ipa app could not added to our itunes library, it is not a valid app

Question

I have made an unsigned .IPA app using xcode 6 and swift language. I have compressed the .app file and change its extention to .ipa. When I want to install this .ipa file on my jailbreaked iPhone, this error is appeard: "the app 'youtapp.ipa' could not be added to your iTunes library because it is not a valid app". Would you please let me know what the problem is.

Answer 1

In my case I was using the "Save for Ad Hoc Deployment" option from Organizer to create an ipa file. It appears however that this is broken in XCode 6. Your answer from Jan 1 got me thinking so I did a little digging.

I renamed the exported ipa file to .zip and opened her up. XCode is now putting the .app file inside a folder named "Applications". So I went ahead and renamed this folder to "Payload", zipped it back up, and renamed the zip back to .ipa. Sure enough when I dragged this new ipa file to iTunes it works fine and can be installed on my phone.

Seems to me a bug in XCode, I think I should report it to Apple.

Answer 2

I had this exact same problem using Xcode 6.3 when building my iOS app. It seems that the packager does not complain when the following setting is enabled even though the target is an iOS device:

Application requires iPhone environment:NO

You need to set the this to YES and it will name the folder correctly to Payload.