Download and install an ipa from self hosted url on iOS

To distribute your app over-the-air (OTA, this means without using TestFlight or the official App Store), you may need to create 3 different files, namely:

• The .ipa file (using an ad-hoc provisioning profile)
• index.html
• manifest.plist

You can use Beta Builder to generate these files:

1. Archive your build.
2. Save the .ipa on the Desktop.
3. Download a small utility Beta Builder from here. This does most of the required task.
4. Open the tool and select your .ipa file, then provide the path you will be placing the build on https://myWeb.com/MY_TEST_APP in the beta builder.
5. Generate all the files.
6. Now upload index.html, your_App.ipa, & manifest.plist to your server path https://myWeb.com/MY_TEST_APP
7. Now share the link of index.html. Once you open this file, you will be asked to Tap on install.
8. It will install your_App.ipa on your device.

You can also do this more manually.

index.html

<a href="itms-services://?action=download-manifest&url=https://myWeb.com/MY_TEST_APP/manifest.plist">Install App</a>

manifest.plist

<?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://YOUR_SERVER_URL/YOUR-IPA-FILE.ipa</string>
                </dict>
            </array>
            <key>metadata</key>
            <dict>
                <key>bundle-identifier</key>
                <string>com.yourCompany.productName</string>
                <key>bundle-version</key>
                <string>1.0.0</string>
                <key>kind</key>
                <string>software</string>
                <key>title</key>
                <string>YOUR APP NAME</string>
            </dict>
        </dict>
    </array>
</dict>
</plist>

If the app refuses to install or run, you may need to check the following items:

• The provisioning profile you've used when compiling/archiving your app
• The URLs in both index.html and manifest.plist
• The plist file may possibly need to be hosted on an HTTPS server. You can use Dropbox for this if necessary.
• Your device UUIDs may need to be registered inside Apple Developer Center unless you have an Enterprise licence
• You may need to manually enable access to the app within Settings > Profiles

More simply you can utilize DropBox for this. The steps basically remain the same. You can do the following-:

1) upload your .ipa to dropBox, Share the link for this .ipa

2) Paste the shared link for .ipa in your manifest.plist file , Upload manifest file in DropBox again share the link for this .plist file

3)paste the link for this Plist in your index.html file with a suitable tag.

Share this index.html file with anybody who can tap on the URL and download. or you can directly hit the URL instead.

Yes, safari will detect the *.ipa and will try to install it, but the ipa needs to be correctly signed and only allowed devices would be able to install it.

http://www.diawi.com is a service that will help you with this process.

All of this is for Ad-hoc distribution, not for production apps.

More information on below link : Is there a way to install iPhone App via browser?