TestFlight Beta Testing for iOS is now available for iOS developers. Apple purchased Burstly, the company behind TestFlight, earlier this year, making devs hopeful about the future of betas. That hope was realized with the release of Apple's version of TestFlight last Thursday.
Previously Apple only allowed 100 devices access to betas, so even a small group of developers, each with an iPad and an iPhone and whatever previous models, could hit that limit pretty quickly. Using TestFlight gives developers slots for 25 team members (each member can have up to 10 devices), as well as up to 1,000 external users. Signup is now easier too, with only an email address needed to get things going. No more complicated emails to developers with UDID strings or other gyrations to get set up as a beta tester.
Here's how the setup process works. First, you get an invitation to test an app:
Email invitation to a TestFlight beta.
If this is your first beta invite, you'll need to install the TestFlight app from the App Store. You don't need an invite to install the app, but it makes it easier to find:
TestFlight in App Store.
Once you have the TestFlight app, you'll see the invite to the beta and be allowed to install:
TestFlight invitation.
You can see information about all the apps you have access to, and when the betas expire on this main screen. From there, install and break and give feedback to developers early and often!