How can I test an iOS application on my iPod Touch without registering for the Apple Developer Program or jailbreaking my iPod?
Neither is a viable option at the moment.
I'd like to test on the device itself instead of the onscreen simulator to see how it performs on an actual iPod.
Best Answer
Seven years after the inception of the App Store (July 10, 2008), Apple has finally introduced a new feature in Xcode 7 that allows you to deploy and run any number of apps on any of your devices, simply by logging in with your Apple ID. You will no longer need a paid Program membership to deploy apps on your own device (and you certainly no longer have to jailbreak your device if you're not comfortable doing so).
Well, not for the majority of use cases anyway. For obvious reasons, certain capabilities and entitlements that require Program membership such as Game Center and in-app purchases will not be available to apps deployed using this method. From Apple's developer documentation:
The precise steps to getting your app onto your iOS device or Apple Watch follow immediately thus (screenshots omitted for ease of skimming):
Prior to Xcode 7, a Program membership was indeed required in order to sign the provisioning certificates required to deploy apps to devices. The only other alternative was jailbreaking. With Xcode 7, you no longer need to jailbreak your device just to run apps distributed outside the App Store, or to test apps if you cannot afford to join the Program, or to deploy and use apps that you have developed for your own personal use if you do not intend to distribute them through the App Store (in which case you probably don't need the entitlements offered by Program membership anyway).