Uploading my app on my phone but only for personal use

Hi,

Is it possible to upload an app that I made only for my personal without passing by the appstore? The reason for that it’s that I don’t want top pay for my own app xD.

1 Like

I think you need to get an Apple Developer account in order to deploy an app onto your phone.
Watch Module 7 of the Foundations course to set you up for deploying your app on an actual device.
Chris has a bunch of videos that will teach you how to do that.

1 Like

So is there anyway to get the app on my phone without paying the 100$ per year?

I am no expert on this topic but unfortunately, I don’t think so.

There are restrictions on the number of Apps you can create in Xcode and the number of Apps you can load onto a real device with a Free Developer account.

The maximum number of Apps you can create in Xcode in a 7 day window is 10.
The maximum number of Apps you can put on your device is 3.

This becomes a real hassle if you are following a course that requires you to create multiple Apps as part of the course.

1 Like

Thank you for the insight! So I do create a developper account but I don’t need to pay. Also, is the upload process the same as if I pay for the 100$ or I have to go through a different process and if so, what is it?

As far as I remember (it was mid 2017 when I started out) you add your Apple Id to Xcode via Preferences > Accounts and once you have that setup you then connect your phone to your Mac and you can select it as a build destination.

This link may be helpful:

1 Like

you can add it to your phone but only install it directly (like make your phone as the simulator) but it will only be usable for 7 days using the free developer account

afterward you need to run it again to “refresh” the 7 days and be able to use it again

1 Like

Do I lose all the data of the app by refreshing every 7 days?

no, unless you uninstall it

1 Like

If you get approved for a test flight, you might be able to do it that way, though I am not for sure whether all of the functionality would be available.

Is there any way around this 7 day limit? I’m writing an app for my own use, but it wouldn’t be very useful if I have to refresh it every week.

you need get the apple developer membership ($99 a year) you will also access some capabilities like adding apple sign in and stuff

this will make your app exist in your phone even after expire i think, or at least until your membership expires

Something doesn’t make sense here. I want to write my own app and use it just on my own phone. My only choices are to reinstall it every seven days or pay $99 a year for the privilege? Surely, there must be another solution!

I read something about ad hoc distribution, but I don’t want to distribute it. I just want to use it myself.

Is there someplace at Apple that I can write to to get clarification on this?

Not sure what you mean by ‘refresh’. Do you have to link it back up to Xcode and reinstall? Or is it a simpler process?

The rules are that a free account allows you to create a maximum of 10 Apps in a 7 day window. You can put a maximum of 3 Apps on a real device but they will have to be reinstalled after 7 days.

These rules are in place because if it was open slather it would mean that anyone with Xcode could place an App on their phone for an unlimited period of time.

That would circumvent the App Store and of course the business model that Apple have implemented means that for any App installed they take a cut of the profits from any App sale and a cut to any In-App purchase. The cut they took used to be 30% but recently that has now been dropped to 15% for anyone earning less that $1m annually.

As a paid up developer, you can put any number of Apps on your personal device without having to upload them to the App Store, although after 12 months you have to reload them because the associated certificates that you are using in Xcode only last 12 months and require renewal.

yes this is exactly it, and as Chris Parker mentioned if your account is free it will only be usable on your device for 7 days without the need to reinstall while having a developer account will enable you to keep your app for 1 year without the need to reinstall

Got it.

thanks both for clearly explaining.

I can write an app that runs under Windows and install it on my (or any other) computer and not pay anything, even though Microsoft has an App Store for purchasing software to run under Windows.

I’m not asking for the ability to write an app and pass it on to tons of people, which would indeed bypass Apple’s business model. I only want to install it on my phone. I don’t think Apple would lose much revenue in that case.

Anyway, I’m trying to convince the wrong people. What I’m asking is whether anyone knows how I can contact Apple to make my case for this capability.

I hear what you are saying Peter. The only thing you can do is submit feedback vis this website link.