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I am working on a very small project(unfinished product and will be deployed to a few members).

The organization is non-profit and small so is definitely not going to afford $99/yr apple store account.

I would like to know if there is a possible way of deploying an app to some users devices but in a managable way that a non-tech person can easily follow.

I acknowledge that Apple supports a free developer certificate to test apps on iOS, but I feel like it will cause confusion to clients as most of them are non-tech people and instruction will be difficult to follow.

For example, for Android you can get a signed .apk file and put it on google drive, sorted in versions so users can simply download them on the app.

Is there any other economical way of deploying iOS apps to devices without jailbreaking phone / developer account and could have easy-to-follow instruction for non-tech people? Just for the note, the app is developed in react native.

McCygnus
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Alboss
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  • You can try [Impactor](http://www.cydiaimpactor.com) – xhg Apr 12 '17 at 20:55
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    You should be aware that signed app distribution and installation is one of the major foundations of iOS security. Personally I would not use unknown 3rd party software to install iOS apps and I certainly wouldn't tell non-technical people who have no idea of the risks to do so. As a non-profit perhaps you could reach out to your local tech community; perhaps there is a developer who will distribute your app for you. – Paulw11 Apr 12 '17 at 21:07

3 Answers3

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I don't think there's a way to do this without using the Apple Developer Account.

I used to deploy this with Fabric - Crashlytics without having a paid account but seems like apple is not allowing anymore to create app IDs, profiles & certificates on the Portal; not if you're not on a paid program (enrolled).

I hope I'm wrong and someone out there bring a solution to share ;)

Eric García
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Unfortunately not. Xcode and the free certificate is the only way if you want to completely avoid a developer account for your app deployment.

You could:

  • Ask someone with a developer account to deploy the app for you via the beta program.
  • Create a step by step guide how to get your code from a source code repository and deploy it: deploying-to-a-device-without-an-apple-developer-account- updates could be done via pull request (intergraded in Xcode)
  • Deploy the app for your users with your laptop or their computer.
kiatra
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Based on your requirement: FREE, I suggest to use Cydia Impactor, which is capable to install .ipa app into iPhone without the need of Xcode. While an Apple ID is still required for any user, but I do not think it is an issue. For manageability, it depends on what level of manageability you want (and I do not think it is easy to manage, and you can not trace the installations). But for non-tech person, it is easy to get their hands on.

Speaking of How to create ipa without Apple Developer Programmer, Akshay Sunderwani's answer might help.

Community
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xhg
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