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I have an iOS app that anyone should be able to download via the App Store. Moreover, I need to distribute this exact same app to people that have iPhones owned by my company. Links to download the .ipa would be sent to those devices.

It's OK to use the iOS Developer Standard Program until you reach the limit of 100 devices. But what if you need to distribute this app to hundreds devices? As far as I understood, you can have both the iOS Developer Standard Program and the iOS Developer Enterprise Program (which allows you to install AdHoc apps on an unlimited number of devices).

The former would be used to submit the app to the App Store and the latter would be used to sign production apps that can be distributed to an unlimited number of devices owned by my company.

Here are the points:

  1. Can I have a single App ID or do I need to distinguish these two apps?
  2. I need to send push notifications to devices using this app, can I use the same APNS certificate for sending notifications to apps downloaded via the App Store and to Ad Hoc apps? I guess no, but is there a way to properly handle that situation?

More generally, how to manage that situation properly?

Thanks in advance.

Jon
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  • Why can't the company devices download the app from the App Store? –  Apr 15 '14 at 01:42
  • I'm not sure Enterprise Apps can use APNS. You need to check this if your internal company app requires push notifications. Someone on SO may be able to clarify. – Robotic Cat Apr 15 '14 at 04:40
  • @Anna > We actually provide these iPhones as work tools, with no any Apple account connected on them. However, we regularly update the app and these iPhones need to massively be updated, not having to log in to the App Store with an Apple account. In facts, our employees don't necessarily have an Apple account. Is there a way to update an app from the App Store not using an Apple account? – Jon Apr 15 '14 at 07:55
  • @RoboticCat > As far as I know, we can use APNS on in-house apps. Did you read the contrary? These iPhones are work tools and we need to push information throughout the day, it's critical... – Jon Apr 15 '14 at 07:56
  • @Jonathan, you can search for MDM software which could help you automatically manage iOS devices remotely. You could start [here](http://www.apple.com/ipad/business/it/management.html). –  Apr 15 '14 at 11:42
  • Thanks @Anna, I will check if it allows me to remotely update the applications of our iPhones not having to be logged in to the App Store. I will come back once I get the answer. – Jon Apr 16 '14 at 07:20
  • Any news on this? I'm in the very exact same situation. – Gil Sand Jan 13 '15 at 17:11

2 Answers2

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After some research, I finally figured out the two different options.

1. MDM to push App Store applications

I made my tests with the AirWatch MDM solution. You can actually push iOS applications to a fleet of devices with Apple accounts connected on them. The Apple accounts connected on your devices can either be manually configured by the users, or you can provide these devices with Apple accounts already signed in.

In the latter case, you need to create the accounts on behalf of your users. You can even prevent them from modifying the connected Apple account. However, I advise against using the same shared account across multiple devices as it's against guidelines. If the account is blocked because of incorrect usage, application updates will be impossible on all devices using this account.

2. Using an Enterprise Program in addition to the Standard Program

In such a case, you can push your in-house applications through MDM not requiring your devices to have a connected Apple account, which is a strong advantage in my opinion. However, if you still want your application to be distributed through the App Store, you will have to maintain two different builds of your applications, with two sets of signing certificates, provisioning profiles, APNS certificates, etc.

Jon
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    Eh, that´s what i was afraid of. :( – Gil Sand Jan 19 '15 at 07:39
  • As usual, Apple appears to be going out of their way to make it difficult for developers to get their apps signed and in the App store. By contrast, creating a signed app for the Play store is incredibly simple and took practically no time at all . – Brian Jan 20 '15 at 18:05
  • Is this still true in 2018? – d.ennis Jan 05 '18 at 13:08
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I believe you can just have the iOS Developer Enterprise program and use that one to publish to the app store and to distribute the app internally. The archive will be the same, but it will be signed with different provisioning profiles, producing different binaries for the App Store and for Ad Hoc.

In the developer portal you should have one profile for the App Store and another for Ad Hoc distribution.

  1. If using only one developer program (Enterprise), you should use the same App ID for both profiles.

  2. Yes, APNS certificates differentiate between development and production. Ad Hoc and App Store are both considered production and use the same certificate.

Matías R
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    You cannot publish to the App Store using an Enterprise account. See the question "If I am enrolled in the iOS Developer Enterprise Program, can I distribute my apps on the App Store?" on [this Enterprise FAQ page on Apple's site](https://developer.apple.com/support/ios/enterprise.html). –  Apr 15 '14 at 01:35