Deploy for iOS

We have developed native apps for the Apple Store in the past.  Those were for "public" consumption.  As all know by now, deploying to Apple Store is a pain and you have to go through the gestapo at Apple.  It is what it is.

We met the good folks from Telerik last year at the Amazon conference and we have "dabbled" with Icenium for the past few months.  Deploying by using ION is a great way to test.  However, we are now ready to deploy a bit more widespread and without ION.  However, we don't want to go to the Store, as these apps are for internal use only.

Any guidance on the best way to accomplish this in an OTA fashion would be most appreciated.

Thanks.

Hi Greg,

In general, Icenium Ion is a testing utility application and not a replacement for the Apple developer program. With that said Ion is not intended to be used as an application distribution channel, because it might violate Apple terms and conditions. It is an utility app that should be used during initial development only. Moreover it could only "contain" a single app at a time, so should you develop more than a single app, the users would have to scan the QR code each time they need to use the other app.
We recommend that you build and sign your applications with ad-hoc mobile provisions if you plan to distribute an app for internal purposes only. Icenium is not in the distribution service (or not yet at least) and you can use some other 3rd party vendors that offer such services.

Regards,
Steve
Telerik
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Steve,

Thanks for the reply, but I think you missed the point of my first post.  I fully realize that ION is for testing.  In fact, I say so in my post.  Then, the sentence right after that stipulates that we are looking for a non-Apple store method to deploy without using ION.

All your reply did, really, was tell me what I already knew and had already stipulated. 

Hi Greg,

I apologize for the misunderstanding, it was clearly not intentional. We've got so many inquiries about using ION for local distribution that one gets dizzy.

Icenium does not offer a non-Apple store distribution at this time, but using ad-hoc mobile provision to sign your app is good for internal distribution purpose for up to 100 iOS devices. Once the build completes you can send the QR code to your users.

Regards,
Steve
Telerik
You've missed the Icenium Visual Studio Integration keynote? It has been recorded and posted here.
Looking for tips & tricks directly from the Icenium team? Check out our blog!
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Thanks Steve.  I'm aware of the Ad-Hoc method, but it has the 100 device limitation.  I'm also aware that Telerik doesn't have a solution.  I was hoping that the readers of the forum or the folks at Telerik would weigh in with their two cents concerning "any" other ways to accomplish this.

AirWatch is one option, but you have to license AirWatch on all the devices.  TestFlight is another, but it still has the 100 device limitation and is, really, just for testing.

We have several hundred users, but they are all internal employees.  AirWatch may be our best bet.  I was just looking for some "independent" input to try to find out what our options are.

perfect question...I am also looking for options for deployment of an app built with the platform to ios devices form many many internal employees.
were you able to find a good solution?

Hi David,

There are two more ways to go:

• Apple In-House Distribution (as a part of the Apple Enterprise Developer Program). Support for this has been added to AppBuilder and you can build your app with such provisioning profiles. However, again, there are some limitations to the number of registered devices/users.
• Telerik AppManager - this is a new private app store service which is a part of Telerik Platform. It is currently in beta but is already integrated with AppBuilder. You can watch a quick intro video here and read more about the service here.

Regards,
Iva Koevska
Telerik

Iva,

A follow-up question, sorry for jumping on an old thread - I figured better than starting all over again.

We are looking to build a hybrid IOS app with AppBuilder. We would like our clients to be able to install it on all their devices w/o limitations (# or preregistered devices). This is for final production apps, NOT prototype or development versions. Our company has signed up for Apple's Enterprise Developer Program.

The documentation from Apple says:

"The enterprise distribution provisioning profile allows your app to be installed on an unlimited number of iOS devices. You can create an enterprise distribution provisioning profile for a specific app, or for multiple apps. Once you have both the enterprise distribution certificate and provisioning profile installed on your Mac, you use Xcode to sign and build a release/production version of your app."

Question is, if we load that enterprise distribution provisioning profile into AppBuilder, will our app be likewise set for unlimited number of devices? At this point (we think) we would would have the option to deliver from our web site or use the new Telerik AppManager private store - is that correct?

This is all very complex and confusing. Mainly due to Apple, but Telerik could also document more or more clearly too or consolidate offerings. e.g. I still can't figure out if UI for IOS is the same or different than Kendo UI Mobile (that's another question). Many more line of business / enterprise apps than App Store consumer apps - is there a definitive guide you publish targeting this path? I there is, I cannot locate, can you send a link?

Thanks for your help,

Rob

Hello Rob,

Thank you for your interest in developing and distributing apps with the Telerik Platform.

Straight to your question, with a little bit of detail, that would hopefully make things more clear.

In short, the answer is yes - with an in-house distribution certificate and provisioning profile, your app package will not be limited to a number of devices. However, you will need to figure out how to handle the distribution and there are a number of ways to do that. The following documents cover your options:

• iOS Enterprise Deployment Overview
• iOS Deployment Technical Reference

The latter document explains the approach of setting up your own web server to deliver your private iOS apps. With this approach, you would need to obtain a wireless manifest file which to put on the web server. You can either generate it manually using the instructions here or follow these steps to obtain it from within AppBuilder:
1. When the build completes, a QR code is produced. There is a Copy Link button below and a Download link to get the IPA. (You will have to click Download to get the IPA for your users).
2. Click Copy Link and paste the link in a text editor.
3. Get the entire last part of the URL starting with https (eg: https%3A%2F%2Fbit.ly%something)
4. Run it through a URL decoder such as http://meyerweb.com/eric/tools/dencoder/
5. Open the decoded URL in the browser  -> this is your manifest file, just change the long URL in there to the one pointing to the IPA on your web server.

The alternative is using AppManager - the Telerik Platform offering for app distribution. Currently, the service is being expanded from providing private app stores, to letting you distribute apps via email and via web catalogs. You can read more about this here.

In addition, thank you for the suggestion to expand our documentation with distribution guides. We will consider outlining the viable approaches and the required setup for each. Keep an eye out for the  documentation updates.

Regards,
Iva Koevska
Telerik