iPhone app distribution

What i want to know is that if you develop an iPhone app do you HAVE to open a Apple Developer Account to distribute the app?

For example on android you can host the compile apk on your own server and distribute the link, people can then use the link to download the app to their phone and install it without Play Store. Does it work like this on iPhone?

If not is the Apple Dev Account still $99 per year?

yes , they still charge 99$ for the apple dev account and it is not possible to download the app outside app store but it wil redirect them to the appstore so its not really a problem..

aashish_1792 said:

yes , they still charge 99$ for the apple dev account and it is not possible to download the app outside app store but it wil redirect them to the appstore so its not really a problem..

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No want to be able to distribute ios apps without dev account as it costs alot.

Also do HAVE to have a MAC to publish to app store? Can it not be done via a PC. Say I pay someone to make a ios app, can i open apple dev account using my PC then uploade the app they send me?

or would I have to buy a mac, or could i just ask the app developer to open me an account, then upload the app to my account. I know Play Dev account allows you to give specific users (via email address invite) access to publish apps on your behalf,

That's why Google Play has problems with malware infestations. Everyone can dump almost any kind of garbage on their store. If you plan to be a professional IOS developer, 99$ isn't that big of an investment.