How to Detect If the Currently Running App Was Installed from the App Store

How can I detect if the currently running app was installed from the app store?

Apps downloaded from the App Store have a iTunesMetadata.plist file added by the store:

NSString *file=[NSHomeDirectory() stringByAppendingPathComponent:@"iTunesMetadata.plist"];
if ([[NSFileManager defaultManager] fileExistsAtPath:file]) {
// probably a store app
}

Perhaps you might want to check if this file exists.

Update:

In iOS8, the application bundle has been moved. According to @silyevsk, the plist is now one level above [the new application main bundle path], at /private/var/mobile/Containers/Bundle/Application/4A74359F-E6CD-44C9-925D-AC82E‌‌​​B5EA837/iTunesMetadata.plist, and unfortunately, this can't be accessed from the app (permission denied)

Update Nov 4th 2015:

It appears that checking the receipt name can help. It must be noted that this solution is slightly different: it doesn't return whether we're running an App Store app, but rather whether we're running a beta Testflight app. This might or might not be useful depending on your context.

On top of that, it's a very fragile solution because the receipt name could change at any time. I'm reporting it anyway, in case you have no other options:

// Objective-C
BOOL isRunningTestFlightBeta = [[[[NSBundle mainBundle] appStoreReceiptURL] lastPathComponent] isEqualToString:@"sandboxReceipt"];

// Swift
let isRunningTestFlightBeta = NSBundle.mainBundle().appStoreReceiptURL?.lastPathComponent=="sandboxReceipt"

Source: Detect if iOS App is Downloaded from Apple's Testflight

How HockeyKit does it

By combining the various checks you can guess whether the app is running in a Simulator, in a Testflight build, or in an AppStore build.

Here's a segment from HockeyKit:

BOOL bit_isAppStoreReceiptSandbox(void) {
#if TARGET_OS_SIMULATOR
return NO;
#else
NSURL *appStoreReceiptURL = NSBundle.mainBundle.appStoreReceiptURL;
NSString *appStoreReceiptLastComponent = appStoreReceiptURL.lastPathComponent;

BOOL isSandboxReceipt = [appStoreReceiptLastComponent isEqualToString:@"sandboxReceipt"];
return isSandboxReceipt;
#endif
}

BOOL bit_hasEmbeddedMobileProvision(void) {
BOOL hasEmbeddedMobileProvision = !![[NSBundle mainBundle] pathForResource:@"embedded" ofType:@"mobileprovision"];
return hasEmbeddedMobileProvision;
}

BOOL bit_isRunningInTestFlightEnvironment(void) {
#if TARGET_OS_SIMULATOR
return NO;
#else
if (bit_isAppStoreReceiptSandbox() && !bit_hasEmbeddedMobileProvision()) {
return YES;
}
return NO;
#endif
}

BOOL bit_isRunningInAppStoreEnvironment(void) {
#if TARGET_OS_SIMULATOR
return NO;
#else
if (bit_isAppStoreReceiptSandbox() || bit_hasEmbeddedMobileProvision()) {
return NO;
}
return YES;
#endif
}

BOOL bit_isRunningInAppExtension(void) {
static BOOL isRunningInAppExtension = NO;
static dispatch_once_t checkAppExtension;

dispatch_once(&checkAppExtension, ^{
isRunningInAppExtension = ([[[NSBundle mainBundle] executablePath] rangeOfString:@".appex/"].location != NSNotFound);
});

return isRunningInAppExtension;
}

Source: GitHub - bitstadium/HockeySDK-iOS - BITHockeyHelper.m

A possible Swift class, based on HockeyKit's class, could be:

