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iOS now free to develop for.. (sort of)

category: general [glöplog]
The $99 entry cost for iOS development has been lifted.

XCode 7 can now compile & upload apps to locally attached devices without needing an apple developer account, just a regular apple id.

The main caveat is that you can't submit apps to the App Store, just develop. Distribution would have to be source code only. (Some sites are, as far as those I've discussed this with so far misreported that you can upload 'anything', then cite an an example which is actually someone compiling something...)

So for those without actually apple desktop hardware it is entirely possible to use a Hackintosh or VirtualBox VM to develop. (xcode is usable in a VM especially off an SSD, but when using GL the iOS simulator doesn't run that well without HW acceleration).

I thought this might appeal to the scene as at a party entries could be loaded onto non-jailbroken iOS device without requiring that you have a $99 dev account just to tinker or having to wait for store approval .

(p.s. Please don't bring up iOs demoscene, why there isn't/is one, and app store submissions of demos as its been flogged to death more than once on here!)
added on the 2015-06-12 13:36:33 by Canopy Canopy
i have an idea! as you're doing the compiling anyway, why don't you code my demos for me as well? and the graphics and music too? Damn, those Apple devices really do make demo making easy for me!
Good to know!
added on the 2015-06-12 15:04:08 by trc_wm trc_wm
What kind of access does this give to the device? I've never coded for ios, but this sounds interesting. Specifically there was a an app that was only available on jailbroken devices and I'm wondering if it would be possible to create something similar again with this. The app was called iphonedelivery and it added the single feature that I'm missing from my phone: sms delivery reports in the form of a small icon next to the message bubble. I'm not sure if this was achieved via some proper apis or some jailbreak hackery though.
added on the 2015-06-13 03:27:47 by BoyC BoyC
No idea. I'd assume that the features available are the same as those usable by people with dev accounts developing now. But! I know that 'private APIs' can be called by people developing now, but are hueristically blocked by the app store submission program, so some things might be possible.

I've got a dev account at work, and have done some OS X and iOS dev here n there, but nothing in anger. I have some conecpts/ideas I want to prove before investing in hardware and a dev account for home. Especially as I just got given a device that works fine, but doesn't hold its charge (fine for tethered debugging)


A few more bits of info.

Xcode 7 is currently beta 1. Think you still need a dev account to get it the dmg, or know someone with one. (don't think they're stamped).

Minimum OS for Xcode 7 beta 1 is 10.10.3 (OS X Yosemite 14D131 or 14D136 or of course 10.11.x El Capitan)
added on the 2015-06-13 13:11:35 by Canopy Canopy
Maali: Did you make any sense there?
added on the 2015-06-13 20:15:43 by Marq Marq
I would be really surprised if the iOS Development account annual fee of 99$ had been lifted.

They have a new "Apple Developer Account" that costs 99$ per year - which allows for OS X & iOS development.
added on the 2015-06-16 14:30:14 by distance distance
OH RLY?

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2933052/apple-frees-casual-ios-developers-of-membership-requirement.html

http://www.zdnet.com/article/with-xcode-7-you-can-freely-bypass-the-app-store-for-ios-apps/#ftag=YHFb1d24ec

:)
added on the 2015-06-16 14:40:31 by Canopy Canopy
Quote:
OH RLY?
http://www.pcworld.com/article/2933052/apple-frees-casual-ios-developers-of-membership-requirement.html
http://www.zdnet.com/article/with-xcode-7-you-can-freely-bypass-the-app-store-for-ios-apps/#ftag=YHFb1d24ec
:)


Sure. but downloading Xcode 7 isn't (currently) possible without having an Apple Developer Account. Same with iOS9 downloads or OS X 10.11 (OS X El Capitan).
added on the 2015-06-17 08:37:49 by distance distance
Quote:
Xcode 7 is currently beta 1. Think you still need a dev account to get it the dmg, or know someone with one. (don't think they're stamped).
Minimum OS for Xcode 7 beta 1 is 10.10.3 (OS X Yosemite 14D131 or 14D136 or of course 10.11.x El Capitan)


Yeah so basically there's no way to actually get to Xcode 7 unless if you're a developer - hence the payment. Or, you can wait till, what, autumn 2015 and hope for the best? Even then, you need an AppleID to be able to download Xcode 7 from the Mac App Store.

So you can't actually get OS X El Capitan / iOS 9 / Xcode 7 without having an Apple Developer subscription.
added on the 2015-06-17 10:22:17 by distance distance
Quote:
The $99 entry cost for iOS development has been lifted.


no.

Quote:
XCode 7 can now compile & upload apps to locally attached devices without needing an apple developer account, just a regular apple id.


yes.

Quote:
The main caveat is that you can't submit apps to the App Store, just develop. Distribution would have to be source code only. (Some sites are, as far as those I've discussed this with so far misreported that you can upload 'anything', then cite an an example which is actually someone compiling something...)


yes, but even then, you gotta be running 10.10.3 or 10.11 + Xcode 7 - and you can't be running them (10.11 + Xcode 7 ), currently, until they are released - without the Apple Developer Account.

