Office of Digital Humanities
After all of the work you put in to create, test and debug your LiveCode mobile app, you may want to actually get it into the hands of users. In contrast to the relative ease of distributing Mac OS X .app files or Windows .exe files, the process for distributing mobile apps can seem daunting at first. The reasons for all the hoop-jumping are varied, but mainly boil down to the need for device manufacturers to try to maintain device security in an always-connected device environment.
Though the process may seem daunting, fortunately there are trailblazers who have gone before, who have published step-by-step guidance for distributing your apps. The links that follow will help you with both Android and iOS distribution.
The Android OS is open source, and as such the Android landscape is a bit more of a "wild west" scenario than iOS. Still, Google has established a clear set of guidelines for preparing and submitting your apps to the Google Play (formerly Android Market) store.
The first step is to prepare your Android app for release. Google has posted guidelines for Preparing your App for Release.
Here is some guidance from LiveCode developers on how the Android app preparation process applies to LiveCode apps:
How do I Create an Android App for Distribution? A Lesson on the RunRev website.
Creating a Self-Signed Security Certificate for Android App. This lesson describes the why and how of creating a security certificate, a requirement for a app you want to distribute.
The final step is to publish your app. This is a basic, three-step process described in a document on Publishing on Google Play.
Apple is in some ways even more picky than Google about how you submit apps to their store. But many app developers have found it profitable to master the process. Here are some links that describe the process:
How to become an iOS Developer. The software version numbers listed in this document are a little out of date, but the process is still valid. This step has been done for you in order for us to install the iOS Software Developer Kit (SDK) on the lab computers.
Creating Distribution Profiles. The process of creating distribution security certificates and "provisioning profiles".
Setting up an App for Submission to iTunes Connect. This document describes what you have to do in preparation for submission to the App Store.
Submitting an App to the App Store. How to upload the app, and getting approval to have it put into the public iTunes App Store.
For the sake of convenience, here is a link to our past lesson on testing your mobile apps.
Keep in mind that LiveCode's Android and iOS release notes also contain information about setting up testing environments for your mobile apps. They are both available from the Help menu in the LiveCode application.