Developers have been able to test locally on their devices by plugging them directly into Xcode and building their app, but today’s TestFlight update will allow them to distribute the builds over-the-air to other members of the same development team.
When Apple updated the TestFlight app for iOS 9 compatiblity earlier this month, it came with the caveat that developers could only submit iOS 9 betas to members of their own teams. Today, however, the company has enabled external testing, allowing developers to start pushing iOS 9-ready betas to any users.
Apple is now allowing developers to test more iOS 9 features with an update to its beta distribution app TestFlight. The updated version enables developers to test faster, native watchOS 2 apps for Apple Watch, including newly gained access to more sensors and custom watch face complications. The update also lets developers test some iOS 9 features like App Thinning, which allows users to download larger chunks of apps as needed to preserve local storage, for the first time. Expand Expanding Close
Apple is rolling out improvements to its iTunes Connect portal that developers use to submit and manage their apps on the App Store. In addition to some welcomed UI tweaks, Apple is introducing a few notable improvements for developers. The big ones include increased limits for testing apps in TestFlight, the ability to manage multiple accounts/apps from a single username, and new user roles to allow a team of developers varying access to iTunes Connect features. Expand Expanding Close
Apple’s TestFlight-based App Analytics service is now available to all registered iOS developers through the iTunes Connect interface. Apple recently made App Analytics available to select developers upon request (which were fulfilled in a short amount of time), but starting today all developers can access the service without the need for requesting access. Expand Expanding Close
Apple has started offering registered developers the chance to sign-up and test its upcoming App Analytics feature first announced last year at WWDC. Developers have been awaiting the service since it was announced following Apple’s acquisition of TestFlight (and FlightPath), a service which offered its own analytics features. Expand Expanding Close
Update: Developers are still waiting for Apple to update the backend distribution infrastructure, before they can utilize the update to the TestFlight client app.
Apple has updated its TestFlight app to support Apple WatchKit apps embedded inside beta iOS apps. This has been a significant frustration for developers in the run up to the Apple Watch’s release, as it made testing apps for the new platform difficult.
Developers should now be able to deploy beta versions of their iOS apps without removing the Watch extensions.
Apple looks to be having a few lot of problems with its servers this morning. At the time of writing, iTunes Connect is refusing logins, the iBooks store is not responding and there are intermittent outages when viewing some individual items in both iOS and Mac App Stores … Expand Expanding Close
Apple announced today that it’s rolling out a new feature for its TestFlight beta distribution service called TestFlight Groups to improve the experience of managing builds with multiple testers.
Apple noted the Groups feature will allow developers to “organize your testers into groups to quickly send specific builds”, provide separate instructions on where to focus, and apply an action to several testers at once in TestFlight.”
The new feature is available to those using Apple’s in beta TestFlight service through iTunes Connect.
Apple has released updated versions of Safari for OS X users running 10.10 Yosemite, 10.9 Mavericks, and 10.8 Mountain Lion. The latest versions of Safari for each respective OS X version now comes to Safari 8.0.2, Safari 7.1.2, and Safari 6.2.2.
Earlier this month Apple released updates for Safari for OS X, but later pulled the releases after a short period. Today’s update addresses a number of issues relating to iCloud Drive, iCloud Keychain, and what Apple calls a rare issue caused by the previous release.
Apple has posted a document detailing the changes in the latest versions. The update is available through the Mac App Store. In addition to releasing new Safari updates, Apple also updated its TestFlight beta distribution app to version 1.0.2 noting “minor stability and performance improvements.”
TestFlight is now appearing in the App Store, ahead of an expected launch later this month. The service will allow developers to easily share betas of upcoming apps with public testers. It was discovered Apple had bought TestFlight earlier this year and the company subsequently announced the integration of the service into its developer portal at WWDC.
Before Apple’s acquisition, TestFlight was not in the App Store itself as it violated app review guidelines. Being part of the App Store makes it much more accessible to the general public and should incentivize more beta testers to participate in general.
Today, Apple has updated its official App Store developers Review Guidelines to outline the requirements for iOS 8 applications that will make use of the new HealthKit, HomeKit, TestFlight, and Extensions services. Today’s update indicates that Apple is nearing the release of iOS 8, the next-generation mobile operating system for the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch ahead of the September 9th Apple media event. Apple will provide developers with a golden master seed of iOS 8 on the day of the event, according to sources with knowledge of the plans. The review guidelines are a “living document” that list reasons that App Store apps could be rejected. Below are the full lists for HealthKit, HomeKit, TestFlight, and Extensions, but here are some of the more significant points:
“Apps using the HealthKit framework that store users’ health information in iCloud will be rejected.” This point should reduce fears of intruders being able to access a user’s health data, especially after the scandal surrounding the leak of celebrity photos potentially stored in iCloud.
“Apps that share user data acquired via the HealthKit API with third parties without user consent will be rejected.”
“Apps that provide diagnoses, treatment advice, or control hardware designed to diagnose or treat medical conditions that do not provide written regulatory approval upon request will be rejected.” This point is crucial in that these fine print allows Apple to work around the FDA’s regulatory guidelines for mobile health applications.
“Apps using the HealthKit framework must provide a privacy policy or they will be rejected.”
“Apps must not use data gathered from the HomeKit APIs for advertising or other use-based data mining.” Same deal with HealthKit, as we noted earlier this week.
There are also a number of third party keyboard guidelines that will be critical for developers to follow.
In addition to those four new sections, Apple has also updated the guidelines to say that “if your app is plain creepy, it may not be accepted.” You can read all of the new bullet points below:
Alongside a whole of other changes to the App Store, Apple is integrating TestFlight. This allows developers to do seamless beta-testing for free. There are also a whole host of ‘extensions’ apps can access, enabling integration into share sheets, Notification Center widgets and more.
Apple is heavily stressing that this is the biggest developer release since the App Store was announced.
HockeyApp, one of the last big independent, cross-platform app testing platforms after Apple acquired TestFlight (and pulled Android support) earlier this year, gets a big update today with version 3.0. The full change log includes a long list of new features, enhancements, and fixes, but the company ran through a few of the most notable new features in a blog post. One of the most requested new features is Team Management:
You asked for it, you (finally!) got it. You can now create and manage users in teams with HockeyApp. Once a user has accepted your team invite, you can add this team to apps without sending further invites. Our new User Control Center shows you which teams and users have been added to the app, which device are not provisioned, and which users have applied to become a tester.
The release also includes a new feature for adding Organizations that are owned by multiple people, a new notification system, feedback attachments, and a much improved user interface and overall user experience. In addition, you’ll find updated pricing plans and more details on the company’s website here.
Apple has acquired Burstly, the company behind the popular beta testing platform Test Flight, TechCrunchreported (now confirmed by Recode). TestFlight recently pulled its SDK as well as Android support prompting speculation that big changes were on the horizon. Some speculated that an Apple acquisition could behind it all and would make sense considering the fragmented beta testing experience for app developers. While neither company has commented publicly confirming the acquisition, we were pointed to hints of the acquisition just before TechCrunch reported the rumor as likely and later updated its reporting to note that the acquisition had already occurred… Expand Expanding Close