//
// WhereAmIRunning.swift
// https://gist.github.com/mvarie/63455babc2d0480858da
//
// ### Detects whether we're running in a Simulator, TestFlight Beta or App Store build ###
//
// Based on https://github.com/bitstadium/HockeySDK-iOS/blob/develop/Classes/BITHockeyHelper.m
// Inspired by https://stackoverflow.com/questions/18282326/how-can-i-detect-if-the-currently-running-app-was-installed-from-the-app-store
// Created by marcantonio on 04/11/15.
//

import Foundation

class WhereAmIRunning {

// MARK: Public

func isRunningInTestFlightEnvironment() -> Bool{
if isSimulator() {
return false
} else {
if isAppStoreReceiptSandbox() && !hasEmbeddedMobileProvision() {
return true
} else {
return false
}
}
}

func isRunningInAppStoreEnvironment() -> Bool {
if isSimulator(){
return false
} else {
if isAppStoreReceiptSandbox() || hasEmbeddedMobileProvision() {
return false
} else {
return true
}
}
}

// MARK: Private

private func hasEmbeddedMobileProvision() -> Bool{
if let _ = NSBundle.mainBundle().pathForResource("embedded", ofType: "mobileprovision") {
return true
}
return false
}

private func isAppStoreReceiptSandbox() -> Bool {
if isSimulator() {
return false
} else {
if let appStoreReceiptURL = NSBundle.mainBundle().appStoreReceiptURL,
let appStoreReceiptLastComponent = appStoreReceiptURL.lastPathComponent
where appStoreReceiptLastComponent == "sandboxReceipt" {
return true
}
return false
}
}

private func isSimulator() -> Bool {
#if arch(i386) || arch(x86_64)
return true
#else
return false
#endif
}

}

Gist: GitHub - mvarie/WhereAmIRunning.swift

Update Dec 9th 2016:

User halileohalilei reports that "This no longer works with iOS10 and Xcode 8.". I didn't verify this, but please check the updated HockeyKit source (see function bit_currentAppEnvironment) at:

Source: GitHub - bitstadium/HockeySDK-iOS - BITHockeyHelper.m

Over time, the above class has been modified and it seems to handle iOS10 as well.

Update Oct 6th 2020:

Hockey has been deprecated/abandoned and replaced by Microsoft's AppCenter SDK.

This is their App Store / Testflight build detection class (link to repository below code):

MSUtility+Environment.h :

// Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
// Licensed under the MIT License.

#import <Foundation/Foundation.h>

#import "MSUtility.h"

/*
* Workaround for exporting symbols from category object files.
*/
extern NSString *MSUtilityEnvironmentCategory;

/**
* App environment
*/
typedef NS_ENUM(NSInteger, MSEnvironment) {

/**
* App has been downloaded from the AppStore.
*/
MSEnvironmentAppStore = 0,

/**
* App has been downloaded from TestFlight.
*/
MSEnvironmentTestFlight = 1,

/**
* App has been installed by some other mechanism.
* This could be Ad-Hoc, Enterprise, etc.
*/
MSEnvironmentOther = 99
};

/**
* Utility class that is used throughout the SDK.
* Environment part.
*/
@interface MSUtility (Environment)

/**
* Detect the environment that the app is running in.
*
* @return the MSEnvironment of the app.
*/
+ (MSEnvironment)currentAppEnvironment;

@end

MSUtility+Environment.m :

// Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
// Licensed under the MIT License.

#import "MSUtility+Environment.h"

/*
* Workaround for exporting symbols from category object files.
*/
NSString *MSUtilityEnvironmentCategory;

@implementation MSUtility (Environment)

+ (MSEnvironment)currentAppEnvironment {
#if TARGET_OS_SIMULATOR || TARGET_OS_OSX || TARGET_OS_MACCATALYST
return MSEnvironmentOther;
#else

// MobilePovision profiles are a clear indicator for Ad-Hoc distribution.
if ([self hasEmbeddedMobileProvision]) {
return MSEnvironmentOther;
}

/**
* TestFlight is only supported from iOS 8 onwards and as our deployment target is iOS 8, we don't have to do any checks for
* floor(NSFoundationVersionNumber) <= NSFoundationVersionNumber_iOS_6_1).
*/
if ([self isAppStoreReceiptSandbox]) {
return MSEnvironmentTestFlight;
}

return MSEnvironmentAppStore;
#endif
}

+ (BOOL)hasEmbeddedMobileProvision {
BOOL hasEmbeddedMobileProvision = !![[NSBundle mainBundle] pathForResource:@"embedded" ofType:@"mobileprovision"];
return hasEmbeddedMobileProvision;
}

