is the "real" difference between an IPA exported with a development or an ad hoc profile, in a case I want to beta test an app with some user. Indeed according to what I already read ans test they seems to work exactly the same way :

  1. The provisioning profile is linked to a list of identified devices
  2. The provisioning profile have a 1 year expiration date
  3. The generated IPA can be deployed via OTA, Apple configurator or iTunes
  4. When archive, the app is build in release mode (regarding the scheme management)
  5. The provisioning profile have a developer certificate for development or a distribution certificate for ad hoc : but it's change nothing isn't it ?

Thank you for your help :)

Poulp
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  • Possible duplicate of [What is the difference between a Development Provisioning Profile and an Ad Hoc Provisioning Profile?](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/16506535/what-is-the-difference-between-a-development-provisioning-profile-and-an-ad-hoc) – oyvindhauge Apr 20 '18 at 08:51
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    Yes indeed, but the reply is not that clear. If you read the last comment by Bobby Bruckovnic, he (she) clearly have the same interrogation as me : if I can distribute my IPA to the people who's device are presents in my list for both a development distribution and an ad-hoc distribution, what's the difference between this two kind of distribution ? is it a security issue to share an IPA including a development profile (so with development certificate inside) ? In both distribution it use an archive with the exact scheme so no difference either in the compilation ... – Poulp Apr 20 '18 at 09:03

1 Answers1

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  • Adhoc Distribution is generally used for testing purpose, you can send build for testing using Adhoc profile, user can download build those having iPhone UDID present in Adhoc provisioning profile.
  • Development certificate used to take build on you device for testing and parallel for debugging. You can't send build to other people using Development certificate.
  • App Store Distribution certificate used to upload build on iTunes/App Store.

I have never used development certificate, Just create Adhoc distribution certificate for both testing and App Store uploading and also for debugging purpose.

Manish Mahajan
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  • I can confirm you that it is possible to export an IPA with a Development provisioning profile (so including a development certificate), and so you can send this build to other people if their device is in the UDID list, I just tested this yesterday with Xcode9. Taht's why I don't understand the difference. – Poulp Apr 20 '18 at 08:22
  • To export .ipa file you need one of the Distribution certificate either Adhoc/AppStore. Using Development certificate its not possible. – Manish Mahajan Apr 20 '18 at 08:28
  • When you use export and choose "Development" at the first step you can sign your app with a Developer Certificate, you can experience this with xCode 9.3. And if you unzip the IPA and look at the provisioning profile inside you can see that the certificate in the provisioning profile is a developer certificate. But indeed ... taht's weird :) – Poulp Apr 20 '18 at 08:34