loading… application installation on iPad got stuck

Question

We are new to iOS development and this is our first application for iPad that we are developing for our organization.

We have developed app in Xcode 4.1 with iOS SDK 4.3.2 .

We have created provisioning profile and added 4 iPad device UDIDs in the profile.

We have created app.ipa file and kept it on our internal webserver ( along with app.plist ). Then we have created simple html file which contains pointer to app.plist.

We try to install the app on the device by accessing the html file URL through safari. However the application gets stuck in "loading... " state and after long time it gives error unable to download the application. We have checked the network connectivity , the webserver logs and everything seems to be fine.

Another odd behaviour we have observed is that while the application installation is in loading state and we connect the iPad to the development machine. When itunes prompts for syncing the device we cancel the sync. Then we disconnect the cable and connect and again when it prompts for syncing we again cancel it. At this time the application gets installted. But this is happens on only one iPad. On 2 other iPads it doesn't get installed and stays in loading state. On one iPad it got installed without issues.

We are now stuck because we have to distribute this application to many users in our organization and not able to do so.

Answer 1

You could check the following

• The provisioning file is for ad hoc distribution
• The provisioning file is selected in the Code signing Identity -> Release section of the build settings of your project
• You selected Product -> Archive , then pressed " Share " when the Organizer window opens.
• Next step: make sure the provision file is selected
• Next step: Select "Save for Enterprise Distribution". The application URL has to be the exact web address on the ipa file

You can find more detail about the process in this article

Answer 2

Thanks all for your answers which pointed to many useful resources for us newbie developers.

I found the cause of my problem. The device requires to connect to apple sites to verify the certificate. Since the device was in our internal wireless network and I had removed proxy settings from the device it was not able to connect. Once I gave the proxy settings it installed without problems. One point to be noted though was it was not working with proxy authentication enabled hence I had to enable IP address based access for the device.

Thanks once again for you responses.

Answer 3

You have problem with your provisioning profile.

The problem is that you don't sign app properly and iOS5 has changed notification that app cannot be installed with loading message only, on iOS4 it was message and app would be deleted from springboard.

You need to set in project properties under build settings code signing identity on the ad-hoc certificate that you have created. When you build app for archive sign it again like you did before with the same certificate and then try to install on device.

I use beta builder for creating index, plist and other files for web server, but you can use whatever you like.

http://www.hanchorllc.com/2010/08/24/introducing-ios-beta-builder/