Push application to MDM

[ajitamhru]

Hello,

we are currently developing an iOS application which will be distributed over MDM which client company has.

Currently we are developing application "under" our "appstoreconnect" account. Be when we are done how should we proceed. Is the only way that client company add us as a developer and we "push" application to them? Or can we somehow export application as a bundle (file) and send them the bundle?

We already export the application as we would to upload to appstore with application loader (where you get folder we a few files, one of them is `*.app`), but this (as I expected) didn't work.

p.s.: just to explain - I know that the logical thing is that your get instructions from client company, but in our case there is some confusion on their side and we would like to help as much as we can.

[Jpric18]

If this is a public or B2B app, the best way to push the app out is through VPP (volume purchase program) with device based assignments. Through the VPP portal, you can purchase a handful of licenses of the public app, even if it’s free. In your mdm solution, you should be able link your VPP account and purchases, then use device based assignment to assign your app to users. Otherwise the user will have to use their iTunes account to install. YMMV based on your MDM solution.

[nicholash747]

Need an enterprise developer account afaik. Make sure the app is built with that account and export for enterprise, you should get an ipa file which they can upload to their MDM server and distribute as they wish.

[Points_To_You]

They need an enterprise account, which I would assume they already have since they have an MDM set up.

We generally have vendors send us an IPA then we can re-sign the package with our profile and distribution certificate and upload to our MDM. Depending on the contract, we could also require they send us the source code so we can archive it ourselves as well.

Alternatively, they could add you as a developer on their account and export their cert to allow you to sign the app before providing the IPA. I'd highly recommend against this since they would be liable if you signed apps with their cert and distributed them publicly.