Ad Hoc distribution for beta testing xcode 4.3

Question

After following the great tutorials from http://www.raywenderlich.com/ on how to submit your app to the app store from square one I started planning my beta test program.

I'm not going to get into details of everything that wen well but of what I'm dealing with right now.

I've read many many posts on how to create provisioning profiles for ad hoc distribution of my app to beta testers. I've focused on those helping user get the app over the air (OTA) after a forum recommendation.

I also know now that TESTFLIGHT is out there but I can't use it this time.

Everything works well except the part where the application actually gets installed on my device. I keep getting the error "Unable to Download Application" after a few seconds of pressing "Install".

There are several possibilities and combinations of certificates, profiles, signatures, and here is where I think I'm doing something wrong. I'd like to show you what I have and what I've done and maybe your experienced eyes can spot my missing step or misconfiguration.

On the iOS Provisional Portal:

1) Ad Hoc distribution profile with a couple of devices:

2) After I download and install my certificates (I've create a couple of each for testing purposes):

3) On my xCode's project configuration:

4) When I generate the archive:

5) I upload everything to my server and then try to get the .ipa to install on my iPhone (which is one of the two devices included on the profile)

And finally I get this:

What could be wrong?

Iraq

plus 1 for effort – Gabfest

wow..man..applause for putting so much effort for your question – Lavish

Thanks, I know I'm asking a tough one here so I tried to make it as clear as possible. I know there're a lot of experienced people in this community. – Stonebroke

I know that you say you don't want to use TestFlight, but for those having problems with this and ending up here. I struggled with this stuff for days, gave up and created an account on www.testflightapp.com and had everything up and running in about 30 minutes. And the account is free. I had assumed there would be a fee, but there isn't as of yet anyway. – Dense

Hi Kerouac, this was posted a long time ago. I've moved myself to the use of TestFlight now and it's a better experience for delivering Betas by far. Thanks for your input! – Stonebroke

Answer 1

The only difference I can see is in the CodeSigning, ensure both lines under Adhoc point to your certificate.

Second thing to verify: You did not mention the plist that is created during the "Save for Enterprice". Did you upload that to your server, too? And does your link point to this plist? Check out this answer for the plist stuff: How to send the build to already provisioned remote person's iPhone

Gabfest

Hi, I did upload the plist along with the .ipa file. My link points to the plist. It goes like this: itms-services://?action=download-manifest&url=becomingapps.com/ota/Dilemma.plist I'll check out the plist answer as well. Thanks! – Stonebroke

for my OTA's I have an extra http in the URL: itms-services://?action=download-manifest&url=http://www.becomingapps.com/ota/Dilemma.plist assuming your domain is www.becomingapps.com – Gabfest

Yes I also have it. Some automatic formatting happened when I added the comment but it is definitely there. Thanks for noticing though. – Stonebroke

I see. Another thing: your web server the url http://www.becomingapps.com/ota/Dilema.plist rediects to http://www.becomingapps.com/en/ota/Dilema.plist and then gives a 404 – Gabfest

Hi, you're missing an "m" in Dilemma. – Stonebroke

Sorry, spelling was never my strong point. The plist points to (copied and pasted ;) http://www.becomingapps.com/en/ota/Dilemma.ipa and that URL times out. The download works ok without the /en – Gabfest

That what's exactly the problem. Thanks! – Stonebroke

"Third" thing to verify: do a checklist! – Barber

Answer 2

I've had this exact problem even where, like you (as far as I can tell), everything is done right. What I discovered is that if you've EVER had the url to the plist file or the app file incorrect then your iPhone will always fail to install. There's some kind of cacheing going on where the phone fails to download the updated plist file if it's previously downloaded an incorrect one.
The fix I've used is to try a different phone (that hasn't cached a previous version), or to make a new version at a different URL. Sounds crazy, but it worked for me!

Condon

I had the link wrong for sure the first time. I'll try it on a different device and let you know. Thanks. – Stonebroke

Answer 3

We have also faced with this problem couple of times and possible reasons might be;

Due to the screen shots, did you upload your files to exact location "http://www.becomingapps.com/en/ota/" location? When you give this URL during enterprise export.

Second possible reason we have seen is mismatched App Id's.

Predigest

Hi, the location is correct and I've tested it in a few different ways to make sure it is the exact path. Your second possible reason seems like a real possibility. How can I go back to square one? Remove it all and create new provisioning profiles for Dev and Dist? – Stonebroke

I will update my answer for app id's,but have you checked the device logs via organizer what's is the error while downloading? – Predigest

I go to Organizer - iPhone - Device Logs and there's nothing there besides some Evernote, Facebook and MobileMail crash logs. Nothing related to this. I did it all again to try and generate a log entry on the failed attempt but it didn't create anything new. – Stonebroke

Answer 4

In case you haven't solved your problem, I think you can't use a wild card in your ad hoc profile. It should have the full ...com.becomingapps.dilemma signature.

You also have to upload both the icons, but I'm assuming you did that since your screenshot shows a custom icon.

It's worth the effort to get this working, my customers love it.

Callas

Hi, thanks for helping out. I finally got it working and the app is already in the store. The beta program went great. Next time I'll try with Test Flight though. – Stonebroke

@JuanGonzález What was the solution to your problem? I'm running into the same thing. – Pietra

The solution to my problem was correcting a link which pointed out to a wrong address. The silliest mistake of all. The answer from Olaf was the correct one in this case. – Stonebroke