Installing Ad Hoc iPhone Applications
Apple allow an iPhone developer to distribute a limited amount of copies of their applications using a mechanism called Ad Hoc Distribution. This is intended for testing purposes, but it can also be useful to send out a fix quickly.
Installing with Ad Hoc Distribution is more difficult than buying through the App Store. Also updates are not automatic. You can install alongside an App Store purchased version of the application and both applications will remain installed, but it can be difficult to tell them apart.
When you are sent an iPhone App for Ad Hoc installation you need to complete the following steps:
- Unzip the zip file that was sent to you. You should have two files now. One ending in .mobileprovision is the provisioning file, this allows the app to run on your iPhone and only your iPhone. The other file is the actual application. On a Mac this looks like an application, on Windows this looks like a directory (with a .app extension).
- Open iTunes and connect your iPhone with the sync cable
- On a Mac drag the mobileprovision file over the iTunes Dock icon. On windows drag the file over the iTunes window and release.
- Drag the app file on to iTunes in the same way
- Click on the name of your iPhone/iPod on the left in iTunes. Now press the Sync button. This will install the application
If you get an installation error it may be because your device is not listed in the provisioning profile. Check with me if this is the case.
Some users have reported that exiting and restarting iTunes has helped make things work too.
SongBook iPhone Removed From Sale
I’ve taken the difficult decision to remove SongBook from the Apple App Store. The reason is that the currently approved release, version 1.0 has difficulty finding Linn products on a number of networks. I have fixed this issue in version 1.0.1, but it has so far twice been rejected from sale by Apple.
I believe that it is best for new users to wait for the updated version rather than risk frustration with version 1.0. I am also risking bad reviews on the App Store, which will stay present long after this issue is resolved.
This is very frustrating as 1.0 was approved for sale, yet 1.0.1, a better version has been rejected twice for either trivial or incorrect reasons. This has taken two weeks so far, and looks like taking at least a week longer to resolve.
The rejection emails are under NDA, so I cannot post them here. The first rejection was because SongBook would not ‘produce sound’, completely missing the point of the application I believe, as SongBook is a ControlPoint application for Linn DS players, it does not attempt to produce sound in any way. I sent a detailed reply to this email and got a terse response asking me to please resubmit the application, which I did.
The latest rejection is for two reasons, firstly SongBook crashed when attempting to play a Movie file. This is valid in that SongBook shouldn’t crash, but almost useless as a test as Linn DS players are music players and don’t play movies. I will fix this issue and resubmit, but yet another week has gone by. The second reason is more interesting in that I assumed that Apple do not have a Linn DS for testing, I believe this to be the case as the response from Apple detailed their test setup and did not mention Linn at all. The exact wording of the error was ‘in most instances, no music would play’. Which I would expect if there was no Linn hardware, in fact I would expect that in ‘all instances’. So either they do have a Linn DS, or the wording of the email was incorrect. I have asked for clarification on this issue.
The big issue here is that version 1.0.1 is better in every way than 1.0. 1.0 was approved (probably without testing it appears), but I cannot get 1.0.1 released due to misunderstandings and minor errors. This is very frustrating for all potential users of SongBook, and especially frustrating for people that have purchased a copy. Anyone that has contacted me with issues I have sent an updated copy of SongBook using what Apple call Ad Hoc distribution. This is time consuming for me and for users, but at least it gets them going. And it does prove that version 1.0.1 does work reliably.
In fact I have been sending out version 1.0.2 for recent requests. This version has a tidier user interface, larger album art display in the library listing, and support for selecting preamp source.
I’ll keep you updated with progress.
Edit: If you do request an Ad Hoc Distribution copy of SongBook I need your device id, you can find details on how to locate it here.
SongBook Device Search Errors
The first release of Mobile SongBook had quite a short search window for devices. It now appears that for many users this was too short. The problem was identified quickly and an update was submitted to Apple on the 29th October. The problem is now that Apple have not released this update, and time is moving on.
This is very frustrating. I have e-mailed Apple but have no response yet.
For your information here is a screenshot of the status of SongBook on Apples iTunes upload site:
I actually uploaded 1.0.1 the day after 1.0, but perhaps the timezone differences made that the same day in USA.
I’ll post an update here as soon as I hear back from Apple. For now it may be best to hold off from downloading SongBook until the new release is out.
Update: I received a reply from Apple:
Hello Jason,
Thank you for contacting the Apple Developer Connection regarding the iPhone Developer Program.
Please know that we will review your App as quickly as possible.
At this time it is not possible for us to give you a timeline.
We appreciate your patience. Please do not hesitate to contact us again should you have any further problems or queries.
Best regards,
Mobile SongBook released
SongBook is now listed on the Apple App Store. The release came through in record time. For those of you that are not aware an iPhone application must go through an approval process by Apple. My first iPhone application, SecretBook, took quite a while to get approved, partially because there was a large backlog of applications at the time and partially because Apple requested that I change the user interface slightly to better comply with their user interface guidelines. In contrast SongBook was approved and listed in 1 day, which caught me by surprise.
There are some bugs that have been reported in the first release version (1.0). I have addressed these issues in version 1.0.1 which at the time of writing is still in the approval process. I know this can be frustrating to download a new app and have it not work, but as with any new software release I cannot test every possible usage situation, so some initial bugs are almost inevitable. I will work to fix these as quickly as I can.
The bugs reported so far are related to device discovery. The main issue here is that I was concerned about application startup time and I optimised the device search to be as fast as possible, and it looks like for some peoples network I went to far. I’ve made the code more conservative now so it should work much better. It has been tested and works fine in some less than optimal networks (powerline ethernet, multiple wireless links etc) and it is working fine. I’m also discussing the issue with Linn to get the benefit of their experience with LinnGUI.
The other issue is Majik DS support. I have an Akurate DS and Sneaky Music DS for testing and thought that this gave me quite good coverage of the Linn devices. Unfortunately the Majik DS is a bit different in some ways and this caused problems. I actually found this bug before the App Store listing became live, and with the help of one Majik DS owner I have tested and confirmed a solution to this issue as well.
All of these fixes were submitted to Apple last Thursday so should appear as software updates soon.
Everyone has been very helpful and patient with these initial issues so far, and I want to say thanks for that. It is a little frustrating waiting for a release to come out on the App Store, if it was a Mac app I could have released the download immediately, that’s just a fact of live with the Apple Store though.
