我可以在没有开发人员帐户的情况下将我的iOS应用分发给几个人进行测试

Question

I have not renewed my developer account since I am just developing an app for a school project. I want to distribute my app to a few folks to get some test-feedback (I think there will be lots of bugs, crashes and other issues detected even if 5-10 friends/family use it and provide feedback).

Since I don't plan to publish this on the app store but use it just to improve my app development skills, I want to distribute the app using appaloosa instead of paying the $99 developer account fee to use TestFlight.

This requires uploading an ipa file. I tried following steps in other posts but I am stuck at the step where they ask to "select the archived app and hit 'Share'". I don see any Share button when I select the archived app.

Is it possible to create the ipa file without a developer account? if yes, how is this done? Also, after creating the ipa file and uploading it to appaloosa, will things just work or are there any other gotchas?

Can someone share a screenshot of how creating the .ipa from the archived file would look like? Maybe I'm overlooking the share button?

Answer 1

No, you can only test on your own device for free. Any other distribution requires a Developer Account.

Answer 2

It is indeed possible. You can create the .ipa by using the method shown in How to create ipa in xcode 6 without Apple Developer account? . The second method (of creating empty Payload folder") is what worked for me. I then renamed the compressed file to .ipa instead of Payload.zip and uploaded to appaloosa. I just successfully installed it on multiple devices and they work! Now I'm ready to get some real user feedback. How awesome is that!