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I'm making an iOS app for a client, and need to share my progress with them in a convenient way.

At the moment I know of two options:

  • add their device to my provisioning profile then send an IPA to them
  • send an app through to them, built for the simulator, and have them run that directly

Neither of these are ideal, as the simulator doesn't give the full experience, and getting UDIDs off non-technical people can be painful.

Are there any other options I should know about?

MrMotivator
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    To easily obtain a non-technical user's UDID, get them to download the free "Ad Hoc Helper" app from the appstore. – Luke Aug 19 '11 at 15:07

2 Answers2

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I use testflight - iOS beta testing on the fly. I used to battle with the same problems you mentioned but once I started using testflight, I didn't look back. What testflight allows is -

  1. You can add the specific customer to send the IPA to.
  2. Progress reports
  3. No need for your customer to go through the complicated Provisioning certificate
  4. No need to register your device
  5. You can even create groups and send different builds to different groups. Like "Test Group" would get more bleeding edge builds whereas the customers might get a more stable build.
  6. Free over-the-air beta distribution. Apps are installed in one tap over-the-air and users will be notified of future builds.
  7. Recruitment: Promote your beta app and select new users that sign up
  8. Works within Apple’s guidelines and rules for ad hoc provisioning and device # limitations
  9. You don’t need to jailbreak or alter your phone.
  10. It is not a replacement for Apple’s ad hoc provisioning profile and device limitations.

Hope this helps...

PS: I do not work at testflight & this is not a promo. Just appreciating a good product...

UPDATE: Recently test flight has launched TestFlight Live, pretty awesome for tracking launched apps. This is all with detailed flowcharts et al. Definitely worth a dekko. Defunct after Apple buying TestFlight (or available in different name)

LATER UPDATE: Apple has bought TestFlight. Links updated.

Srikar Appalaraju
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  • ^ this. I use testflight a lot. It is a great service. – memmons Aug 19 '11 at 16:05
  • Thanks, I'm giving it a try! Am I right in thinking that I still need to add testers' devices to my provisioning profile, or did I miss a part of TestFlight which means I can avoid this? – MrMotivator Aug 20 '11 at 06:28
  • @Srikar: any specific pointers you can give on how to avoid the need to add testers device to the provisioning profile? – MrMotivator Aug 24 '11 at 13:38
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https://testflightapp.com takes a lot of the pain out of circulating iOS app builds. It's free and it's worked very well for me.

vlad259
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