Quote:
So for those without actually apple desktop hardware it is entirely possible to use a Hackintosh or VirtualBox VM to develop. (xcode is usable in a VM especially off an SSD, but when using GL the iOS simulator doesn't run that well without HW acceleration).


You seem well-versed in this topic - so why don't you talk about the fact that iOS / OSX Developers can nowadays use Metal instead of OpenGL??

Quote:
I thought this might appeal to the scene as at a party entries could be loaded onto non-jailbroken iOS device without requiring that you have a $99 dev account just to tinker or having to wait for store approval.


D'you mean 4-5 months from now?
added on the 2015-06-17 10:26:37 by distance distance
Quote:
I would be really surprised if the iOS Development account annual fee of 99$ had been lifted.
They have a new "Apple Developer Account" that costs 99$ per year - which allows for OS X & iOS development.
Quote:
OH RLY?
(useless URLs removed)
:)


Yes. The iOS Development account annual fee of 99$ has NOT been lifted. You still have to pay, to actually develop, while OS X & Xcode are in Beta.

Yes, you're able to load it onto your iPhone / iPad without having to have a developer account, and that's probably neat & all, but completely useless to those who can't access the DMGs for Xcode & OSX to get going. While it's in Beta.
added on the 2015-06-17 10:29:51 by distance distance
Quote:
D'you mean 4-5 months from now?

Yeah, or if you can acquire a xcode 7 beta .DMG from someone.

The required version of Yosemite is available now. So its "just" case of getting the DMG for xcode 7 from somewhere.

Quote:
Quote:
The $99 entry cost for iOS development has been lifted.


no.

Ok. Will be lifted when it comes out :) (Not just according to 'useless URLs' it was announced in a keynote, and is on the dev site)

So in the end once released, people should be able to develop & tinker without needing the $99 dev account. But, if they want to release to the app-store, they have to stump up.

Quote:
You seem well-versed in this topic - so why don't you talk about the fact that iOS / OSX Developers can nowadays use Metal instead of OpenGL??

Its a case by case thing. Just like on Windows and Linux devs will be able to use Vulkan, doesn't mean they should. With Metal, OK If their target is just iOS I guess. If they're using Unity Mobile they won't really care as its abstracted. So IMO, Metal not ideal for cross platform, but if iOS is your only target, or you have the time/resources to have different renderers per platform.. why not. Whatevers pragmatic for each situation. If apple drop OpenGL ES support a whole that'd be a big issue.


Really, I thought it'd be interesting to those who want to tinker and have access to apple hardware, or can run a VM and already have a ipod touch/iphone/ipad to know this is coming. People can already jailbreak, but doing it on legit tools might appeal to people who don't want to jailbreak their actual iphone.

I have been keeping a keen eye on the entry costs, as once I have my current home project out of the way (and summer is gone..) I'll be working on some cross platform touch/tablet based audio apps. (Mostly live recording/guitar oriented). Nothing overly special to start with but once I have my base code down and first few apps done I'll have the basis for the more in-depth stuff. Going to prototype on Win first, including tablets and target iOS, at which point I've decided I'll get a Mac Mini. And.. yes my GUI will be OpenGL ES (iOS) and Angle for Modern UI, and 'modern' style OpenGL (desktop) for my prototyping (using the dev tools I'm super familiar with and use all day at work)
added on the 2015-06-17 13:24:09 by Canopy Canopy
marq: the sense was that the 'might be interesting for demoparties'-process described by canopy is too tedious and i guess 'fuck that, render a video and show it running on your own ipad to what's his name who runs the compo' will suffice. :P home brewing aside.
yeah I accept too tedious for a compo, ok for wild though i suppose

shader editors are already available via appstore, so thats not a win either.. maybe a gnu rocket client or something..
added on the 2015-06-17 18:05:06 by Canopy Canopy
TL;DR, but here's a thought (just thinking out aloud really):

Since that 99$ / year account is needed to publish to Apptore, how about some good samaritan becoming "the publisher" for IOS demoscene releases? That is, all IOS releases would be funneled through this single publisher and made free to download at Appstore.

Any demogroup wishing to publish works would have to check that their releases complies with the Appstore guidelines and whatever the process requires. If there's no alternative sources of income to cover the yearly fee (donations?), perhaps the publisher could collect a small per-release fee.

Thinking this might be best off if the publisher was a organization like scene.org or Demozoo (or who else?).

So what do you think? Spot any obvious downfalls with this "publisher" approach?
added on the 2015-06-18 09:11:15 by el-bee el-bee
Yeah. I think I recall someone saying previous demos put in to the app store were removed on grounds that they don't do anything useful. Utility of course measured by Apple's reviewers, not the potential viewers.
Quote:
So what do you think? Spot any obvious downfalls with this "publisher" approach?

I think this method was mooted in previous posts about iOS, basically falls under the point Maali made about it being tedious.

