In lieu of a paid active Developer Account, you can utilize 'free provisioning' just to toe-dip...
Free provisioning/testing/tinkering on your device:
• From within Xcode 8.x or higher (Mac only), navigate to “Xcode—->Preferences—->Accounts.” Hit the '+' icon below left to add your Apple ID*. After you add and select your account, it will show within the main account window on the right under ’Team', as ‘Your Name (Personal Team)', w/role ‘User’.
• Connect your device (cable only, not wireless) and select it as build destination via the 'active scheme' dropdown to the right of the play and stop icons.
• In target's 'General' tab/settings:
• a. Set app identifier you want for your free profile - note this must be unique, meaning if it is already in use, you can expect an alert warning is it is already in use and you should enter a different string. If you expect to make this app for store distribution later, you will either need to change again, then, or make a plan now that includes a naming scheme.
• b. Set team id as '<YourName> - Personal Team' ...the apple id used w/free provisioning
• c. Hit 'Fix Issue' button below the provisioning profile warning
- You may have to ‘Fix Issue' more than once - keep at it so Xcode can step thru them as needed.
• Run your app with your device selected.**
Free provisioning secrets/things you’ll want to know:
- The profile will be valid for 1 week, after which time you will need to recreate a new one (repeat the process).
- There is a limit to how many apps you can build and test to your device. If you hit this error, delete old versions and try again.
- Maximum number of (connected only) devices limit is reported as 3. And unlike a paid account, there is no Member Center/devices access/management.
- What you can/can't do w/free provisioning is listed here:
https://developer.apple.com/library/ios/documentation/IDEs/Conceptual/AppDistributionGuide/SupportedCapabilities/SupportedCapabilities.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/TP40012582-CH38-SW1 - In App Purchase, as an example, is one of the features not avaliable w/free provisioning.
- If you see an error that says "change your Bundle Identifier to a unique one”, that means don’t use: com.sample.app …add your last name or some string to the end such as com.sample.lastname. You may need to change it again if your app goes to the store.
- If this is about creating an .ipa to manually hand off, select Build For Archiving under the project menu, not ‘Run’.
- *If you have, had or plan to have, a paid developer account, be sure to use a unique/different apple ID for each account.
- **Free accounts may experience issues launching apps on the watch for the first time.
Workaround: Launch the app manually on the device and click “Trust” when the security sheet appears. You should then be able to launch the app from Xcode.
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