Chapter 1. Introduction to iOS Build and Release
Welcome to Essential iOS Build and Release. If you’re reading this, chances are you are in the process of building (or supporting the build process of) an app for Apple’s mobile operating system, iOS. Regardless of whether you are beginning a new project or maintaining an existing app, you probably have a good understanding of the complexity surrounding the build and distribution of an iOS app. The goal of this book is to be a guide through all the build and release processes that surround the development of an iOS app, which typically can be very time-consuming and distracting from the actual development of an app.
The goal of this chapter is to give you an overview of the online interface through which you’ll carry out build and release activities, the iOS Dev Center website. Additionally, we’ll cover how to provision a device using Xcode Organizer, which can be used as a quick way to set up an iOS device for development. We won’t spend a lot of time on terminology here; that will come later.
The iOS Dev Center
The iOS Dev Center website (Figure 1-1) is the main portal of iOS development. It offers a wealth of information about iOS development (documentation, videos, sample code, etc.). Additionally, the iOS Dev Center is where you go to download developer preview (beta) versions of Xcode, iOS, and iTunes. For the purposes of this book, we’ll cover the iOS Provisioning Portal, iTunes Connect, and the Member Center sections of the iOS ...