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Apple combines iOS and Mac developer programs into single Apple Developer Program

Screen Shot 2015-06-08 at 3.27.43 PM

Apple has ended its separate iOS and Mac developer programs that required software makers to buy two different memberships in order to publish across the company’s various platforms and replaecd them with a single combined Apple Developer Program.

The $99 program will allow developers to have access to the SDKs for (and prerelease builds) of OS X, iOS 9, and watchOS 2. Apps can be distributed in App Stores across all platforms through this new program. A support page detailing the transition process for existing members has been created but is currently unavailable.

Even better, Apple has dropped the requirement to register as a developer in order to test your apps on your device. You can now create and install any app you want using the public iOS SDK available in Xcode on the Mac App Store.

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Comments

  1. Kenan Sulayman - 9 years ago

    Thank god, finally.

  2. Yaroslav Yuri Erohin - 9 years ago

    Yay! I thought of buying myself a Mac Dev account.
    It seems I don’t have to now!

  3. Sean O'Hara - 9 years ago

    It will not let me download any beta, used to be a part of the iOS dev program, then they withdrawal it, now I cannot get my membership back.

  4. YAY! I wanted this so badly! Great for people that have to pay the Apple Tax on top of currency conversion US$99 vs. AU$149. Mac users should benefit from this!

  5. border1ine - 9 years ago

    An interesting side effect is now that you will be able to install open source apps that are not allowed in the app store like emulators without resorting to tricks or jailbreaking.

    • YU No - 9 years ago

      Doesn’t this allow App Stores not controlled by Apple to come up? Or am I missing something?

      • syth - 9 years ago

        Pretty sure this is only going to work with pre-release versions of iOS

  6. butskristof - 9 years ago

    Really nice. I was always bummed I could write iOS apps but not run them on my iPhone.

  7. Kyle Sus (@Hawk_Ky) - 9 years ago

    So does this mean you can install future betas without paying the $99?

    • Mike Beasley - 9 years ago

      No. It doesn’t mean anything like that.

      • Buck Virga-Hyatt - 9 years ago

        However, they are releasing a public beta. So you can still install future versions, they just aren’t quite as beta as what the devs have access to.

  8. Karan Verma - 9 years ago

    Can anybody tell me how to test the apps on iOS device without the developers account?

  9. mike thompson (@mike45b) - 8 years ago

    junk all of it HTML 5 in safari causing issues with silverlight websites from looks of it if i would known this i would stayed with os x 10.10 and safari version 8.0.8 if i known if must update if stream netflix from computer be sure to use latest version of firefox web browser which you can download from firefox.com