I built an ad hoc ipa a few weeks ago and now I need to extract it from the only device it now exists on. Is this possible and if so how? It seems that iTunes only lets you reverse sync purchased apps.
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4How is this off topic? I read the faq and this is "unique to the programming profession"! I'm a professional iphone developer and am trying to support my company with a technical solution peculiar to iPhone development (It's an ad hoc build, remember? Do you know what that even means?) I love Stack Overflow and owe a lot to this site, but too many prima donnas seem to lurk around it. I've seen uncharitable behavior like this before and snarky, haughty comments have also proliferated in the last year or so. – Alyoshak Jun 24 '11 at 17:17
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this isn't *unique* to programming. – Jun 24 '11 at 18:27
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3@WTP, so to qualify it has to be completely useless to anyone outside of the programming discipline? The real world is rarely that black and white. The problem as encountered was unique to programming. And others in a programming context could easily benefit from this question and answer. I think we're being a bit overzealous. Let's not forget what we about here out of zeal for the letter of the law. This is no time to be a Kantian. – Alyoshak Jun 24 '11 at 22:22
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With an app like this
Edit: forgot to say, you'll get the actual .app, not the .ipa.

Matt S.
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Yeah, I need to extract the app and be able to put it on another device. I can use iPhone Explorer to extract a .app, but it won't let me turn around and put that .app back on a device. – Alyoshak Jun 24 '11 at 16:20
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1Matt, I figured out how to do it, using your crucial suggestion of iPhone Explorer. Why don't you update your answer with this additional info so that it can help others and I'll mark yours as the right answer. You must subsequently take the .app file that you can extract with iPhone Exploer and drag and drop it into the upper left corner of iTunes (the Library section) -- that will generate an .ipa from the .app. iTunes generates an ipa file in its iTunes/Mobile folder. – Alyoshak Jun 24 '11 at 17:08
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This answer is not long valid to iOS 8 since Apple hides the folder. http://iexplorer-support.macroplant.com/customer/portal/articles/1221430 – howa Aug 12 '15 at 00:11