[HWR_14]

Except what you just said isn't true. Yes, Apple charges for developer accounts that lets you publish to the AppStore or even privately. But you can get a free version that lets you push to devices locally. So if you want to distribute your app not in the store you can do so as long as you release the source so other people can build it on their free account.

[lstamour]

Except with a free account (“ADP” according to Apple) there are limitations: https://help.apple.com/developer-account/#/dev21218dfd6

On top of that, apps installed this way expire after a number of days, possibly as few as 7 days? And there’s a limit to how many can be installed this way, might be as few as 5 apps.

[LeoPanthera]

But that's not what he said. He said you can't do it. You can.

[lstamour]

Sure. As long as you don’t need Fonts, iCloud, NFC, VPN, Push Notifications, Sign in with Apple, Sign in with browser credentials in-app (useful to avoid typing your passwords in multiple times), time-sensitive notifications, Siri or Low Latency HLS, amongst other features.

And don’t mind re-installing the app every 7 days by connecting your phone to Xcode and installing again or it will expire and stop working… And yes there is wireless connectivity to Xcode, but it’s still extra work, especially if the app itself can deploy using JS in-app updates.

So yep, you can do it. Technically. But the first time my app “expired”, I went and bought the subscription again. It’s waaaay too annoying if you actually want to use an app to use the free edition. The free edition is for, like, class projects maybe. Not apps you actually want to build and use.

[paulryanrogers]

Do these side loaded installs expire or work indefinitely?

[ksaj]

I have an app that I've now installed on 3 different cell phones as I've upgraded them over the years. It was given to me by the writer for feedback and comments, but then their professional life became such that they never finalized the app.

Thing is, I use the app a lot. It's very unique and has no competition because it fills an extremely narrow niche. Side loading it has worked for several years on several increasingly newer phones.

I'm not sure if that's exactly what your question is about, but I think it might be.

When we reach 128-bit architecture, that app will fail. But I don't expect that to happen any time soon.

[Teknoman117]

When did they change that? When I stopped doing iOS dev on ~2017 it was still true that you had to pay to deploy to your own phone.

[HWR_14]

They definitely changed it before 2017. I know it existed in 2016, but I don't know how early they did it.

It wasn't (and isn't) well publicized. But "side load to your phone is hard" is a way to lock it away from your grandparents and to power users only.

[Teknoman117]

Okay, I dug around, was actually a bit hard to find. They started allowing "free local provisioning" in 2015. You have to reload your app to the device every week though. So it's not exactly the side loading experience you get with Android.