iOS Own usage App Development

[Perkin]

I want to program a few own usage apps, that I only want to install on my own iPad (which I haven't bought yet), can I do that without having a developer account? I don't want to pay out $99 a years just to test a few own apps.

They'll probably take me a while to get finalised apps, and some probably won't get to final versions, just as proof of concept etc.

I've got a mac min 2012 and am just starting with ObjC and will go onto Swift when final release is out.

Do I need a developer account for own usage (non distributed) apps?

 

[1458279]

Sadly, as I understand it, you either need a dev account or jailbreak your device.

In the old days of programming, you wrote what you wanted and ran it anywhere you wanted. Now, you must register a device or jailbreak it.

I'm not sure about the jailbreak process, but understand that it can damage the device.

Apple really should have a system where you can run on a device and not have the app for sale/use on other devices.

Paying $99/yr just to run a program on your own device seems harsh, but at the same time, Apple wants a cut of the action if you were to write an internal business app and run it on many devices within your company.

I understand Apple's view, and I can tell you that marketing software has changed dramatically over the years. In the past, you bought software in a store or online, now, it's all (mostly) through appstores.

I don't think theres anything to stop someone from releasing an app to the public, then once it's download, allow it to be cracked (pretty common anyways) then no longer supporting it.

I don't think Apple deletes apps (prevents them from running) just because they are no longer on the app store.

One other way might be to have someone with a dev account release the app for you, as long as you don't care the other have the app too. Kind of like a group / shared account.

 

[Perkin]

Thanks for the info.

 

[,,,]

Do I need a developer account for own usage (non distributed) apps?

You could always write something in python using the pythonista app. It has support for a lot of libraries including some iOS API's, including UI stuff.

It might be sufficient if you want to just make personal apps without a developer account.

Here is a page with many examples:

https://github.com/Pythonista-Tools/Pythonista-Tools

See also:

https://github.com/Pythonista-Tools...ster/Pythonista Apps in the Apple AppStore.md

 

[Perkin]

Thanks, I didn't even think to look for Python coding on iOS.

Some of the app/code I wanted to try out was originally done in Python, and I was converting to ObjC for Mac usage and iOS

 

[larswik]

Most of the apps I use just for myself. But one thing that I did notice is that my apps are still running even though my developer account ended in October and I have not renewed yet.

My profiles are not set to expire until February next year. Yearly this year I got frustrated and did a clean install of my apps. New keys, profiles and I think that got me an extra 4 months of time.

 

[moonman239]

Why not have a developer account? You could try to sell your app on the App Store. Who knows? Maybe your app needs aren't as unique as you think they are.

 

[firewood]

For any programmer, student to professional, I consider an annual iOS development enrollment to be part of the purchase price of an Apple device. If you buy the hardware, you should also buy some software install keys (for you own apps). Otherwise it's useless for any real coding.

It also turns anything you can find on any open source tutorial or github into a Free app for your device.