iOS Has anyone does AdHoc distribution?

[detz]

It is easy to do, I want to give some friends some Apps I'm creating and from what I've read it's just a matter of setting up a new provision profile using their device ids.

 

[TEG]

While I have not done it myself, your infomation is correct. The Developers of Aurora Feint do a Beta Program with people using Device IDs which are stored on the computer. If you were to visit their forums, you may find out an easy way to find the IDs so you can easily tell your friends.

http://aurorafeint.proboards100.com/index.cgi?board=crash&action=display&thread=859

TEG

 

[DenNukem]

It is easy to do, I want to give some friends some Apps I'm creating and from what I've read it's just a matter of setting up a new provision profile using their device ids.

I've done it once and it was relatively straightforward. Relatively.

 

[arn]

This may help to get the ID numbers

http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=285691333&mt=8

 

[Sbrocket]

Erica's utility is nice. You can also get the UDID from iTunes by clicking on the "Serial Number:" label in the iPhone panel, though (annoyingly) you can't copy it out of there.

Apple's instructions are missing a key step to make Ad Hoc Distribution work and are generally lacking. Here's an amended list of instructions:

1. Create and Download an iPhone Distribution Certificate. Add this Certificate to your "login" Keychain.
2. Create and Download an Ad Hoc Distribution Provisioning Profile. Drag this file to your Xcode icon in the Dock to ensure that it is installed.
3. Build your application with Xcode.
   • Press Cmd-N (New File...) and select iPhone OS > Code Signing > Entitlements. Name the new file "AdHoc_Entitlements.plist".
   • Open this new plist file and ensure that the "get_task_allow" key is set to false - the checkbox should not be checked.
   • Duplicate your "Distribution" or "Release" project configuration, and name the new one "Ad Hoc Distribution".
   • Ensure that the new configuration is selected in the Build tab, and add "AdHoc_Entitlements.plist" to the "Code Signing Entitlements" setting.
   • Ensure that "iPhone Distribution" is set for "Code Signing Identity".
   • Ensure that the new Ad Hoc Distribution Provisioning Profile is selected for "Code Signing Provisioning Profile > Any iPhone OS Device".
   • Clean the project, and build it.
4. Share your application file (the .app) and the Ad Hoc Distribution Provisioning Profile with the owner of each device.
5. Recipients of the application will need to first drag the .mobileprovision file to iTunes, sync their device to install the provision, and then add the application to iTunes and sync again to install the application.

NOTE: If the CFBundleVersion in your Info.plist matches a previously installed version (through iTunes), iTunes will not update the application. Either make sure it is different, or tell the user to delete the application first before attempting to install.

It does definitely work, however - myself and quite a few other developers I know use it for closed testing purposes and it is very useful.

 

[donaghy]

I dont see the ad hoc radio button when in provisioning. Is there any reason why this might be?

 

[Kingbombs]

I dont see the ad hoc radio button when in provisioning. Is there any reason why this might be?

i believe thats because you have created a distributed profile
rather just your normal profile, there is a tab (under provision i think) that says distribution then you make a profile through that

i followed the apple documentation exactly and don't think i did anything different and it works completly fine and is very useful