Three points

1. Exactly what Starchaser said. (They won't accept submissions unless interactive and other reasons)

2a even if it did work with the app store, it means one person would have to compile/manage build errors, a lot of work. (well would be if if anyone bothered making iOS demos). Also turnaround time would mean submissions for party deadlines would be at apples mercy, not even counting rejections in mind. also some people don't like passing their code around.

2b. same as method 3 with a dev account, and provisioned locally without app store submission from one central machine. same issues as 2b with managing the build on a central host system and sharing of code.

3. the method i proposed mean the person wanting to submit would compile locally and provision the attached 'party ipad'. this means the work is done by the submitter, and code isn't shared. i thought that was an improvement on 2b, but still a ball ache.

So we're back to 'OK for wild', and the main benefit being the $99 having being dropped.
added on the 2015-06-18 10:54:11 by Canopy Canopy
Quote:
Quote:
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The $99 entry cost for iOS development has been lifted.

no.

Ok. Will be lifted when it comes out :) (Not just according to 'useless URLs' it was announced in a keynote, and is on the dev site)


What ever do you mean by lifting, seriously? Lifting and - then, later in your responses, dropping? People still have to pay $99 to be able to be developers (Mac App Store & App Store). They've changed one thing and you call it "lifting"? They changed it so that you can now dump your code to an iPhone or an iPad - the $99 is still in place.

I guess I'm only writing this because someone might think that iOS/OSX development is now free and there is no $99 cost whatsoever, when that's simply not the case.

Quote:
Quote:
You seem well-versed in this topic - so why don't you talk about the fact that iOS / OSX Developers can nowadays use Metal instead of OpenGL??

Its a case by case thing. Just like on Windows and Linux devs will be able to use Vulkan, doesn't mean they should. With Metal, OK If their target is just iOS I guess. If they're using Unity Mobile they won't really care as its abstracted. So IMO, Metal not ideal for cross platform, but if iOS is your only target, or you have the time/resources to have different renderers per platform.. why not. Whatevers pragmatic for each situation. If apple drop OpenGL ES support a whole that'd be a big issue.


They announced at WWDC that Metal is coming to OSX - i.e., from OS X El Capitan onwards, Metal is available as an alternative to OpenGL. for OSX.
But if you want crossplatform then nm. Just thought to clarify that Metal is iOS & OSX now.
added on the 2015-06-18 11:38:41 by distance distance
ah really didn't take stock of the metal on os x point. makes sense, they want people to target both if making games etc.

Quote:

I guess I'm only writing this because someone might think that iOS/OSX development is now free and there is no $99 cost whatsoever, when that's simply not the case.


yes its a sneaky semantics thing. thats why the subject of this post contains "sort of". the fee has been a bone of contention used against apple by "fandroid" users and on cross-platform development battle cards. so apple can now say "but it costs nothing to develop for iOS.." *cough* *under breath* only release.

forget that i have a dev account at work for a moment - as i can't release my own stuff using that. this is useful for people in my position who don't want to invest the $99 fee until they actually release something.

once xcode 7 is off beta and available outside the dev program people can make (sorry develop) an app, upload it to visiting friends iOS devices, and only have to pay the fee to release it to the world once they've got something other than vapourware.

so yes, sneaky language, but yes i think a positive change that makes things a bit easier to get onboard with hobbyist iOS dev.
added on the 2015-06-18 13:25:15 by Canopy Canopy
Yes, Canopy, it's definitely really cool. I also like the fact that Safari, OS X & iOS Development are all merged.

My iOS membership ran out and I was trying to figure out how to get OS X El Capitan and iOS 9 without having to dish out $99 + $99. I'm glad they're combined now. I just wish I could grab OS X El Capitan right now (well, actually, post-thursday since I have a gig then..)

.. I'd like to get on Xcode7 right now what with Swift 2.0. But I can see no way to get there.
added on the 2015-06-19 11:32:31 by distance distance
el capitan beta is on some popular torrent sites, xcode beta isn't yet, it might turn up there or other places (newsgroups?) I guess..
added on the 2015-06-19 12:42:15 by Canopy Canopy
Quote:
el capitan beta is on some popular torrent sites, xcode beta isn't yet, it might turn up there or other places (newsgroups?) I guess..


I did hear that El Capitan should enter Public Beta around July 2015. Here's hoping.
added on the 2015-06-19 14:40:22 by distance distance
el-bee: the flaw is that Apple still has the final decision whether shit gets in the Appstore or not. So the 'official publisher' idea might work, if this publisher first went thru some politics with Apple and I guess Apple doesn't care enough and no one is crazy enough to waste his time on such a futile attempt :)

Besides, the European smartphone market is mostly Android anyway, so you're only pleasing half-brained 'Merricans with iOS demos! And considering the scene is mostly a European thing...
There has to be interactivity otherwise the appstore will not allow them. I have an account and I would not mind to publish demos for free but they will be rejected :)

Blackpawn has some demoish stuff in the appstore but all of them are interactive:

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/fire-skull/id476328452?mt=8
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/plasma-effect/id321096615?mt=8
added on the 2015-06-19 15:57:15 by Rob Rob

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