Distribute iOS app out of the app store

There are other app distribution channels than the Apple App Store. If your iOS app targets a specific group of users or contains confidential information that shouldn’t be seen by everyone, discover the other solutions.

Apple App Store guidelines

Apple has strict guidelines concerning their app store:

• Be careful to corporate content: Apple is removing apps that seem too “corporate” or “business-oriented” as they are not bringing add value to their audience.
• Access to the largest number of people: it’s forbidden to publish an app that is only available with login identification

Alternative distribution solutions for iOS

There are many distribution solutions out of the Apple App Store:

• Ad Hoc distribution: it makes it easy to deploy applications to registered devices with an Ad Hoc Provisioning Profile.
  
  
• Distribute proprietary enterprise (in-house) apps for internal use with Apple Developer Enterprise Program.
  
  
• Private hub by PandaSuite: deploy your application through a private hub. Only users with the link can download this content. Choose between standard (Panda Hub, Sales Hub) or white-labelled hub.

Otherwise you can also publish your app as a web app. With the web app (PWA), your app is available from every web browsers (Safari, Chrome, Internet Explorer..), it can viewed offline and you can customize URL. This is a great solution if you do not use native sensors in your application.