Windows Intune: IOS Application (.ipa & .plist)

I saw a lot of people having difficulty to upload and deploy the IOS application in the forum and internet. I manage to upload the IOS application to the WIndows Intune Portal, and also manage to download and install the uploaded IOS application to the IPad from the Comapny Portal. Unfortunately, those applications are not functioning properly (scratching my head!!!)

Before we begin, plist editor is required. If you don’t have any, you can download this freeware at here.

Below is a sample .plist, you can copy and paste it into notepad then save as .plist format. Modification is required!!!

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
    <key>items</key>
    <array>
        <dict>
            <key>assets</key>
            <array>
                <dict>
                    <key>kind</key>
                    <string>software-package</string>
                    <key>url</key>
                    <string>http://www.bitart.com/WirelessAdHocDemo/WirelessAdHocDemo.ipa</string>
                </dict>
            </array>
            <key>metadata</key>
            <dict>
                <key>bundle-identifier</key>
                <string>com.microsoft.lync2010.iphone</string>
                <key>bundle-version</key>
                <string>1.2</string>
                <key>kind</key>
                <string>software</string>
                <key>title</key>
                <string>Lync 2010</string>
            </dict>
        </dict>
    </array>
</dict>
</plist>

Now, we need to grab some important information from the .ipa file. I’m taking Lync 2010 1.2.ipa as example.

1. We can rename and convert the .ipa format to .zip format in order for us to grab the information.
2. Extract the .zip file that you converted from .ipa format
3. Using the Plist Editor, browse into the extracted folder and look for info.plist
4. There are some key information needed for the .plist above, look for bundle-identifier, bundle-version, CFBundleDisplayName
5. For my case, I’m using the Lync 2010 1.2.ipa as example. Therefore, the bundle-identifier is com.microsoft.lync2010.iphone, the bundle-version is 1.2, and the title is Lync 2010 (the CFBundleDisplayName)

Now you should be able to upload the IOS application to the Windows Intune Portal and also download and install it from the company portal. However, the application is not functioning for my case. I’m still figuring out why… Stay tuned!!!