TestFlight Beta Testing Goes Live For All iOS Developers

Apple has pushed its TestFlight Beta testing service live for everyone, the company revealed on its developer news portal today. Registered developers can now invite up to 1,000 beta testers to try out their iOS apps, using emailed invitations sent via the iTunes Connect portal. TestFlight, the beta testing service Apple acquired sometime within the last year, allows developers to build teams to try out software before it launches, and report bugs in order to prepare apps for a public launch.

TestFlight had still been usable by devs between Apple’s acquisition of the service and now, but this marks the completion of Apple’s transition of the service to a built-in part of its developer tools. Now, TestFlight invites are distributed via iTunes Connect, as mentioned, and a dedicated TestFlight app provides the central resource for testers in terms of providing feedback and getting new builds as they’re released by developers, instead of the web portal TestFlight used pre-acquisition.

Once external testers are invited to TestFlight, they’ll receive a link to download the official app from the App Store. There’s no longer any need to install provisioning profiles on tester devices with this shift, and there’s no need for users to manually find and send their devices’ UDIDs to participate. The official app will also send notifications when new builds of an app they’re testing are available, which is much more convenient than getting an email, as was the case before.

To make an app available for the 1,000 external testers that this launch enables, an app has to pass a Beta App Review, which means it’s subject to the same App Store Review Guidelines that apply to final releases. New versions with big changes require a new review before being pushed to testers, and developers can test up to 10 apps at a time, both internally (which requires no review approval, and which is available to 25 admin or tech level team members in iTunes Connect) and externally.