is there any way to distribute ios applications outside app store?

Question

Is there any way to distribute ios applications through my own website, not using app store?
I mean is there any way that enables end users to download

Answer 1

You can use enterprise distribution services like BuildCannon, but you still need an apple enterprise account. I use a custom solution, but it's a pain to maintain.

Answer 2

The options include:

1. App Store (free or paid)
2. Enterprise Distribution (must be within an organization)
3. Open source distribution

It does not sound like any of these will meet your requirements, so no.

Further explanation: Just to be clear, the limitation is not in distributing your .ipa file, it is the ability for users to install it on their phone. iOS requires an app be signed by Apple (from the App Store), from an Enterprise certificate, or from a developer certificate when a valid provisioning profile includes the target device.

Answer 3

UPDATE:

BuddyBuild service will stop on 1-3-2018, the other alternative I know is https://www.diawi.com

Old ANSWER:

Try BuddyBuild , after making a build you can take link to IPA file and distribute it as shown.

Answer 4

You if don't want to upload your files to the already mentioned web services, you can host your IPA in your own computer and distribute over the internet using ngrok and the approach given by jithin.

I've created a server that does exactly that and also is protected by password. You can check it out here:

https://github.com/Edudjr/IPAServer

Answer 5

There are several possibilities, which probably won't match your needs:

1. Since last month it's possible to test apps on a device without the need of a paid membership.
2. There's a possibility to deploy an app through a service like TestFlight, but this needs either a profile installed on the device (like HockeyApp) or always new build since the old ones expire after 30 days.
3. You could deploy an app with the Enterprise Program

The easy way you describe is not possible.

Answer 6

Apart from the options mentioned above there are 2 more methods.

Method 1:

You could ask the user to open a webpage in safari browser with the following link in it.

href="itms-services://?action=download-manifest&url=url of the manifest file"

The app is installed as soon as the user clicks the link.

Method 2:

You can also leverage iOS mdm solutions like Hexnode MDM though its bit of an overkill.

here is a link on how to distribute app without app store