Download Your App on iOS
Overview
Downloading your app to an iOS device requires an Apple Developer account. The process involves actions in your Thunkable project and your Apple Developer account. We recommend having each open in a separate browser tab so you can easily navigate between them.
Please note that while the images and instructions from the Apple Developer account are accurate at the time of this doc’s publishing, they may change slightly over time.
Register Your App with Apple
To avoid download errors, we recommend adding an App Icon and Name to your project before downloading.
Within your Thunkable project, click the Publish and Download icon.
Select Download iOS.
The number of monthly downloads you are allowed varies per Thunkable plan. This number resets when your next billing cycle begins
Enter the Apple ID associated with your Apple Developer account. Don't yet have an Apple Developer account? You can learn more and sign up for one here: Create Your Apple ID.
Click Next.
Copy the project’s auto-populated Bundle ID. You’ll need this in the next step.
Follow these instructions to register your app in your Apple Developer account: Register Your App with Apple.
Copy the App ID Prefix (Team ID) in your Apple Developer account.
Return to your Thunkable project and paste the App ID Prefix (Team ID) into the provided field.
Click Next.
Register Devices
You must specify registered devices in your Apple Developer account to create a provisioning profile for app testing and ad hoc distribution. This process is necessary because iOS devices have security mechanisms in place to ensure that only authorized apps are installed and run on them.
Removing a registered device from your account will continue to count against your device limit. At the start of your new membership year, Account Holders and Admins can remove listed devices and restore the available device count.
Register a Single Device
To register a single device to your Apple Developer account:
Open your Apple Developer account page.
Under the Certificates, IDs & Profiles heading, select Devices.
Click the blue + icon to add a new device to your account.
Ensure the iOS platform is selected.
Give your device a name.
Provide the device’s UDID. See here for instructions for locating your device's UDID: Locating Your Device’s UDID.
Click Continue.
Register Multiple Devices
To register multiple devices to your Apple Developer account:
Open your Apple Developer account page.
Under the Certificates, IDs & Profiles heading, select Devices.
Click the blue + icon to add a new device to your account.
Under Register Multiple Devices, click Download sample files.
Create your file containing the devices you wish to register. A maximum of 100 devices can be included in your file, and it may take a few minutes to process.
Click Choose File.
From your computer, select the file you created in step five above.
Click Open.
Click Continue.
Locating Your Device’s UDID
Every iPhone, iPod touch and iPad has a unique identifier number associated with it, known as a UDID (Unique Device ID). This is either a 40-character alphanumeric ID on older devices or a 24-character ID (excluding hyphen) on newer devices, consisting of eight digits, a hyphen, and 16 alphanumeric characters.
Please see here for instructions on locating your device’s UDID: bjango: Finding your iPhone, iPod touch or iPad unique ID (UDID).
Create an iOS Distribution Certificate
Follow these instructions to create a distribution certificate: Create an iOS Distribution Certificate.
Create an Ad Hoc Provisioning Profile
Apple requires a provisioning profile to install an app on a device. You need to create and download an Ad Hoc provisioning profile in your Apple Developer account and then return to Thunkable to upload this file.
Open your Apple Developer account page.
Under the Certificates, IDs & Profiles heading, select Profiles.
Click the blue + icon to add a new certificate to your account.
Under the Distribution heading, select Ad Hoc.
Click Continue.
Select the App ID for the app you want to publish.
Click Continue.
Select the certificate you wish to include in this provisioning profile.
Click Continue.
Select the device(s) you wish to include in this provisioning profile.
Click Continue
Name your provisioning profile.
Click Generate.
Click Download to save the provisioning profile to your computer.
Return to Thunkable.
Click Upload Ad Hoc Provisioning Profile.
From your computer, select the .mobileprovision file you just downloaded.
Click Next.
Review App Information
Review your app’s information in the modal provided. Detailed instructions are available here: Publish iOS: App Info.
Click Submit.
Congratulations! You will receive an email from Thunkable when your iOS app is available to download. This may take up to an hour.
Download iOS App
When you receive the email with the download link:
Open the email on your iPhone or iPad.
Click the Download App Project button.
Select your preferred browser.
Click Download.
In the pop-up prompt, click Install.
Open your iOS device's Settings.
Navigate to Privacy & Security.
Click Developer Mode.
Toggle the Developer Mode switch to true.
Click Restart.
Once your device has restarted, click Turn On to enable Developer Mode.
Enter your device’s passcode.
Click on your app's icon to test the app.
If there are issues with your app build, you will receive an email outlining what you need to fix.
Troubleshooting
App Cannot be Built
If you receive an email saying that your app cannot be built, it may be the result of one of the following:
Ensure your app icon image:
does not have the same name as another project asset
is an image file
does not contain transparent pixels. Apple does not allow icons with transparent colors.
Ensure your App (Bundle) ID adheres to the following:
It is a series of short strings of text separated by periods (e.g. com.thunkable.creator.app).
It is all lowercase.
It begins with a letter.
Ensure your asset names only contain Roman alphabet characters (with no accents) and numbers.
Examples of asset names that could cause errors: image(1).jpg, imãge.jpg
Examples of asset names that won't cause errors: image1.jpg, image.jpg
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