Get App Feedback from Beta Testers with TestFlight

Last week, Apple announced the end of the beta for its TestFlight for Mac platform. But, now that TestFlight for Mac is generally available, what does this mean for macOS developers?

When TestFlight’s beta began back in August, developers only had the ability to use TestFlight for testing their own Mac apps and apps from other developers, but now that TestFlight for Mac has been officially launched, developers can send TestFlight betas to the general public for testing.

What is TestFlight?

TestFlight is a platform that allows developers to invite users to test apps and App Clips in beta. With the TestFlight platform, developers can collect feedback from end-users before they release their apps to the App Store for download.

End-users can test up to 100 apps at a time, either internally or externally. Multiple builds can also be tested simultaneously. TestFlight also provides automatic updates to make sure that testers are always looking at the latest build. Builds will also remain active for 90 days after upload.

TestFlight Supports Apps For:

• iOS
• iPadOS
• macOS
• tvOS
• watchOS
• iMessage

Getting Feedback from Users

For developers who want to collect feedback from users, they must first upload a beta build of an app or an App Clip to App Store Connect.

Next, with TestFlight, developers can invite up to 10,000 external testers (or users) to access these early versions of apps before release. In addition, developers can create multiple groups of internal testers in TestFlight and configure build access for each.

Invitations to test apps are issued through email or a public link. Upon receiving an invite to test an app or an App Clip, testers will use TestFlight to install the app and to provide their feedback.

Issuing Invitations to Testers and Groups

TestFlight provides a couple of useful ways for developers to organize and invite beta testers to give feedback on apps.

Internal Testers
If you have a team in-house that you’d like to test your app, with TestFlight you can choose up to 100 members of your internal team who can hold various roles as beta testers, including Account Holder, Admin, App Manager, Developer, or Marketing.

TestFlight also offers the ability to create groups of testers, where you can add different app builds for each group if you’d like particular groups to focus on testing different features.

Also, as developers iterate on an app, each member of a group can test beta builds on up to 30 devices and access all of the beta app builds that are currently available for testing.

External Testers and Groups

For developers that want external feedback from the general public, TestFlight allows developers to invite up to 10,000 users (per app) for testing. Users can be invited via email, or by accessing a public link that serves as a general invitation for end-users to test an app.

If taking the public link approach, developers can share the link via social media, email campaigns, or other messaging platforms. For each public link invite to test an app, developers can limit how many testers can join the beta test.

It’s important to note that if the group limit is reached, or if you disable the public link inviting users to join the beta test, a notification will be sent to all members informing them that the beta is no longer accepting testers.

Asking For and Receiving Feedback

Naturally, when using TestFlight it’s important to let your various end-users and groups know what they should be testing or looking for in the app betas.

Developers can provide this information on each app’s Test Information page in App Store Connect. Apple also suggests providing an email address that is set up and monitored for the purpose of receiving and responding to the feedback from testers.

When testing, the TestFlight app for iOS, iPadOS, and macOS allows testers to give their feedback by taking screenshots directly from the app. If an app crashes during testing, users can provide additional context and information after this error occurs.

Developers can view feedback left in the app by visiting the app’s TestFlight page in App Store Connect and clicking Crashes or Screenshots in the Feedback section.

Feedback from testers working with iOS 12 or earlier, tvOS, or watchOS will have all feedback sent to the email address listed by the developer on each app’s Test Information page.

Get Started with TestFlight

Ready to get started with TestFlight? Download the app directly from the Mac App Store.

Per Apple, TestFlight requires an iPhone or iPad running iOS 13 or later or a Mac running macOS Monterey 12.0 or later. You can learn more about TestFlight here or check out TestFlight’s Developer Forums.