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Use Case: We have an iOS Application we deliver to the Apple App Store for standard users. In it, we have built in deep linking that works when downloaded from the store. For internal testing/QA, we want to use our Enterprise license and make the app available via a download page on our internal infrastructure and be able to deep link within it.

Question: Is there a way to pass the same deep link data in the URL to the Enterprise app we download from our internal web? Has anyone successfully implemented deep linking within an Enterprise app when downloading from the web?

Problem to overcome: Just thinking out loud, the download link for an iOS Enterprise app has to point to a .PLIST file. The .PLIST houses a static URL which is the location of the .IPA. How would I pass the deep link data to the .PLIST and from there, to the app? Actually appending the data to the .PLIST URL is not the issue, but more so passing it from the .PLIST to the app.

Note: We don't want to use Test Flight for internal QA of lower environment builds. Yes, deep linking works intermittently but the larger problem is user management with Apple. And since everyone we want to have access is internal to the company, Enterprise use is valid here.

Brant
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  • Do you want the deep link to actually install the enterprise build if the user doesn't already have it? This doesn't seem like a necessary requirement. Surely the tester can just install the app directly? – Paulw11 Nov 08 '19 at 19:03
  • Yes - that's exactly what we want. We want the link to install the app and log them in with credentials we pass to the app at the time of download. – Brant Nov 08 '19 at 19:05
  • I don't think that is possible. For a start, if this is the first or only app installed from your enterprise program they will need to manually trust your certificate in settings. – Paulw11 Nov 08 '19 at 19:12
  • So then the flow is that, for testing, they download the app from the web. Then they click the deep link they receive in SMS, and poof - it opens the app and does whatever the deep link says to do. That about right? – Brant Nov 08 '19 at 19:16
  • That should work. They would also need to go into settings and trust the enterprise certificate if they haven't already done so before the app will launch. Distribution of enterprise apps via MDM is preferable as it avoids this step. – Paulw11 Nov 08 '19 at 19:20
  • Thanks Paul. Since it's all internal testers, trusting the cert is not a big concern. What is MDM? – Brant Nov 08 '19 at 19:36
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    It’s not a concern as such, but it is a manual step that is required before the app can run so you need to include it in your instructions. – Paulw11 Nov 08 '19 at 19:38
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    MDM is mobile device management - software that you should be using to manage your enterprise devices. – Paulw11 Nov 08 '19 at 20:19

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