Open Radar

 
Summary:
It’s currently inconvenient to test apple-app-site-association files when you’re first starting out. For example, if you want to add support for universal links in your apps, or would like to try it out so you can build the feature independently, you cannot unless you own your HTTPS server. 

In many teams, the server is not owned by the iOS developer, so there’s an immediate social barrier to adopting universal links: You have to ask someone else to push the server for you, to just even try it. And for every time you update the apple-app-site-association file, you still have to ask. It doesn’t make me want to add support for universal links, or to advocate for it in my team.

Steps to Reproduce:
1. Write an apple-app-site-association file

Expected Results:
I should be able to put it in my local webserver instance, to test it while the app/simulator is in debug.

Actual Results:
I cannot test the apple-app-site-association file unless I ask to have that file pushed to our HTTPS servers. This is hard to do if I’ve never written an apple-app-site-association file before and might even have the syntax wrong. Updating this file is a pain when you have to to keep asking to push your servers.

Notes:
People are writing online validators for this, like: https://limitless-sierra-4673.herokuapp.com/ whereas it would be just nice to be able to iterate on the apple-app-site-association file quickly and be a productive iOS developer.