The Pains of iPhone Ad Hoc Beta Testing
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The Pains of iPhone Ad Hoc Beta Testing
1–10 of 14 posts
Re: The Pains of iPhone Ad Hoc Beta Testing
#2Agreed. I often have to give people my UDID several times ... and then sometimes it still doesn't work.
Re: The Pains of iPhone Ad Hoc Beta Testing
#3Agreed. I often have to give people my UDID several times ... and then sometimes it still doesn't work.
You know, this is yet another thing why I really hesitate to start hacking for the iPhone, there are just so many hoops to jump through and being used to developing web apps this beta process just sounds insane...
I wonder why so many people are still putting up with all that.
Re: The Pains of iPhone Ad Hoc Beta Testing
#4Ad-hoc testers using Windows Vista have a couple of obstacles to overcome.
Not only the default unzip problem the post mentions (I've found it's just simpler to give the Vista testers an ipa file instead), but also removing the provisioning profile from iTunes usually involves going into the local filesystem and removing the .mobileprovision files manually: http://denis.papathanasiou.org/?p=139
Re: The Pains of iPhone Ad Hoc Beta Testing
#5"Over 10% of our testers gave us the wrong number as their UDID."
It's not that hard. There's a free app you can put on your device that will email your UDID to where ever you want, or you can just copy it over from iTunes/XCode. I haven't ever had a client give me the wrong UDID (they have given me the same UDID twice though, forgetting that I already have that device in the database). The hardest part usually is that it can sometimes take 5-6 tries of dragging the app into iTunes (on Windows at least) for it to work. But even that isn't too big of a deal, just quick and easy repetitive motion (once they get the profile installed).
I think the biggest pain in the ass is on the developer's side. Anytime you want to run the app on another device, you have to add another UDID to the device list on Apple's site, regenerate your provisioning profile, download it, delete the old adhoc profile from ~/Library/MobileDevices (good luck trying to find out which of the profiles in there is your old adhoc, the files are named with a random string of letters and numbers), install it to XCode, open your project, and change your adhoc build profile settings to the new profile.
Phew.
Re: The Pains of iPhone Ad Hoc Beta Testing
#6Agreed. I often have to give people my UDID several times ... and then sometimes it still doesn't work.
You know, this is yet another thing why I really hesitate to start hacking for the iPhone, there are just so many hoops to jump through and being used to developing web apps this beta process just sounds insane... I wonder why so many people are still putting up with all that.
Maybe because they themselves are early adopters of technology platforms.
Re: The Pains of iPhone Ad Hoc Beta Testing
#7Interesting. This problem is tractable with better software, and it seems to be well within the capability of a single developer to solve. (Make a dedicated beta client which automates all the stupidity for the end-user, including sniffing GUIDs, downloading your distribution, and reporting errors to you, and a web service for the beta clients to connect to to grab apps, report errors, and cough ensure that your customers succeed in paying for your application.)
Unfortunately, while it is software that saves people pain (a plus) and helps make people money (a big plus), it is also sold to developers (ouch), most of whom are hobbyists (double ouch), would have to cost an awful lot in comparison to what they charge for software (triple ouch), and requires Apple to remain clueless or else your investment gets vaporized with a patch.
Re: The Pains of iPhone Ad Hoc Beta Testing
#8Agreed. I often have to give people my UDID several times ... and then sometimes it still doesn't work.
You know, this is yet another thing why I really hesitate to start hacking for the iPhone, there are just so many hoops to jump through and being used to developing web apps this beta process just sounds insane... I wonder why so many people are still putting up with all that.
You can actually hack in the simulator quite easily.
It's just distribution to non-app store clients that is a pain in the ass (as well as going through the approval process)
Re: The Pains of iPhone Ad Hoc Beta Testing
#9Interesting. This problem is tractable with better software, and it seems to be well within the capability of a single developer to solve. (Make a dedicated beta client which automates all the stupidity for the end-user, including sniffing GUIDs, downloading your distribution, and reporting errors to you, and a web service for the beta clients to connect to to grab apps, report errors, and cough ensure that your cust…
I actually think it could be sold as a framework completely legally.
Re: The Pains of iPhone Ad Hoc Beta Testing
#10Earlier quoted context omitted.
You know, this is yet another thing why I really hesitate to start hacking for the iPhone, there are just so many hoops to jump through and being used to developing web apps this beta process just sounds insane... I wonder why so many people are still putting up with all that.
You can actually hack in the simulator quite easily. It's just distribution to non-app store clients that is a pain in the ass (as well as going through the approval process)
> It's just distribution to non-app store clients that is a pain in the ass (as well as going through the approval process)
Yep... it's just distribution to non-app store clients, and distribution to app store clients, that's a pain in the ass. Everything else is easy.
http://www.alexc.me/android-distribution-vs-iphone-distribut...