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Anyone having problems deploying Enterprise apps on iPhone/iPads running the released version of iOS 5 using the OTA ("over the air") methodology?

During the installation process, we get the alert box: "the app could not be installed at this time". Tapping the Retry button does nothing. In some cases, repeated tapping of the Retry button eventually results in a gray, empty launch icon being left on the home screen. No app installed. No other errors.

Anyone else seeing this or have a resolution?

The below description is a bit involved, but please bear with me as it may help others who run into the situation. I will post the resolution if get a resolution from Apple. So far, no joy there.

Our app refuses to install OTA on iOS 5. This same app WILL install on iPhone/iPad devices running iOS 4.x.x AND the same app will install on iOS 5 devices physically connected to a desktop machine using the iTunes app.

The Apple Developer forums under the IOS 5 Beta category complained about the problem but no indication of resolution as of last week just before the official release of iOS 5.

Cookies are set to be accepted. Bowser cache and history cleared. Using mobile safari originally installed with original iOS version 4.x.x.

  • System hardware and operating system configuration iPad 2, iPhone 4 or any iPhone device running iOS 5 RELEASED version.

  • Browser and version Mobile safari that is installed with iOS 4 on ipad2. Don't know if mobile safari upgrades with ios 5 upgrade.

Using a corporate wifi network. Yes, we are behind a firewall and use a proxy server. Since iOS4 devices install without problems, I don't think installation being blocked by the proxy or firewall.

Enterprise app built with Xcode 4 and ios5 sdk provided with it. Built to be backward compatible with iOS 4.0. Distribution provisioning profile is correct as we have been using it for several weeks.

This app installs properly on iOS 4 devices both over the air and via iTunes application method. This app installs properly on ios5 devices through the physical connection with iTunes application on the Mac desktop.

Steps to reproduce:

User types in the URL in mobile safari on iPhone/iPad running ios5. The resulting webpage shows the download app link. User taps on the link and is asked if they want to install the app. User taps the yes, install button. App proceeds to install. A gray launch icon shows up on the home screen with the progress bar empty at the bottom of the icon. Message below the icon indicates "loading". Seconds later, user gets the "cannot download app at this time" error message as seen in screen shot attached.

Tapping the retry button results in the same action just described. Tapping done results in the download stopping. If you tap retry several times, user sometimes is left with the gray empty launch icon, which will not launch and cannot be deleted.

Note: In the apple developer forums, under the iOS 5 beta category, people are describing the exact same problem with no resolution.

Yisela
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David Baltozer
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  • OTA works great for me, though i've been on iOS 5 (beta) for most of the testing process of my current in-development application. I haven't run into any iOS 5-specific problems at all. I guess you could try generating a new profile, maybe they added something in them for iOS 5 and whatnot. – Andreas Eriksson Oct 26 '11 at 08:04

8 Answers8

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Had the same problem, and was able to resolve it. However, the error noted is not specific to a single cause that handles every case... some detailed investigation needs to occur.

Your best bet is to connect the device to your Mac, and using the Organizer of xCode view the console logs while you are attempting to do a wireless deployment. There will be some useful information available -- please post the logs.

For my case -- the icon files were missing from the build, as a result of moving from xCode3 to xCode4 and also, the distribution plist was referencing an image that returned a 404. Both were logged in the console, but not very clearly.

Also, as a sanity check, manually verify the URL to your IPA file also.

naderf
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  • Checking the console led me to my problem which was the get-task-allow plist value being wrong. – Jamon Holmgren May 03 '13 at 23:24
  • Same here, console provided the info I needed. I had the wrong provisioning profile selected. – jjr2527 Jun 10 '13 at 16:45
  • Just search the label, the error info is quite clear. – Henry Aug 28 '14 at 03:13
  • +1 for referencing broken link to image in distribution plist (assets section). In this case, console did not return any useful logs. I did not upload full-size-image icon, not suspecting it may cause any problems. I simply deleted this entry from plist, but uploading all references assets is probably more proper. – Lukasz Nov 05 '14 at 10:00
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I had this same problem and was sure everything was correct in my project; but restarting Xcode and doing a clean revealed my Enterprise scheme had somehow defaulted to the wrong provisioning profile.

Re-selecting the correct profile and re-archiving the app fixed the issue for me, I'm able to install an enterprise app on both iOS4 and 5.

aaron
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  • Aaron, thought this might be it as well and did exactly as you suggested. Even dumped the app .ipa archive and looked at the embedded.mobileprovision which is a plist. The plist indicated it was for distribution, not ad hoc nor my test devices. We can also download OTA to devices that are NOT in my test or ad Hoc device list and the app runs. Wouldn't think I would be able to that. But thanks for the advice. – David Baltozer Nov 01 '11 at 18:51
  • I had a similar problem, installs worked fine on most devices but seemingly randomly not on one in a couple of dozen. Turned out to be that I was using a different profile when distributing and even though they were both dist ones on the same enterprise account it was causing it to fail on some devices. Making sure I was using the same one both times fixed it. – andynormancx Jul 23 '13 at 14:59
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I wanted to chime in after fighting this for a few hours. It is iOS 5 specific.

We had an htaccess password protection on the directory. Removing this allowed the app to finally download. So if you have htaccess, perhaps you can point the user to a parent directory that is password protected, then navigate to the subdirectory containing the app that isn't password protected. This is a temporary solution, apple needs to fix this.

migs647
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We had the same thing. Our mistake was to point to a wrong 512.png icon in the manifest. Which was no problem on iOS4 but turned out to stop iOS5 into a "...at this time" alert.

Joeri Kassenaar
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  • Yep, same thing here. There was a type-o in the "full-size-image" value in the manifest plist file. It was pointing to a bad URL, which caused the install failure. – Pat McG Nov 21 '13 at 16:21
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Another thing to consider is the URL you specified in your over-the-air Application.plist file. I received the same error message ("-application- could not be installed at this time") because the URL I specified was too unspecific. Rather than writing "directory/directory/application.ipa", I had written "directory/directory/". You must include your application in the complete URL of the plist file's configuration.

If you didn't do this, don't fret! You don't have to rebuild the entire thing from step one, you can open your .plist file in any standard text editor and simply change the URL.

Andrew
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I met the same problem today. The app can be installed in ios4, but failed in ios5 with "** could not be installed at this time" alert.

According to patricksan's suggestion, I download iPhone Configuration Utility 3.5 for Mac OS X, and try to catch the log while install the app through OTA.

The log helped me finally, one sentence of the log says entitlement 'get-task-allow' has value not permitted by a provisioning profile. It remind me that if the code signing identity in build settings of Project and Targets are correct, after checking them in Xcode, I found the code signing identity are not correct one, they should be iPhone distribution:.... other than iPhone developer:..... After correcting them, and re-Archiving the ipa file, it can be installed in iOS 5 now.

j0k
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wenbo qiu
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Wanted to chime in on my experience.

In my case, we were changing the address where the IPA file was hosted. Although I updated the PLIST file with the proper URL to the IPA file, iOS was still going after the old URL almost as if it cached the PLIST data. Creating a copy of the PLIST file and renaming it resolved the issue (data within the file remained unchanged)

Greg
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Check your Info.plist for Required device capabilities property. I recommend to delete completely this property if you haven't any restrictions on use.

Petr Syrov
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