Apple expands TestFlight iOS app beta invitations to 1,000 users

AppleInsiderAppleInsider
Posted:
in General Discussion edited October 2014
Developers can now invite up to a thousand people to test their beta applications for iOS via its TestFlight tool with just an email address, Apple announced on Thursday.




In a post to Apple's developer blog, the company said that up to 1,000 testers can now beta test iOS apps by simply sending an email invitation through iTunes Connect. Apple acquired TestFlight in February, gaining an easy way for developers to create and manage public app beta programs.

With TestFlight, developers can add beta testers using only their email address, and beta versions can be managed within the TestFlight app itself, without the cumbersome UDID-based provisioning processes used previously. Beta testers are notified as new app versions are released through the TestFlight app, and can perform in-place upgrades.

The TestFlight app also allows beta testers to provide feedback, while developers can deploy multiple builds of their app simultaneously.

Before Thursday's change, developers were limited to 100 devices per account. But now, developers can invite 1,000 testers per application, with different testers for separate apps.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 6
    curtis hannahcurtis hannah Posts: 1,833member
    Hope they add it "public" where they can simply make it an open beta, to first ___ amount set by place.
  • Reply 2 of 6
    daveinpublicdaveinpublic Posts: 633member
    Wow - that's really nice
  • Reply 3 of 6
    larrysalibralarrysalibra Posts: 1member

    TestFlight solves the problem (that Apple created with its restrictions on distributing Apps) of HOW to distribute your app to Beta testers, but it doesn't solve the problem of how to find beta testers or get them to actually test. While your most passionate users may be dying to get their hands on the latest version, they're usually not that interested in reporting bugs. What's in it for them?  



    But offer a few bucks a bug and lots of people will be willing to test your app and spend time filling out detailed bug reports that actually give you and your devs the info you need to fix it. That's where services like Pay4Bugs come in. We've got TestFlight integration in the works, so sign up to get notified when it launches! https://blog.pay4bugs.com/2014/09/16...t-coming-soon/ 

  • Reply 4 of 6
    aderutteraderutter Posts: 604member
    It's good but unfortunately this is only for apps intended for the public app-store submission and the first version of the app has to be reviewed by Apple first. Minor subsequent revisions don't need Apple review. Those developing enterprise apps can't use this so I'm waiting and wondering what will happen to the testFlightapp.com service. Might have to move to hockeyapp.net.
  • Reply 5 of 6
    techguy911techguy911 Posts: 269member

    Apple has to review and approve the TestFlight apps?  I don't want to deal with that bottleneck to get my app out to testers.  Unless Apple can promise a <12 hour turnaround time for approvals.  We'll see what the average wait time for approving apps is.

  • Reply 6 of 6
    curtis hannahcurtis hannah Posts: 1,833member
    techguy911 wrote: »
    Apple has to review and approve the TestFlight apps?  I don't want to deal with that bottleneck to get my app out to testers.  Unless Apple can promise a <12 hour turnaround time for approvals.  We'll see what the average wait time for approving apps is.
    Idea is it's similar to an app update, supposedly there's a seperate approval that should be much shorter, but don't know if that's true.
Sign In or Register to comment.