- Create apple developer account(99$ per year)
- Goto keychain access in MacBook. Goto keychain access->request certificate. Enter email id(aka apple developer email id) and a name and choose to save on disk and save the certificate.
- Go to member center from https://developer.apple.com
- Go to certificates section -> all. Click on '+' icon to create a new certificate, choose ios development and upload new certificate there.
- Go to app identifiers and create new(from '+' icon). Choose explicit app id and need to provide unique bundle identifier from your Xcode project. If it's not unique, it will not accept. You can choose all services that you like.
- Add new device. To get a unique id for the device, connect mobile/iPad with MacBook. Go to xcode->window->devices and choose your device to get a unique id. Add any name and unique id to add that device
- Go to provisioning profile and create new for ios app development. Choose app id and certificate. Download provisioning profile. Double-click it and it will open your project in Xcode.(If it does not work properly, you need to restart Xcode and go to signing section of project in general tab and choose the profile or apple id)
- Choose a generic device in ios simulator section. Go to product->archieve.
- After archive is created, go to window->organizer and choose archive and export. (You can also export it for specific devices). This will create .ipa file and also create an ad-hoc distribution profile in developer member center. (In case, it does not create distribution profile, you can create it by yourself from apple's development center).
- Click on upload app. This will upload the app to the app store for testing. It might take some time and you will get email notification of whether it was successful or failure with ways to fix bugs.
- In case you need to fix bugs, follow the instructions on provided in the email. You need to change bundle version from Xcode before archiving it again and re-uploading it.
Using TestFlight:
- Google iTunes connect and login with the developer account.
- Go to myapps->add a new app. Provide same bundle id as used before. Other information can be random.
- Go to users and roles from top-left navigation and add testers' apple id email there. They will receive an activation email.
- Next, go to testflight tab and go to internal testing. Select app version(might be shown as processing for some time, you need to wait and refreshing).
- Next, select app, you might get the message of encryption. Tick yes yes and go next.
- Then select users(which were activated in users and roles) and hit start testing
- All activated users will get an email with instructions for testing.
- They need to download testflight app on their iPhones and redeem the code provided in the email.
- Once that is done, users will be able to download the app in their phones to test it!
- Wow. It's Done!!!
