iOS Apple Developer Program Questions

[bherzberg96]

Hi,

I'm an avid and knowledgable iOS, iDevice, and Apple fan. I run a YouTube channel on Apple, app reviews, tweak reviews, etc. and I've been following Apple, iPhones, iPads, apps, etc. for years now. I'm finally starting to get interested in app development and I bought a book on introducing me to Xcode, iOS development and Objective C++. The book recommends for its in-book tutorials that I purchase a developer account with Apple so I can see how everything works on my devices. I plan to begin creating and testing my own application before summer's out and for the convenience of my YouTube channel I'd like to receive iOS betas (e.g., iOS 6 b1 tomorrow.) Would this be a good investment? Since I'd like to begin developing and testing in a few months and I could also use it for iOS betas. Thanks!

P.S. Would I need to purchase an Apple developer account or an iOS developer account? And what's the difference?

 

[1458279]

Actually it's Objective C (no ++ on the end)

The developer account is $99/year, so the only issue is do you want to save the $8.xx/month for a few months... It's about the cost of a lunch each month...

You really don't need the account until you actually need to test on a device. You can learn a huge amount just using the simulator. There's a huge amount to learn in ObjC, Programming, OO, API, Device functions, etc...
It's not really an overnight thing, it's much more of a long term investment.

As far as account types, there's a few different types. iOS is needed for iPhone/iPad/iPod. It doesn't give you MacOS rights. It sounds like you want the iOS account.

PS I'd like to check out your YouTube, can you give us a link?

 

[charlieegan3]

The developer account is $99/year, so...

very good answer.

It's a shame it isn't just the same for both mac and ios programs...

 

[bherzberg96]

Actually it's Objective C (no ++ on the end)

The developer account is $99/year, so the only issue is do you want to save the $8.xx/month for a few months... It's about the cost of a lunch each month...

You really don't need the account until you actually need to test on a device. You can learn a huge amount just using the simulator. There's a huge amount to learn in ObjC, Programming, OO, API, Device functions, etc...
It's not really an overnight thing, it's much more of a long term investment.

As far as account types, there's a few different types. iOS is needed for iPhone/iPad/iPod. It doesn't give you MacOS rights. It sounds like you want the iOS account.

PS I'd like to check out your YouTube, can you give us a link?

Sure! http://www.youtube.com/iphonemastermind And thank you for your answer! The $8/month will be worth it, since if I'm not doing coding with it I'll be using the iOS betas for my channel.

 

[MattInOz]

The betas are covered by NDA right?
So talking about them on YouTube could well get you kicked out of developer program. That would surely push up the price per month.

 

[bherzberg96]

The betas are covered by NDA right?
So talking about them on YouTube could well get you kicked out of developer program. That would surely push up the price per month.

True, but from what I've seen and read is that Apple doesn't really care too much about their betas going public. (http://www.everythingicafe.com/it’s-time-for-apple-to-kill-what’s-left-of-the-ios-nda/2011/06/08/)

But I have a question about that...if I DON'T get a developer account and make a YouTube video with just screenshots and talking about iOS 6 features, will that risk the video getting pulled? Since I never agreed to their NDA and it's not live video, just screenshots.

 

[dejo]

But I have a question about that...if I DON'T get a developer account and make a YouTube video with just screenshots and talking about iOS 6 features, will that risk the video getting pulled? Since I never agreed to their NDA and it's not live video, just screenshots.

If Apple feels you are violating their copyright of those screenshots, they may still decide to get your video pulled. I suspect that's low risk but that's just MHO.

 

[bherzberg96]

If Apple feels you are violating their copyright of those screenshots, they may still decide to get your video pulled. I suspect that's low risk but that's just MHO.

What do you think the chances of my video getting pulled with real footage of the beta is?

 

[dejo]

Fairly low, I'd guess. There are already videos showcasing iOS 6 beta on YouTube.

 

[ArtOfWarfare]

What do you think the chances of my video getting pulled with real footage of the beta is?

To the best of my knowledge, Apple can and has banned people from the dev programs for life. (I seem to recall Apple banning a developer for encouraging users to jailbreak a few years back?)

I'd suggest against showing it off at risk of getting banned.

