I'm a student developer, using Ionic framework and I've developed an app for my friend's company. I have never owned an Apple product.Is there any alternative to paying 100$ for apple developer ID? I don't need the app to be visible on App Store to anyone. Is it possible, like it is for Android .apk files, to just build the app using xcode on macincloud or local Mac machine and to get that ".apk"-equivelent (.IPA i think?) file so I could share that file with my clients?
I don't own a Mac machine, but let's say I do buy it. Would I still need to own a Apple Dev. ID to build this file and share it with other apple devices?
No, you need to pay the $100 fee.