I am trying to build FaceARSample.uproject on my IphoneX without paying the 100$ apple developer fees.
I’ve searched for hours and it seems there is no clear answer to that question: Is it possible to deploy and launch UE4 applications on IPhone with the free apple developer account?
The problem seems on the Unreal side.
In Unreal (4.21), I managed to set everything as official UE4 doc is teaching, from remote build to mobile provisioning profiles.
Everything is valid and seems to be working fine without error messages.
I’ve tried launching the exact ProjectLauncher profiles in both Windows10 and MacOSHiSierra.
In both cases, the project launcher fails at the “Deploying content for IOS” step with these messages:
Code Signing Error: Provisioning profile “iOS Team Provisioning Profile: com.XXX.XXX” is Xcode managed, but signing settings require a manually managed profile.
Code Signing Error: Code signing is required for product type ‘Application’ in SDK ‘iOS 12.1’
Like i mentioned earlier, I read for hours on search results from keywords like “Manually Manage Provisioning Free Apple Developer Unreal” without finding any helpful conclusion.
Could someone confirm that it’s impossible to deploy UE4 app on IOS with free apple developer account?
By the way, I just spent an hour on the phone with AppleCare trying to find a way to speak to someone from Apple Developer.
The only answer i got from the Developer Support was a guy telling me by email to read the Apple Developer documentation.
I would’ve preferred if he told me to google it.
Sorry to say this, but there is no way you can deploy your app to iOS without paying the 99 Apple Developer Certificate, but, if you sign up for the Education version, it’ll be free and you should be able to test your projects on iOS devices.
Do you have more details why? Where did you get the confirmation of this?
Is it an Apple decision or is it on Unreal’s side?
I don’t get how this is making any sense. It’s just for testing.
It’s possible to do it in Unity, i don’t get why it’s impossible with Unreal.
Enrolling in University to test an application for free seems like a very bad solution.
Can someone explain in a bit more detail why it is impossible?
Why does Unreal requires a paid program (University is not free and there are a lot of requirements to get there)?
Is it just a leftover bug?
Is there any technical or political reasons behind this?
Are there any other options available?
Will it be possible to test Unreal apps on IPhones for free anytime soon?
Hi there,
I am in the same situation, does someone knows if this is going to change soon?
I just need to test the Face AR Sample, I am not interested in releasing apps in the Apple Store and I can’t apply in the iOS Developer University Program.
To deploy ANY code/app to an iOS device you REQUIRE a developer certificate
You will also need a device mobile provisioning profile for each test device
These are both managed and created via the Apple developer portal.
You NEED an active Apple Developer subscription to do this.
These requirements are on Apple’s side of the fence. They are a pain, but also part of the nature of iOS. I’ve just been learning and experimenting and had to pay Apple for that privilege. If I remember correctly, it was AUD $140. If you think of it like this it makes it seem less expensive:
$140 / 12 (months) = $12 per month (approx).
$12 / 4 (weeks) = $3 per week.
$3 is less than a takeaway coffee (where I live) purchased once a week. (Local coffee is AU $5 dammit).
Obviously paying $140 up front is quite a different matter to paying $3 a week. If you want to test stuff on mobile for free, you will perhaps need to go for Android (I think).
XCode can generate both temporary certificate and provisioning profile using a FREE apple developer program signup.
You can use these and build UNITY apps and test them for free on your phone.
As described in my original post, Unreal requires a manually managed profile.
I want to understand why.
These requirements are on Unreal’s side of the fence.
I’m not trying to get convinced that paying 100$ is not as annoying as having to find a penny on the floor every half hour for en entire year.
I would rather use unity for free than pay to use unreal.
If you can’t temporarily test en engine’s app on your own device without having to pay that is a very bad start.
Thanks for trying to help but i’m still looking for an answer/workaround.
Bump again (+10 days and 2 months old now).
Can someone explain why this happens? Code Signing Error: Provisioning profile “iOS Team Provisioning Profile: com.XXX.XXX” is Xcode managed, but signing settings require a manually managed profile.
Why would unreal require this?
Why can’t it just use the XCode managed stuff?
Is there some other way to talk to Unreal developers?
It’s 2 months old unanswered minimum, people already asked for this years ago and was left unsolved.
Here is most of an email i got from Epic game’S Player support (…) related to the subject:
Hi noobMaster3DOMG,
Thank you for getting back to me and explaining your situation in a bit more detail!
Well, we at Player Support do not handle inquiries about the Unreal Engine, and I understand that you’ve exhausted all or most of the official forums and resources, however I cannot really recommend any other contact points. While I’m not knowledgeable about the Unreal Engine myself, what I can tell you is that design and development decisions are often a result of multiple circumstantial factors, and as such, it might prove to be extremely difficult to get an answer for the “why”, as you’ve just noticed.
The best thing to do in this case would be exactly what you’ve already started, which is raising awareness of the question on our related forums, where both our developers and the community can see them and contribute to the best of their abilities.
I’m now seriously considering using LinkedIn to start asking directly to developers working at Epic/Unreal.
I was just able to deploy to iOS from a Mac without a paid developer account. What I did:
Create project as normal
If your project isn’t a c++ project, add a c++ class in ue4 so it creates the Xcode project
Open the .xcworkspace that was generated
Follow epic’s directions for making a signing certificate in Xcode
In Xcode, edit the scheme for your project and set the config to “Development” for each entry in it (defaults to “Development Editor”)
Make sure that the bundle settings in Xcode are correct and that you check the box to let Xcode manage provisions and signing automatically
Build/run from within Xcode (not UE4)
At this point my app was properly loaded onto my device although it crashed on launch. The second launch that i initiated on device did not crash though and it works like a charm!
2- If your project isn’t a c++ project, add a c++ class in ue4 so it creates the Xcode project
I don’t get that part.
What “parent class” should i choose? there are like 100.
“Actor”?
“AppleARKitAnchor”?
I would be very grateful if you could give me more information on adding that C++ class thing.
I created an actor one to try but it didnt’ seem to have created a XCode project.
I just chose “none” and called it the default “MyClass”, but I think any of them should work… if it doesn’t automatically create an Xcode project, try control clicking the uproject file in finder and go to services->generate Xcode project. Also, there’s a step I omitted… each time you want to deploy a new a new build you first need to package the build from within ue4 with automatic signing checked in the platforms->iOS section of project settings. This always fails at the signing step, but creates the bundles you’ll need when you deploy from Xcode.