Testing an app on ios (for an Android/Windows user) - dummies guide somewhere?

Getting Started Newbie Questions
#1

Hi,

I’m certainly not an expert, but at this stage I’m fairly comfortable with developing an app and testing it on Android devices without putting it on Google Play (basically by downloading the .apk’s directly to the devices).

But I also would like to try how some of my apps works on an ios device. I don’t have any Macs, but I know I can rent a virtual one at MacinCloud (or similar services).  I guess it’s also possible with ios devices, to put apps directly to a device and test them without being a paying Apple developer?

But what I’d like to know is this: Is there a guide somewhere for people in my situation. People who have never touched a mac and would just like to test out their app on a ios device? Some kind of step-by-step guide were everything is covered (copying files to the right places, the building process and how to get the app package to the test device).

#2

Actually you will have to be a paid Apple Developer before you can install to a device.   Apple has a pretty complex setup to get apps on a device and you do have to have the paid account to set everything up that you need.

  1. Create your developer account.

  2. Go to their developer site and log into the Provisioning Portal.

  3. Follow the instructions to generate a certificate and key pair.  This is done partially on the website, the other is in the OS-X utility called “Keychain Access”.  There is some downloading and uploading to finish this process.

  4. Once the provisioning portal knows about your certificates and keys, you then have to decide what devices you want to test on.  You are allowed 100 total and you can only reset the list once per year.  You will gather the device’s UDID (Unique Device IDenteifer) and the device name and add each device to the Provisioning Portal.

  5. Then you create an App in the portal and turn on/off some features.

  6. You then generate 1-3 provisioning profiles, which combine your certificate/key pair, your app ID information, which devices it’s allowed to run on and download the profiles to the Mac and install them with Xcode.

  7. Once all of this is in place, you can tell Corona SDK to build using the provisioning profile of your choice.

The three provisioning profiles are:

Developer – has debugging information, can only be directly loaded to the test device if the UDID is one in the Profile

Distribution - AdHoc – these are apps that are still installed to one of your defined devices, but are considered release apps.  I actually tend to use these as my development versions.  However if you need to test In App Purchases, GameCenter, etc.  you have to use the Developer profile.

Distribution for the App Store – build with this profile to upload to iTunes Connect.

Rob

#3

Thanks for the great explanation, Rob!

Wow… this was far worse than I had imagined… As I don’t expect to make a single dime on any of my apps, this is just a tad too much money/time just to check if something works on an iPhone.

I’ll see if I can borrow a mac and a developers account from a friend. If not I think I’ll stay on the Android for a while.

#4

That may be your best bet. 

#5

Actually you will have to be a paid Apple Developer before you can install to a device.   Apple has a pretty complex setup to get apps on a device and you do have to have the paid account to set everything up that you need.

  1. Create your developer account.

  2. Go to their developer site and log into the Provisioning Portal.

  3. Follow the instructions to generate a certificate and key pair.  This is done partially on the website, the other is in the OS-X utility called “Keychain Access”.  There is some downloading and uploading to finish this process.

  4. Once the provisioning portal knows about your certificates and keys, you then have to decide what devices you want to test on.  You are allowed 100 total and you can only reset the list once per year.  You will gather the device’s UDID (Unique Device IDenteifer) and the device name and add each device to the Provisioning Portal.

  5. Then you create an App in the portal and turn on/off some features.

  6. You then generate 1-3 provisioning profiles, which combine your certificate/key pair, your app ID information, which devices it’s allowed to run on and download the profiles to the Mac and install them with Xcode.

  7. Once all of this is in place, you can tell Corona SDK to build using the provisioning profile of your choice.

The three provisioning profiles are:

Developer – has debugging information, can only be directly loaded to the test device if the UDID is one in the Profile

Distribution - AdHoc – these are apps that are still installed to one of your defined devices, but are considered release apps.  I actually tend to use these as my development versions.  However if you need to test In App Purchases, GameCenter, etc.  you have to use the Developer profile.

Distribution for the App Store – build with this profile to upload to iTunes Connect.

Rob

#6

Thanks for the great explanation, Rob!

Wow… this was far worse than I had imagined… As I don’t expect to make a single dime on any of my apps, this is just a tad too much money/time just to check if something works on an iPhone.

I’ll see if I can borrow a mac and a developers account from a friend. If not I think I’ll stay on the Android for a while.

#7

That may be your best bet.