7 ms·

TestFlight - iOS beta testing on the fly

18 points by justinweiss 16y ago

justinweiss 16y ago
I have no idea how this could possibly work, but it sounds incredible. Ad-hoc distribution for beta testing is still really painful.
- davidcann 16y ago
  It's using a new feature in iOS 4. Technically, you don't need this service to do the direct web-to-device ad-hoc installation, but I'm in the beta and it's a great product that makes things easy and smooth.
- matthew-wegner 16y ago
  I set up web distribution for ad hoc builds today. I found this: http://github.com/wbroek/IPA-Distrubution http://github.com/wbroek/IPA-Distrubution Check their example.php -- you still need to manage a provisioning profile with device ids, but from there you just do Build and Archive and put the .ipa and .mobileprovision file alongside the above scripts. Their code extracts application info, including thumbnail, and builds a nice iPhone-formatted HTML interface. Any iOS4 device can visit your URL and install the app (assuming their UDID is in your profile).
chris24 16y ago
See also: http://buzzworks.de/blog/announcing-developer-framework-hockey http://buzzworks.de/blog/announcing-developer-framework-hock...
aaronbrethorst 16y ago
I am very interested in this, but the body copy is way too verbose and unclear. Headline should be to the point: "Coming soon: no more ad hoc builds" (I've been fighting with them a LOT this week and would pay good money to never have to do one again) This text is far too long: "Both developers and testers are aware of the headache known as ad hoc distribution. Packaging a build and profile, emailing testers, dragging everything into iTunes and sync until it starts working." Anyone in your target market knows what a pain in the ass it is to do ad hoc builds. You don't need to describe the steps. Just change it to "Ad hoc builds suck, here's a way to get the benefits without making one ever again." Furthermore, the always-popular phrase "the x that is y" (and derivations thereof, like "the headache known as ad hoc distribution") irritates me. It sounds like snobby nerd talk.
wallflower 16y ago
Good overview by private beta tester: http://mrgan.tumblr.com/post/1037353749/testflight http://mrgan.tumblr.com/post/1037353749/testflight I'm not sure this is a product that I would pay for, since it is based on an iOS 4 feature[1] that I have used before. [1] http://jeffreysambells.com/posts/2010/06/22/ios-wireless-app-distribution/ http://jeffreysambells.com/posts/2010/06/22/ios-wireless-app...
deleted 16y ago
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18 points by justinweiss 16y ago

I have no idea how this could possibly work, but it sounds incredible. Ad-hoc distribution for beta testing is still really painful.

davidcann 16y ago
It's using a new feature in iOS 4. Technically, you don't need this service to do the direct web-to-device ad-hoc installation, but I'm in the beta and it's a great product that makes things easy and smooth.
matthew-wegner 16y ago
I set up web distribution for ad hoc builds today. I found this: http://github.com/wbroek/IPA-Distrubution http://github.com/wbroek/IPA-Distrubution Check their example.php -- you still need to manage a provisioning profile with device ids, but from there you just do Build and Archive and put the .ipa and .mobileprovision file alongside the above scripts. Their code extracts application info, including thumbnail, and builds a nice iPhone-formatted HTML interface. Any iOS4 device can visit your URL and install the app (assuming their UDID is in your profile).

chris24 16y ago

See also: http://buzzworks.de/blog/announcing-developer-framework-hockey http://buzzworks.de/blog/announcing-developer-framework-hock...

aaronbrethorst 16y ago

I am very interested in this, but the body copy is way too verbose and unclear. Headline should be to the point: "Coming soon: no more ad hoc builds" (I've been fighting with them a LOT this week and would pay good money to never have to do one again) This text is far too long: "Both developers and testers are aware of the headache known as ad hoc distribution. Packaging a build and profile, emailing testers, dragging everything into iTunes and sync until it starts working." Anyone in your target market knows what a pain in the ass it is to do ad hoc builds. You don't need to describe the steps. Just change it to "Ad hoc builds suck, here's a way to get the benefits without making one ever again." Furthermore, the always-popular phrase "the x that is y" (and derivations thereof, like "the headache known as ad hoc distribution") irritates me. It sounds like snobby nerd talk.

wallflower 16y ago

Good overview by private beta tester: http://mrgan.tumblr.com/post/1037353749/testflight http://mrgan.tumblr.com/post/1037353749/testflight I'm not sure this is a product that I would pay for, since it is based on an iOS 4 feature[1] that I have used before. [1] http://jeffreysambells.com/posts/2010/06/22/ios-wireless-app-distribution/ http://jeffreysambells.com/posts/2010/06/22/ios-wireless-app...

deleted 16y ago

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