How to generate IPA file without apple developer program and without a connected device in Xcode 7.2?

Question

My employer doesn't have an iPhone for testing, they are also not enrolled into Apple's developer program, but they recruited me as an iOS developer.

I was told to create an app and I did it with the help of simulator.

Now, they want me to generate an IPA file of that application for their client who is in another country to test, in his iPhone. Is that even possible?

Answer 1

Without Apple developer's account it is not possible. You would not be able to archive your code either. Have a look at these documents :

• Apple's documentation : Exporting Your App for Testing (iOS, tvOS, watchOS)
• Stackoverflow : How to export an ipa in Xcode 7

Answer 2

You will certainly need a developer account if you want to run your app on a physical device (unless that device is jailbroken, which I wouldn't recommend). If your employer hired you as an iOS developer, you need to inform them that a requirement to doing iOS development is a developer account.

If you are going to be writing iOS apps to deploy on client device (which you won't have physical access to), you have a couple of options.

1. You could have your employer pay for the enterprise developer account ($299/year). This allows you to have an In House Distribution profile, which lets you build an IPA that can run on any iOS device without the need to register the UDID for each device in the provisioning profile.
2. You could use Apple's TestFlight to deploy the app to your clients' devices. This still requires a paid developer account as you are basically creating an app store build and distributing to others as "beta testers". The app goes through a more lax review process, but it still must have been signed with a distribution certificate, which you only can get with a paid account.

Bottom line, if your company is asking you to develop apps professionally, you need to get them to understand that the $99/year fee is part of the process. IF they can't justify that, they shouldn't be hiring out iOS development jobs.

Answer 3

you have to enrolled into Apple's developer program, and add all UDID into you app device ID than generate a provisional profile. install it in xcode than create an archive, zip it and upload to diawi.com. Diawi( https://www.diawi.com/ ) is best solution, It will generate a link which you can give to client and they can install it on their device directly.

Answer 4

I have faced same problem at start of my job :)

- but it is not possible to generate ipa without apple developer account.

- and even if you connect device to deploy then device iOS version and XCode iOS version must be same.

Answer 5

you have to enrolled into Apple's developer program and this is not enough. For over-the-air installation you have to use apple's testflight or hockeyapp like third party apps.