Ask HN: How do you compile an iOS app? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: How do you compile an iOS app?

1 pointmcartyem8 comments

I don't see a place in XCode that builds an executable file. Is there such a thing?

How can I compile the iOS app and produce a file I can give to people with it?

I don't know if I should be laughing for asking this, or crying after looking at XCode.

Boy, do I miss Visual Basic 3.0.

You pay Apple $99 for their developer program, build a package file and release it. With someones UDID, you can have them download the app for testing through the app store.

You can also use https://testflightapp.com/ which has some unique features and a different procedure, but, some very cool tools that go along with it for feedback.

Can you define "release" and "it" please?

Is "it" some file on disk? I don't see it.

Can I get a file and stick it on an iPhone? How can I test an app on an iPhone before "releasing" it.

You pay the $99 to Apple, then you can associate XCode with a local phone and develop/test your app. You can also get the UDID number from another person's phone, and distribute the app to them to beta test. I believe there is a limit of 25 beta testers + the developer's phone.

You can also use testflightapp.com which has its own SDK and will notify people on updates and has a pretty good customer experience manager built in, allowing you to get feedback from within the app. Apps can be deployed through them for beta or production and you can collect a number of metrics. I've not actually worked with it yet - I'm at roughly the same stage you are and am buying an IPhone today to test my app.

Note that you need not just to generate those certificates and download them. You need to also manually open the keychain access and import those files in there. Only then will the Provisioning Profile in the Organizer show up.

A bit of an omission in the docs.

These big words remind me of Windows.

In the Menu, Product > Archive. If you want to distribute your application you'll need to make sure that its properly code signed.

And checkout Testflight https://testflightapp.com/ they have lots of resources on how to build and distribute Ad Hoc builds which are builds that you can give to people.

Why is "Archive" grayed out in my XCode?

Update: When one picks "iOS Device" under schemes, Archive becomes available, but building fails with the message "There are no valid certificate/private key pairs in the default keychain".

Well, if I need those, why didn't you build those for me XCode? And how do I build those now? They don't seem to be the same as an ssh key...

Is this the best you can do XCode, really?

They do build those for you after you pay the $99 developer fee.

XCode allows you to develop for the emulator for free, but, to deploy on any phone - including yours, it requires membership in their developer program.

Product menu > Build will build your app. You can tell Xcode where to put the app in the Locations preference pane, but if you want to distribute an iOS app you'll have to use the app store.

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