Distributing In House Apps via my OWN website

Someone must have an answer??

Well, I have a question (-:

What platform are you targeting? Because the answers here are very different between iOS, including its child platforms, and macOS.

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—
Quinn “The Eskimo!” @ Developer Technical Support @ Apple
let myEmail = "eskimo" + "1" + "@" + "apple.com"

Thank you. I did not think MAC was any different (latest MAC that is). That is because I managed to install my OWN test iPad executable onto my MAC also. Just copied my iPad project to my MAC and rebuilt it. I did read you can run an iPad version on the latest MAC.

Anyway I am targeting iPad, iPhone and MAC.

HTH

John

Anyway I am targeting iPad, iPhone and MAC.

Let’s deal with the Mac first.

macOS supports direct distribution using Developer ID signing and notarisation. Every paid developer team has access to that. I have a lot of links to docs and so on in the Code Signing Resources posts, and the other Resources posts that it links to. However, if you’re using Xcode to build an app the process is really simple:

1. Chose Product > Archive to create a release build of your app.
2. In the Xcode organiser, click Distribute App and then follow the Direct Distribution workflow.

iOS and its various child platforms have a very different story:

• Enterprise teams, members of the Apple Developer Enterprise Program, can use In-House (Enterprise) distribution.
• There’s no equivalent for Individual and Organization teams. For those teams the options are either limited to a specific set of devices (Developer and Ad Hoc) or go via the App Store (Apple Distribution).
• The App Store has more flexibility than you might think. See App Store Connect > Manage your app's availability > Set distribution methods.
• Finally, if your focus is the EU then you have more options. That’s a complex topic, one that I’m not even going to attempt to summarise. Rather, I recommend that you read Update on apps distributed in the European Union.

Share and Enjoy
—
Quinn “The Eskimo!” @ Developer Technical Support @ Apple
let myEmail = "eskimo" + "1" + "@" + "apple.com"

Thank you. But that does not answer how to get a certificate (I assume) to allow me to distribute via my OWN WEBSITE. I do not think the store is the way to handle my app.

Are you saying I need to upgrade to an Enterprise program? I have been battling with Apple for over a year now and they ASSURE me that my account allows for distribution via my own website. An Apple Developer Account is supposed to allow me to build for my own website???

I am so confused!!!!

John

BTW I just checked via my Apple Account. It says the Apple Develop Program supports Ad Hoc for the public???? The site says:

What types of apps will you distribute? Appsforthe public (including non-custom business apps, v

Please enroll in the Apple Developer Program instead. You’ll get access to resources for public app distribution on the App Store, distribution through Apple Business, Ad Hoc distribution, and beta testing through TestFlight.

Just to be clear, all of the following is about iOS. The availability of Developer ID makes this a non-issue for macOS.

Are you saying I need to upgrade to an Enterprise program?

No. How you distribute your app is a business decision, so I can’t make tell you what you should do. Rather, my goal is to explain the various options you have so that you can make an informed decision.

It says the Apple Develop Program supports Ad Hoc for the public

I believe you’re misreading the text. The “public” in that quote doesn’t apply to each of the listed distribution channels, but rather it’s tightly bound to “public app distribution on the App Store”.

Having said that, I wasn’t able to find the source of that quote, so perhaps I missed some context. If you can post a link to where you got it from, I’d be happy to take another look.

Regardless, Ad Hoc distribution only works for a limited set of devices. It’s easy to confirm that:

1. Go to Developer > Account > Profiles.
2. Click the add (+) button.
3. Select Ad Hoc and click Continue.
4. Select an App ID and click Continue.
5. Select a distribution certificate and click Continue.

At this point you land on the Select Devices page, where you configure the list of devices that the Ad Hoc provisioning profile applies to.

To further confirm this, complete the workflow, download the profile, and then use the techniques in TN3125 to dump the profile and see that list of devices encoded in it.

Share and Enjoy
—
Quinn “The Eskimo!” @ Developer Technical Support @ Apple
let myEmail = "eskimo" + "1" + "@" + "apple.com"

Thank you very much. That quote I gave was on the Apple site. It was buried somewhere and cannot find it now. However I have been doing some more investigation.

I am sorry but Apple does seem to make things very complicated. Anyway I found ANOTHER page that seemed about my issue. In there I found that I had to sign a form Alternative EU Terms Addendum.

There are even more links that imply you have to sign even more forms to get permission to even develop an alternative distribution app.

So I am going to check these out as the page is specifically addressing alternative distribution via your own website. All this is what I was originally told by Apple but they never provided this specific link.

As for MAC I think I will forget that. It's yet another can of worms.

Thanks for all your help but I wish Apple would make life easier in everything they do. Not complaining or criticising but I know of several developers who have abandoned iOS development for alternative distribution because of the complications.

Thank you

John

As for Mac I think I will forget that. It's yet another can of worms.

I don’t understand this comment. The Mac is the one platform where the rules for direct distribution are really clear. To pass Gatekeeper:

• You must sign your code with a Developer ID Application signing identity.
• If you distribute a disk image, you should sign it with the same.
• If you distribute an installer package, you must sign it with a Developer ID Installer signing identity.
• You must notarise your product.

All of the above is available to all paid teams.

Xcode can take care of the code signing side of this. If you’re not using Xcode, or you want to automate things, see Creating distribution-signed code for macOS. And for advice on the packaging, see Packaging Mac software for distribution.

Share and Enjoy
—
Quinn “The Eskimo!” @ Developer Technical Support @ Apple
let myEmail = "eskimo" + "1" + "@" + "apple.com"

Maybe back up a bit.

To distribute iOS apps to internal users of your organization, you need to have an Enterprise Developer account. You can then distribute your iOS apps via your own internal website, as described here: https://support.apple.com/guide/deployment/depce7cefc4d/web

I don't have an Enterprise account, so that's all I can say about it.

It sounds like you are trying to run iOS apps on your Macs. You can certainly do that. However, that is a feature designed for end users' convenience. From a developer's perspective, it isn't more convenient.

You can bypass the complications of the Enterprise account by developing Mac-native apps. Then you can distribute them on your own website as DTS Engineer describes. The difficulty here is going to be how you develop the iOS apps. If you are developing stand-alone apps, you could use SwiftUI or the Mac Catalyst framework to built Mac apps using cross-platform or iOS APIs.

But if you are using some 3rd party tool to build your iOS apps, then you'll have to explore what Mac options are available with your 3rd party build tool. From what I understand, most of them do have Mac target options.