Apple's Best Kept Secret: Ad Hoc Installs for Testing Purposes | Hacker News Reader

Apple's Best Kept Secret: Ad Hoc Installs for Testing Purposes

readwriteweb.com

103 pointsGarbage21 comments

Yeah this is how I do builds of Firefox Home. I have a script that is executed by Hudson when we check in new code. THe script then builds the project, makes all the .ipa, .html and .plist files, uploads them to a server and tweets a message to testers with a direct over-the-air install link.

People love it.

I wrote some bash scripts a couple months ago which automates this process. When Hudson is done building, it uploads the .dSYM directory, signed .ipa, HTML for instructions and legacy zip file for pre-iOS4 users. Check out http://www.oiledmachine.com/posts/2010/10/27/automated-ota-i...

I've been using:

http://iosdevgoodies.joostschuur.com/ad-hoc-ota-ios-beta-app...

Me too. Link to that project (Open Source MIT License):

https://github.com/TheRealKerni/Hockey

Awesome! Just downloaded it and was up and running the server and client auto-update in less than 30mins :)

I tweaked BWHockeyController to always remind of updates regardless, since I don't really want to add a settings page to my app and always want people to update (or at least get nagged!)

I did not actually setup the server before....so when we had issues with the prior install, your posted time here in HN made me confident enough to create a new cloud server and toss one up there in about < 30 minutes. Thanks man for adding to the discussion.

I built AppSendr which distributes apps via this method. So far it's proven to be very useful for a wide variety of needs. I don't know why this hasn't been more publicized.

I've been using the TestFlight beta for around a month now (used iOS BetaTester prior to this).

I can't recommend them enough and will gladly pay for the service once they launch. It is very, very good.

The process used to take 10 minutes, now with TestFlight it's just 20 seconds, literally.

This is great when combined with Dropbox's public folders. I recently developed an app where I pushed 40+ builds out to testers. On every bugfix or new feature, I just had to Build & Archive, save the IPA directly to Dropbox and then give it the public URL.

I stashed an HTML file in the same folder with a link to the provisioning profile (also in the public folder—when you add new devices this needs to be updated) and the IPA file. Testers could bookmark the page and grab a new version whenever they wanted (or whenever I notified them).

This is one of the most helpful things I've seen posted on Hacker News all year. Thank you very much for sharing.

BetaBuilder is an essential tool we've been using.

https://github.com/HunterHillegas/iOS-BetaBuilder

Do the UDID limitations still exist? I'd say the Enterprise license would be a workaround, but pretty sure that Apple would revoke it as an abuse of terms.

If you're using it for actual testing and not unauthorized distribution, get a second company account.

And yes, the UDID limitations with Adhoc certificates are all still there.

Right, one cross-platform developer (Tweetdeck, maybe) was talking about his beta and it was a hundred on iOS, and around 20k on Android.

I think if your app can be monetized while free, android is a terrific platform.

I have been very very impressed with what the guys have at http://www.testflightapp.com

I have been using it in beta for a while now and it has never been easier to get testers updated. And their UUIDs back to me.

Thanks! I didn't know this was possible. It's going save me untold amounts of time.

TestFlightApp.com is really good for this, doing OTA downloads and such.

AppMakr.com is a platform that helps anyone build apps and we launched over-the-air one-click install for testing back in November for our users; we call it AppDrop. You can find more info and watch a video here: http://go.appmakr.com/appdrop.

AppDrop and similar techniques really helps in reducing the friction of getting an app tested and made. This is a trend that more and more solution providers will jump on.

There's another great way to test your mobile app before release: Android.

> There's another great way to test your mobile app before release: Android.

Although this was a bit snarky, I think it makes a good point.

This is Apple lowering (but not removing) an Apple-created hurdle. It would be nice if I could avoid the UDID hassle altogether.

I need to port to Android and see how I feel about that development experience.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com