What is an Ad Hoc certificate for iOS test app distribution?

Question

I'm developing a iPhone app and need to send it to my client. In turn, my client will distribute it to many other people for end-user testing.

What kind of Provisioning Profile, Certificate, or Code Signing will accomplish this task? I've heard something about Ad Hoc certificates; is an Ad Hoc certificate relevant for this task?

Longinus

Answer 1

• Yes, ad hoc is exactly what you need for massive end user beta testings.
• There is a very thorough and comprehensive tutorial about this, right from Apple. Log into your iOS dev center account ==>> iOS Provisioning Portal ==>> Distribution ==>> Prepare App

Legionary

hi diwup, im already doing what is mentioned above.... but my problem is not that.... my client needs to distribute it to some others to test... – Longinus

@A for Alpha: Then you need to collect the other testers' device UDID, and create a new set of certificates and provisioning files for ad hoc testing. The collecting UDID step is essential. To make your life easier, I recommend you try this famous web app for collecting UDIDs and distributing your ad hoc build, testflightapp.com . – Legionary

Answer 2

Yes, at this point the Ad-Hoc distribution certificate is what you are looking for. The Ad-Hoc certificate allows you to build your app to run on a predetermined list of devices. There are a couple big caveats though:

1. You need the UDID of every device you want the app to run on.
2. The user needs to install the provisioning profile for the app as well as the device manually. It's a simple case of dragging and dropping to iTunes - but we're dealing with normal people here... Not programmers.

To Create One: You add all the UDIDs for testing to iTunes Connect and then create a new ad-hoc distrubution profile and certificate. Build your app with the new certificate and the users should be good to go.

What I recommend: TestFlight

Testflight allows you to simplify this process immensely. You just build a normal debug IPA and then put it on TestFlight. They have their own global provisioning profile the users install and run the app with. It's as seamless as mass testing on iPhone can be (Granted, that's not a high bar).

Good luck :)

Skillern

Hi aurum... i'v gone through this website and found it intresting... can u tell me a bit more on this testflight??? is it safe(SECURE) and reliable? should we have to pay anything?? – Longinus

TestFlight's free and I've never seen it down. Security shouldn't be a problem - the app's bundle handles that. – Skillern

Answer 3

Note that Ad Hoc certificates are no longer used in the new Apple TestFlight. Testers are no longer added via UUID.

Test Flight builds now require an App Store Distribution Provisioning Profile. The portal does not allow UUIDs to be added to this type of provisioning profile.

Instead, add "Internal Testers" via iTunes Connect:

Internal testers are iTunes Connect users with the Admin or Technical role. They can be added in Users and Roles.

After adding a user, be sure to click on their name and flip the "Internal Tester" switch.

Then, go to App > Prerelease > Internal Testers and invite them to the build.

Twentieth

Answer 4

You can create ad-hoc testing certificates. Your client won't be able to distribute it to "many other people" though. You'll have to know all their device UDIDs and you'll have to add them to your provisioning profile. Remember you can only add upto 100 devices to your account.

Trematode

hi thomas.... i think u got my question correctly.. is there no other way which can solve my problem? – Longinus

Nope... you can get an enterprise account, or something similar, and distribute with that, but that costs money. – Trematode

Note that if you are using the Xcode generated adhoc profile (name = "XC Ad Hoc: …“) you don’t really get to pick UDID’s. My guess is that Xcode generates this profile using all available devices from the account. – Lourdeslourie