is there any way to distribute ios applications outside app store?

Is there any way to distribute ios applications through my own website, not using app store?
I mean is there any way that enables end users to download the .ipa file from my website with their browser application and install it directly on their iOS devices?
I have looked around in the web and googled it, but it doesn't seem to be any option for it out there, I just want to make sure of it.

Thank You

There are several possibilities, which probably won't match your needs:

1. Since last month it's possible to test apps on a device without the need of a paid membership.
2. There's a possibility to deploy an app through a service like TestFlight, but this needs either a profile installed on the device (like HockeyApp) or always new build since the old ones expire after 30 days.
3. You could deploy an app with the Enterprise Program

The easy way you describe is not possible.

Apart from the options mentioned above there are 2 more methods.

Method 1:

You could ask the user to open a webpage in safari browser with the following link in it.

href="itms-services://?action=download-manifest&url=url of the manifest file"

The app is installed as soon as the user clicks the link.

Method 2:

You can also leverage iOS mdm solutions like Hexnode MDM though its bit of an overkill.

here is a link on how to distribute app without app store

UPDATE:

BuddyBuild service will stop on 1-3-2018, the other alternative I know is https://www.diawi.com

Old ANSWER:

Try BuddyBuild , after making a build you can take link to IPA file and distribute it as shown.

The options include:

1. App Store (free or paid)
2. Enterprise Distribution (must be within an organization)
3. Open source distribution

It does not sound like any of these will meet your requirements, so no.

Further explanation: Just to be clear, the limitation is not in distributing your .ipa file, it is the ability for users to install it on their phone. iOS requires an app be signed by Apple (from the App Store), from an Enterprise certificate, or from a developer certificate when a valid provisioning profile includes the target device.

Basically there are three ways

• App store

With this method anyone with an iPhone can have access to the application. You can distribute an unlimited number of applications like this. Apple gets a 30% cut. Of course, Apple must approve your application.

• Ad hoc

You can distribute applications using ad hoc without going through the app store, but you are limited to a maximum of 100 devices. With this method you can distribute your application from a web site, email, etc.

• Enterprise

The method is for internal distribution in companies with more than 500 employees. Apple does not provide any more public detail that I could find on this method.

It doesn't sound like any of these methods meet your criteria unless you have fewer than 100 customers and don't plan to exceed that number. It sounds like from the question your customers are not internal to your company.

I would advise contacting Apple. They might be able to arrange some kind of custom distribution deal.

You if don't want to upload your files to the already mentioned web services, you can host your IPA in your own computer and distribute over the internet using ngrok and the approach given by jithin.

I've created a server that does exactly that and also is protected by password. You can check it out here:

https://github.com/Edudjr/IPAServer

To send build to testers or client I am generally using installonair.com which allows to upload IPA file and generate short URL which we can provide to other users and they can download and install easily from that link.

There are other options as well like Apple Testflight, hockeyapp but I found installonair.com is the quick one.

If you have and Enterprise membership you can do this, but it really isn't what they want you to do on a large scale.

Take a look at this question: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/7261255/deploying-an-ios-application-using-apple-enterprise-developer-program

You can use enterprise distribution services like BuildCannon, but you still need an apple enterprise account. I use a custom solution, but it's a pain to maintain.