+ (BOOL)isAppStoreReceiptSandbox {
#if TARGET_OS_SIMULATOR
return NO;
#else
if (![NSBundle.mainBundle respondsToSelector:@selector(appStoreReceiptURL)]) {
return NO;
}
NSURL *appStoreReceiptURL = NSBundle.mainBundle.appStoreReceiptURL;
NSString *appStoreReceiptLastComponent = appStoreReceiptURL.lastPathComponent;

BOOL isSandboxReceipt = [appStoreReceiptLastComponent isEqualToString:@"sandboxReceipt"];
return isSandboxReceipt;
#endif
}

@end

Source: GitHub - microsoft/appcenter-sdk-apple - MSUtility+Environment.m

How to tell at runtime whether an iOS app is running through a TestFlight Beta install

For an application installed through TestFlight Beta the receipt file is named StoreKit/sandboxReceipt vs the usual StoreKit/receipt. Using [NSBundle appStoreReceiptURL] you can look for sandboxReceipt at the end of the URL.

NSURL *receiptURL = [[NSBundle mainBundle] appStoreReceiptURL];
NSString *receiptURLString = [receiptURL path];
BOOL isRunningTestFlightBeta = ([receiptURLString rangeOfString:@"sandboxReceipt"].location != NSNotFound);

Note that sandboxReceipt is also the name of the receipt file when running builds locally and for builds run in the simulator.

Swift Version:

let isTestFlight = Bundle.main.appStoreReceiptURL?.lastPathComponent == "sandboxReceipt"

How to detect if app was installed from the app store or from MDM store?

Instead of trying to determine which "store" you are trying to target, Create a new target for your App (you can name this "My App Enterprise" for example).

Sample Image

Then, create an entry in your Build Settings -> Other C Flags:

-DTARGET_ENTERPRISE=1 // the Flag "-D" precedes "TARGET_ENTERPRISE", 1 = TRUE

In your code

- (void)someRoutine
{
#ifdef TARGET_ENTERPRISE
// Do something or show something specifically for Enterprise apps
#else
// Do something or show something specifically for App Store apps
#endif
}

Note that this will require you to provide 2 builds (AdHoc/Release and Enterprise).

How to know installed application is installed via TestFlight or AppStore?

I found little snippet about how to know if application is installed via TestFlight.

Here, appStoreReceiptURL is an instance property, which we can find from main bundle.

Sample Image

func isTestFlight() -> Bool {
guard let appStoreReceiptURL = Bundle.main.appStoreReceiptURL else {
return false
}
return appStoreReceiptURL.lastPathComponent == "sandboxReceipt"
}

Detect AppStore installation of iOS app

You can get part of the way there by reading in the embedded.mobileprovision file from the application bundle:

NSString *provisionPath = [[NSBundle mainBundle] pathForResource:@"embedded" ofType:@"mobileprovision"];

If that does not exist, you are in an app store build.

If it does exist, you need to figure out some difference between your debug and ad-hoc provisioning profiles, and look for that to determine which build you are in.

Because XCode automatically sets up applications with a "DEBUG" flag in the Debug config, that is not set in Release (which is used by default for AdHoc builds), you may be better off disabling logging in an app store build and determining the level of logging based on the DEBUG macro flag.

Detect if an app is installed from Play store

This method will check if your app has been installed from the Play Store.

boolean verifyInstallerId(Context context) {
// A list with valid installers package name
List<String> validInstallers = new ArrayList<>(Arrays.asList("com.android.vending", "com.google.android.feedback"));

// The package name of the app that has installed your app
final String installer = context.getPackageManager().getInstallerPackageName(context.getPackageName());

// true if your app has been downloaded from Play Store
return installer != null && validInstallers.contains(installer);
}

Some days ago I released an Android library, PiracyChecker, that protects your app using some techniques, such as Google Play Licensing (LVL), APK signature protection and installer ID (this one).



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