TestFlight is an online service for over-the-air

installation Installation may refer to: * Installation (computer programs) * Installation, work of installation art * Installation, military base * Installation, into an office, especially a religious (Installation (Christianity) Installation is a Christian l ...

and testing of

mobile application A mobile application or app is a computer program or software application designed to run on a mobile device such as a phone, tablet, or watch. Mobile applications often stand in contrast to desktop applications which are designed to run on de ...

s, currently owned by

Apple Inc Apple Inc. is an American multinational technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, United States. Apple is the largest technology company by revenue (totaling in 2021) and, as of June 2022, is the world's biggest company ...

and only offered to developers within the

iOS iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also includes ...

Developer Program.Developing Enterprise iOS Applications: iPhone and iPad Apps for Companies
O'Reilly Media, Inc., December 12, 2011 Developers sign up with the service to distribute applications to internal or external

beta tester A software release life cycle is the sum of the stages of development and maturity for a piece of computer software ranging from its initial development to its eventual release, and including updated versions of the released version to help impro ...

s, who can subsequently send feedback about the application to developers.TestFlight Beta Testing
Apple ComputerArchitecting Mobile Solutions for the Enterprise
O'Reilly Media, Inc., May 14, 2012Swift Development with Cocoa: Developing for the Mac and IOS App Stores
O'Reilly Media, Inc., December 10, 2014 The TestFlight SDK additionally allows developers to receive remote logs, crash reports and tester feedback.Game Development for iOS with Unity3D
CRC Press, July 26, 2012 TestFlight initially supported testing of

Android Android may refer to: Science and technology * Android (robot), a humanoid robot or synthetic organism designed to imitate a human * Android (operating system), Google's mobile operating system ** Bugdroid, a Google mascot sometimes referred to ...

and

applications, but since March 2014, Apple has retracted support for Android. As of 2015, applications must be published for TestFlight using

Xcode Xcode is Apple's integrated development environment (IDE) for macOS, used to develop software for macOS, iOS, iPadOS, watchOS, and tvOS. It was initially released in late 2003; the latest stable release is version 14.2, released on December 13, ...

, and testers must be invited using iTunes Connect. Developers can also send th
TestFlight invitation codes
to the testers through emails, or testers can avail of the invitation link through the public pages. Once the tester has the invitation link, it can be opened on an iPhone with the TestFlight app installed, and testers can directly install the beta app on their device. Developers can build beta tester groups directly using the App Store and Xcode integration and publicize these invitation links. After invitation, up to 25 internal testers (with up to 10 devices each) and 10,000 external

s can download and test the application build. Up to 100 apps can be tested at a time, internally or externally. Testers may be grouped and separate builds created for each group. The TestFlight application for iOS notifies testers when new builds are available, features to focus on, and enables sending of feedback.

History

TestFlight was founded by Benjamin Satterfield and Trystan Kosmynka on December 23, 2010, and was designed as a single platform to test mobile applications on

and

devices. It was acquired by Burstly in March 2012, and thereby gained the resources necessary to launch ''TestFlight Live''. In 2011, Burstly raised $7.3 million from

Upfront Ventures Upfront Ventures, formerly known as GRP Partners, is a Santa Monica-based venture capital firm that invests in early-stage technology companies. It is one of the largest venture capital firms in Los Angeles, with $2 billion in total raised funds. ...

, Rincon Venture Partners,

Softbank Capital SoftBank Capital is a venture capital group in the United States, focusing on technology and telecom early stage businesses. It was founded by SoftBank. Since 2015 it does not actively make investments, but it continues to oversee its prior portfo ...

and others.

Apple Inc. Apple Inc. is an American multinational technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, United States. Apple is the largest technology company by revenue (totaling in 2021) and, as of June 2022, is the world's biggest company b ...

acquired Burstly in February 2014, and terminated support for Android as of March 2014. Apple also shut down ''FlightPath'' (a mobile analytics solution and a replacement to ''TestFlight Live'') and ''SkyRocket'' (a mobile application monetization platform) the same month.

History

References

See also