27 ms·

TestFlight SDK Released

95 points by dmpatierno 15y ago

scraplab 15y ago
I've just installed this in an app I'm working on. It's amazing stuff. I don't know how they continue to offer all this for free. Waiting to be bought by Apple perhaps?
daniel_levine 15y ago
Huge fan of the TestFlight App, helps me test out lots of startups' products. Also a huge help to the startups themselves and I think the SDK will be another great step.
davepeck 15y ago
These guys are killing it. Going to bake this in to my next test release of GetCloak for iOS. One feature I'm particularly jazzed about is the logging capture support. It is so painful to explain to test users how to capture logs on iOS!
timeuser 15y ago
Can this be used in a release distribution app or only beta test ad hoc apps? It sounds like it's only for test distribution, which is cool, but reporting on distribution apps would be nice.
- marcomonteiro 15y ago
  I've been using the beta since it was first released and I've never seen any data for released apps, though I suspect it wouldn't be difficult. I haven't looked in to why it only work in Ad Hoc builds. I agree it would be awesome if only to get crash reports and console logs back through TestFlight.
- deleted 15y ago
  [deleted]
- Aqua_Geek 15y ago
  It seems as though some of the features are very integrated with their backend's view of the world (e.g. sessions and checkpoints are broken down by user, in-app updates require OTA deployment). Not to say that it couldn't be changed to allow anonymous user statistics and pointing users to the App Store for updates. Remote logging, questionnaires, and crash reports would be great to have in production, though!
- alastairpat 15y ago
  I'd be very interested to know this as well. I'm yet to use their framework, but am going to integrate it into my next project and these reporting features look very attractive from a production perspective - and for free! Does anybody know their business model? It's such a good idea but I have no idea how it wouldn't be making massive losses.
  - Aqua_Geek 15y ago
    There was some sort of announcement (that I can't seem to find) that it is free for developers and that they plan on charging for some sort of enterprise version. This blurb on TC briefly mentions a little bit about it: http://techcrunch.com/2011/01/20/testflight/ http://techcrunch.com/2011/01/20/testflight/
- scraplab 15y ago
  Apple forbid data gathering without user consent, but I think as long as you prompt on start up it should be OK.
olivercameron 15y ago
Previous to TestFlight, life was ridiculously painful for an iPhone developer to beta test apps. I wish they'd charge me, it's that good. I'd probably pay at least $100 a month.
- clemesha 15y ago
  I've heard a lot of praise for Testflight, and now we have people proclaiming "I wish they'd charge me". What's the catch - or put in a better way, what's their business model?
  - nolanbrown23 15y ago
    Gathering device UDIDs and offering beta testers on a platter to those that pay.
  - theDoug 15y ago
    They have a large amount of funding from groups that should point you in the direction of where they may go. My guess is an eventual business model is for advertisers (the true customers) to get user information from developers who opt-in. Getting a mass-load of app developers, each with their own end users, into your ecosystem provides a lot of data to sell.
lordmatty 15y ago
TestFlight are doing excellent work - congrats guys!
marcomonteiro 15y ago
I've been using it since the first beta and it's a huge help especially when working with beta testers who aren't tech savvy enough to send back crash reports or to clearly explain what they're doing when they experience issues.
nhangen 15y ago
This product is so amazing that it makes iOS provisioning and ad hoc distribution look professional, and that's saying a lot. Huge fan of this service.
foobarbazetc 15y ago
What's the catch?
ashishg 15y ago
So awesome. Used them during our beta testing too and it was seamless.

95 points by dmpatierno 15y ago

I've just installed this in an app I'm working on. It's amazing stuff. I don't know how they continue to offer all this for free. Waiting to be bought by Apple perhaps?

daniel_levine 15y ago

Huge fan of the TestFlight App, helps me test out lots of startups' products. Also a huge help to the startups themselves and I think the SDK will be another great step.

davepeck 15y ago

These guys are killing it. Going to bake this in to my next test release of GetCloak for iOS. One feature I'm particularly jazzed about is the logging capture support. It is so painful to explain to test users how to capture logs on iOS!

timeuser 15y ago

Can this be used in a release distribution app or only beta test ad hoc apps? It sounds like it's only for test distribution, which is cool, but reporting on distribution apps would be nice.

marcomonteiro 15y ago
I've been using the beta since it was first released and I've never seen any data for released apps, though I suspect it wouldn't be difficult. I haven't looked in to why it only work in Ad Hoc builds. I agree it would be awesome if only to get crash reports and console logs back through TestFlight.
deleted 15y ago
[deleted]
Aqua_Geek 15y ago
It seems as though some of the features are very integrated with their backend's view of the world (e.g. sessions and checkpoints are broken down by user, in-app updates require OTA deployment). Not to say that it couldn't be changed to allow anonymous user statistics and pointing users to the App Store for updates. Remote logging, questionnaires, and crash reports would be great to have in production, though!
alastairpat 15y ago
I'd be very interested to know this as well. I'm yet to use their framework, but am going to integrate it into my next project and these reporting features look very attractive from a production perspective - and for free! Does anybody know their business model? It's such a good idea but I have no idea how it wouldn't be making massive losses.
- Aqua_Geek 15y ago
  There was some sort of announcement (that I can't seem to find) that it is free for developers and that they plan on charging for some sort of enterprise version. This blurb on TC briefly mentions a little bit about it: http://techcrunch.com/2011/01/20/testflight/ http://techcrunch.com/2011/01/20/testflight/
scraplab 15y ago
Apple forbid data gathering without user consent, but I think as long as you prompt on start up it should be OK.

olivercameron 15y ago

Previous to TestFlight, life was ridiculously painful for an iPhone developer to beta test apps. I wish they'd charge me, it's that good. I'd probably pay at least $100 a month.

clemesha 15y ago
I've heard a lot of praise for Testflight, and now we have people proclaiming "I wish they'd charge me". What's the catch - or put in a better way, what's their business model?
- nolanbrown23 15y ago
  Gathering device UDIDs and offering beta testers on a platter to those that pay.
- theDoug 15y ago
  They have a large amount of funding from groups that should point you in the direction of where they may go. My guess is an eventual business model is for advertisers (the true customers) to get user information from developers who opt-in. Getting a mass-load of app developers, each with their own end users, into your ecosystem provides a lot of data to sell.

lordmatty 15y ago

TestFlight are doing excellent work - congrats guys!

marcomonteiro 15y ago

I've been using it since the first beta and it's a huge help especially when working with beta testers who aren't tech savvy enough to send back crash reports or to clearly explain what they're doing when they experience issues.

nhangen 15y ago

This product is so amazing that it makes iOS provisioning and ad hoc distribution look professional, and that's saying a lot. Huge fan of this service.

foobarbazetc 15y ago

What's the catch?

ashishg 15y ago

So awesome. Used them during our beta testing too and it was seamless.