An important bit of news from WWDC that deserves its own news item: you no longer need to be a licensed developer (i.e., paying) to test your applications on your own devices.
Xcode 7 and Swift now make it easier for everyone to build apps and run them directly on their Apple devices. Simply sign in with your Apple ID, and turn your idea into an app that you can touch on your iPad, iPhone, or Apple Watch. Download Xcode 7 beta and try it yourself today. Program membership is not required.
Of course, to distribute them, you still need to pay up.
The wording isn’t clear to me. Has apple said more on the matter or is this it? Is this a perpetual right given to end users? Does it just apply to the beta? Are there any limits or restrictions on the apps that can be installed this way? Can we build new frameworks to deploy apps this way?
If this says what I hope it says, then I applaud it. Still needs to go further, but a move in the right direction never the less.
Doesn’t this mean that alternative app stores (Cydia, for instance) are now free to install provided they offer code that Xcode can compuke? Or other apps, provided they’re FOSS, like Firefox or any adblocking kit? I suspect that the “rootless” security that’s been rumored now is in place; otherwise this is essentially an open season to install things you’d otherwise need to jailbreak for.
Thinking more detailed: In order for someone to run any application I must provide an Xcode project, my app and a script to build the “custom” app. Now anyone has “its” own app running mine.
Did Apple think of this? We’ll see…
How very nice of them. To allow to run your own app on your own device. Unheard of. Go Apple.
Indeed, it’s almost as if you own your phone. Groundbreaking stuff.
Edited 2015-06-10 07:29 UTC
Microsoft only just let you do the same, so it’s really only draconian App Stores falling in to line.
l3v1,
Yea, the Jobs-era restrictions might be loosing momentum. I’m skeptical, but my *hope* is that it’s true and there aren’t any strings attached. Apple continues to receive tons of criticism over their assault on consumer freedoms by building devices prohibiting owner modification, so maybe they’ve determined that this needed to be done to improve public relations. I still want more details as I indicated in my earlier post. Has anyone done this yet?
I don’t want to run my on software on the dishwasher or in the TV set. Why should I do so in my phone?
It’s a phone, not a (personal) computer.
You could always do this. You had to pay Apple $99 for privilege ( though they did give you all the software for free ). Now you can do it without cost.
It looks like Apple saw how app developers increasingly moved to an Android-first development model and had to react. (The opinion in the tech press about whether Android-first was a thing was mostly negative in 2013 and early 2014 when initial reports of this surfaced, but changed radically in late 2014 with Facebook’s announcement[1].)
That leaves Windows Phone as the last OS where sideloading your own apps is not possible without paying a yearly fee.
[1] http://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-sees-android-first-app-deve…
Actually, even Windows Phone has allowed you to developer unlock it and side load your own apps without paying any fees for quite some time now.
This is yet again a case of Apple implementing something literally everyone else has done for years.
Edited 2015-06-10 08:50 UTC
Interesting, I must have missed that. Thanks for the correction.
Looks like the free unlock on Windows Phone allows only sideloading of two apps and it is no longer possible to unlock WP7 devices. But still Microsoft has to be commended that they were ahead of Apple here.
I dunno – I seem to recall that developers can install multiples of apps, but only on the phone they registered the unlock with. To be honest, I did it and ported my stock test bed app (a Oblique Strategies deck simulator) to Windows Phone 8.1, it worked and looked almost identical to the Android version… I left it at that and didn’t try any more. Maybe it really is 2 apps, but I don’t remember any mention of that.
No, they removed this restriction ages ago. Windows Phone 8.1 allows you to do exactly what Apple now does with iOS… as a developer, if you compile your app, you can deploy it on a phone.
The Microsoft model might be slightly different though – not looked at t&c’s for Apple. Only one registered phone per developer unless you pay a fee, developer still required to license app (for free, though I think you get a blanket signing key IIRC for any apps you develop) and the license isn’t perpetual – so it will expire and need to be re applied. If Apple didn’t push a lot of additional restrictions, and really did just make it a build/install type of deal, then that is better than what MS did.
“Of course, to distribute them, you still need to pay up.”
But not for long ?:
http://iosinstaller.com/
https://torrentfreak.com/popcorn-time-conquers-ios-now-with-a-mac-in…
Basically, I’m guess they let you create a key for your phone, and sign your apps with that key.
If you build from source, this will be easy.
I don’t know if a 3rd party binary app can be self signed or not.
IIRC, you sign binaries as you build them in to an app package, so it is probably feasible. Been over 4 years since I last did any iOS development though.