How can I host an iOS IPA on a SharePoint 2013 site?

Question

I'm trying to distribute an Enterprise signed iOS App to employees via a secured SharePoint site but it doesn't want to work.

When clicking the specialized link to the manifest.plist file I get the prompt Open this page in "App Store"? I click "Open" and am then prompted for credentials. I enter my creds and click OK, then get asked sub.domain.com would like to install "My App". I click Install and then get

Unable to Download App

"My App" could not be downloded at this time.

Done | Retry

Clicking Retry just brings the same prompt up.

Any suggestions?

I've made sure of the following:

1. I'm using absolute URLs in the link and the manifest.plist file - I found relative URLs don't work
2. The URL contains no spaces - a space (%20) seems to cause problems
3. All files are checked in and published as major versions
4. All files are in the /site/SiteAssets/ folder, which don't really require publishing
5. The site contains a valid SSL certificate

A colleague and I figure this is caused by SharePoint storing content as BLOBs in a backend database and not serving up files directly, but doesn't DropBox do the same thing? Even with DropBox's dl.dropbox.com links I would figure they're store somewhere in a CMS.

Answer 1

You say that content is served in a backend database and NOT as files directly. That, probably, means that your manifest, .IPA files are available under web-site authentication?! If, so, please note:

That although you open a itms-services in Safari, your manifest.plist and .IPA are fetched directly by device, that means no cookies etc, no authentication... it is not a browser.

Make it available without any auth procedures, it might help,

Also please check you use right Mime-Types for .plist and .ipa application/x-plist and application/octet-stream respectively.