Android and iOS Mobile Application Development (Part 4): Testing and deploying our Mobile Application onto an actual Android or iOS device

Welcome to the fourth and final part of our series on Android and iOS Mobile Application Development. Previously, we have seen how to debug our mobile application within the Google Android Emulator. Now, we are ready to deploy our app onto an Android and iOS physical device. Let's take a look at how to deploy our application on an Android device first.

Android deployment

If you are using Windows, first, we will have to download the necessary hardware device drivers. After this is done, we will need to install Google USB driver. This will allow us to use the Android Debugging Bridge or adb for debugging on a physical device later.

To install Google USB driver, in Visual Studio 2015, select Tools > Android > Android SDK Manager.

Scroll down to Extras and you will be able to see the Google USB driver. Go ahead and install it.

After installation is done, we will now be able to start deploying to, and debugging from an Android device. Go ahead and plugin your device. Once it is plugged in, we can check if the device is detected. To do this, in Visual Studio 2015, select Tools > Android > Android Adb command prompt. Type in adb devices. You should see a device listed like so.

Now we can start debugging. In Visual Studio 2015, select Device to run.

Command line deployment via adb

Alternatively, if you encounter some unknown issues with using Visual Studio to deploy, we can use an adb command to deploy.

In your project path, look for bin\Android\Debug\android-debug.apk. This is the file we use to deploy to our android device with. We can simply issue the install command if this is the first time we are installing the mobile application.

adb install "C:\path to apk file"

If you wish to uninstall your mobile app, you may also do so with the uninstall command.

adb uninstall YOUR_PACKAGE_NAME

Finally, if you wish to update your mobile application, use the install command with the r option.

adb install -r "C:\path to apk file"

iOS deployment

There are some prerequisites we have to install on your Mac before we are ready to start debugging.

1. Install XCode (the latest version, 7.1 and up).
2. Download and install node.js
3. Apple iTunes

Creating your Developer's profile

In order for us to install on a iOS device, we need to have a provisioning profile. It used to be that we need to have a Apple Developer's account to do that. Now, we can do it with the latest version of XCode - XCode 7.1.

Launch XCode and select XCode > Preferences from the menu. Now click on the + icon to add a new profile if we have not done so.

You will need your Apple ID to sign up for a profile.

Once your profile has been created, you can click on View Details... on the bottom. Click Create next to iOS Development to create your signing identity.

Now, we can create a new project that will help us create your free iOS development provisioning profile for your mobile application. Let's choose Single View Application and click Next.

Update Product Name and organization Id such that the bundle identifier correspond with your package name in Apache Cordova

Next, click Create to create the XCode project.

The last step is to click on fix on your project page to create the provisioning profile for your mobile application.

Once this is done, your provisioning profile should have been created. To verify, you can go back to the Preferences screen > Your Account > View Details.

Now, we are ready to perform the next steps to install RemoteBuild and setup Visual Studio 2015.

RemoteBuild Setup

Once node.js has been installed, we can use it to install RemoteBuild. Launch Terminal and type in the following command line:

sudo npm install -g remotebuild

You may be asked to install other components during installation. For more information, you can also refer to http://taco.visualstudio.com/en-us/docs/install-vs-tools-apache-cordova/

Once we have installed RemoteBuild, we can kick it off for the first time in Terminals by typing the following command.

remotebuild

In Visual Studio 2015, there is a location for you to enter the displayed information. But first, let's take a look at the details.

For the first time, and only once, remotebuild will display a Security PIN. It is important to note this Security PIN down because the next time you start remotebuild, this information will not display anymore. Also take note of the port number. The machine name did not really work for me, but you may try. If you need to use the IP address to connect to your MAC, open Terminals, and use the following commend to display your MAC's IP address.

ifconfig

In Visual Studio 2015, select Tools > Options > Tools For Apache Cordova and select Remote Agent Configuration. Let's enter the information we have gather here.

Once we are done, we can can start debugging. On your Mac, plugin your iOS device. Select iOS, Remote Device, and click Run.

Note that it is quite possible that even if the mobile app is deployed to your iOS device, it may timeout and you wouldn't be able to debug. However, you should still be able to test on your physical iOS device. If you are not ready to deploy yet, you may also choose from the different simulators available.

That's it! We have successfully deployed to an Android and iOS Device. I hope you have enjoyed this 4 part series and that you now have a good starting point on your path to Android and iOS Mobile Application Development.