Also, there is something called Obj-C++ and it is usable on the iPhone (at least I think it is... I suppose I've only ever used it for Mac OS X apps. I was under the impression it also worked on iOS. Files that end in .mm? Anyone?)

As far as the developer fee, don't bother paying until you're ready and need to. Three years ago I wasted $99 on the iOS developer plan, and I wasn't ready to test an app until a year ago (when I had to pay $99 to reactivate my account.)

Another thing: DON'T INSTALL BETA SOFTWARE ON YOUR PERSONAL DEVICE UNLESS YOU'RE PREPARED TO LOSE EVERYTHING FROM THE DEVICE! I installed the iOS 4 beta on my iPhone 3GS. The camera app had some kind of memory corruption issue in the beta that caused me to lose 1K+ photos from a three week trip that I never had an opportunity to back up.

I second the idea that Apple should have a unified developer program. Maybe make it $149 or $179 to get full access to all the Mac OS and iOS developer features. Given my iOS apps only made ~$90 over the last year, I haven't decided to renew my account yet. But I keep getting new iOS app ideas anyways. If I could add on an iOS membership to my Mac OS membership at a reduced rate, it'd be easier for me to justify renewing the iOS account.

 

[bherzberg96]

To the best of my knowledge, Apple can and has banned people from the dev programs for life. (I seem to recall Apple banning a developer for encouraging users to jailbreak a few years back?)

I'd suggest against showing it off at risk of getting banned.

Also, there is something called Obj-C++ and it is usable on the iPhone (at least I think it is... I suppose I've only ever used it for Mac OS X apps. I was under the impression it also worked on iOS. Files that end in .mm? Anyone?)

As far as the developer fee, don't bother paying until you're ready and need to. Three years ago I wasted $99 on the iOS developer plan, and I wasn't ready to test an app until a year ago (when I had to pay $99 to reactivate my account.)

Another thing: DON'T INSTALL BETA SOFTWARE ON YOUR PERSONAL DEVICE UNLESS YOU'RE PREPARED TO LOSE EVERYTHING FROM THE DEVICE! I installed the iOS 4 beta on my iPhone 3GS. The camera app had some kind of memory corruption issue in the beta that caused me to lose 1K+ photos from a three week trip that I never had an opportunity to back up.

I second the idea that Apple should have a unified developer program. Maybe make it $149 or $179 to get full access to all the Mac OS and iOS developer features. Given my iOS apps only made ~$90 over the last year, I haven't decided to renew my account yet. But I keep getting new iOS app ideas anyways. If I could add on an iOS membership to my Mac OS membership at a reduced rate, it'd be easier for me to justify renewing the iOS account.

Thanks for your response, it really helped. But there's not really a way Apple could track my developer account ID unless I actually said it or showed it on YouTube. And I wasn't planning on installing betas to my actual devices, I'd install it to my iPod Touch that I use primarily as a Guinea Pig for my channel.

 

[dejo]

But there's not really a way Apple could track my developer account ID unless I actually said it or showed it on YouTube.

If they're serious about tracking you down, I wouldn't be surprised if they could find a way.

 

[ArtOfWarfare]

If they're serious about tracking you down, I wouldn't be surprised if they could find a way.

So would you happen to know whether I'm correct and that .mm files (files that mix Objective-C and C++ code,) will compile for iOS?

 

[dejo]

So would you happen to know whether I'm correct and that .mm files (files that mix Objective-C and C++ code,) will compile for iOS?

I don't know.

 

[stirfie]

Going back to one of your original questions, if you are serious about developing an app to sell, then I would sign up for the Dev Program while you are developing.
I held off for ages, then found some of my apps that worked really well in the simulator, were running real slow on the device. Dragging was jerky for example.
(obviously due to bad coding).

I had to rewrite entire classes to get things working smoothly on the device. This was a great learning experience, but if I paid earlier, I could have avoided this step.

The simulator does a good job, but lacks some of the hardware required to test apps properly, and gives a false impression of app speed and responsiveness.

For what amounts to less than the cost of 1 coffee per week, it could save you hours of going through old code to get things running smoothly.

 

[jnoxx]

.MM files is C++ or sometimes called Objective-C++, this will compile for sure Alot of the game engines use them