I'm using TestFlight to test an iOS app. For my first testable version I only invited 5 friends, of which only 2 installed the app. I'm not sure if the others got the email but I just assumed they did and ignored it.
Yesterday I submitted a new version and invited another 10 or so people. I noticed today that only the original 2 people installed the new app so I contacted 3 or 4 of the new testers and nobody has seen an email invite yet.
I read that turning off testflight, then turning it back on, would force emails to be sent. I tried that, still no joy.
Am I missing something? I have a hard time believing this is a TestFlight bug or we'd be hearing a lot more about it, right?
I see a similar question was closed as "not about programming". But this is very much about the iOS development process... I can't "program" an iOS app without getting it out for testing.
It depends where you add the users...
If you add them through "Users & Roles>TestFlight Beta Testers>External" then they are invited to test the app but not invited to the pre-release build.
If you add them through "My Apps>Your app name>Prerelease>External Testers" and tap + then you can choose to "Add New Testers" which both invites new testers to your app and adds them to the pre-release.
The only way you can add additional testers (as far as I've seen) is to update your tester list, and then upload a new binary. In other words, I don't believe you can modify the tester list on a build that's already actively being tested.
Related
Over the past two years, we've had around 3-400 beta testers. After Apples update to TestFlight the summer of 2017, we've had problems with nearly all our TestFlight-uploads. Sometimes our beta testers receive email/notification about "a new build is ready to test" 90 days too late, at the exact time the build expires, and sometimes they don't receive notification at all. Just a handful of times it works as expected, that they get notified when we the build is available to test.
Is there a secret trick to managing TestFlight?
I upload the build, click "provide export compliance"-thing, add my internal and external group, and click "Start testing". The build automatically gets available for internal testing, and is sent to beta-review for Apple for external testing. They approve it within 24h, and the build is available in the TestFlight-app for all our beta-testers. But none of them got a notification saying there's a new build..
Followup: How can we fix this now? Do we have to upload a completely new build, or can I remove the "external testers"-group from the build and re-add them again. Will they receive a "new build available"-notifications?
Will they also receive "Build is no longer available for testing" at the moment I remove the external group from the currently active new build? Meh..
Ok. It baffles me how extremely bad Apples dev-websites and services are.
So, in my newly uploaded build, there are two "groups". One called "iTunes Connect Users", which are the internal users who are invited to the developer team. They got an email and a notification immediately when I clicked "Start Testing", because a review is not needed for internal testing.
The other group is called "External testers". The build is available for them, but they didn't get notified when the build was approved by Apple.
I was considering removing the "External testers"-group from the build, hoping for a notification when re-adding the group. But, I also thought the group might first receive "This build is no longer available for testing" or something if I removed the group from the build.
I figured I wanted to test this first, to see if testers receive a notification when I remove their group from a build, so I created a new group (called "ExternalTest"), added one single (new)test-member, and added this new group to the same active build, so that there are three groups under that build.
At the very moment I clicked "add group to build", all of our test-devices here, and apparently every single beta-tester, received a push notification from TestFlight, saying that the new build is available to test. Now, our "installed"-number is skyrocketing, as people are updating.
What the hell, Apple?
I agree with you, #Nitish, TestFlight sucks badly.
Having the exact same problem - a build was approved for external testing by Apple yesterday, but no one received a notification. I created a new group now, added my private email to it, and then added the group to the build. Swoosh! All out test devices received the push notification about the new build. Thumb down emote from me, Apple.
I myself have encountered the same problem. My client who is added as a Beta Tester receives a notification when a build is uploaded. (Never reached a state where he would need a notification where build has expired after 90 days). However, his further client is also added as a Beta tester. But doesn't receive notifications.
This is where I would like to say keenly, TestFlight sucks badly. I would suggest, the best way to track this is to check the status of Build installed or not. Usually Apple reviews the Beta build within 24 hours. At that time, make sure to check the above mentioned status. Re-invite the tester if it still doesn't work.
That's the lame way to get along this, unfortunately.
Otherwise, I would suggest going for other libraries such as Hockey or Diawi.
This is the best I can offer :)
I had a go round with the TestFlight crew a while ago about how bad their interface was. I wanted them to have a simple list that you filled out and a Save button so that you didn't have to do it all at once. Then there should be another button, Send To Testers, that you touched when done. Simple, no? Nah, they rejected my suggestion. I pointed out that when you submit an app to iTunes that's exactly how you do it. Nope, we're doing it this stupid way.
The best I can figure out is that you should walk down the left hand list in the TestFlight section one at a time starting with Builds/iOS . When you reach the bottom and fill out App Information/Test Information hitting Save sends out the invitation. Maybe...
I currently have an app on iTunesConnect with a few hundred external beta testers using it. Important to note, we will have 2000 testers by the end of the month. I want to push new builds to this app- and this, I know how to do.
What I don't know is, what is the expected behavior for my beta users when I add a new build?
Our company cares a lot about user experience, and we don't want to have our current testers of our current build open the version that they've already installed, only to see it crash because I added a new build that i'm hoping will just update their current version automatically.
Apple does a good job of making a developer think this might happen. I've searched everywhere to find this answer in the docs- please help! After selecting a newly approved build to switch to in the External Testing portal, upon selecting Save, this alert appears:
(405 is the first build, 407 is the new build)
So, what happens when I save this- will users be notified that they need to update the app?
Will the "update" happen automatically for them if they've already installed the first build?
If they open the already installed version, will it simply crash?
If so, what can I do to prevent this from happening?
My team will likely want to send out 1-2 builds / week (of the same app, with fixes and improvements) to the same group of testers until we're ready to officially launch the app. I'd hate to think this would crash the app on them every time. As far as I know, there is no way for me to test this before performing this action- I'm already added as an Internal Tester, but that's a completely different UX in TestFlight (builds are made available to internal testers immediately after uploading)
If you think this has been asked already:
This is not a duplicate of this question- because I haven't attempted to send out the build yet. I want to make sure that linked issue does not happen to my testers!
My question is unlike this one where the user did not know how to properly increase his build number, unlike this one, referring to testing a new build of an app that already has a version in the app store, unlike this one which refers to a bug in the app store where a user couldn't initiate an external test after uploading a build, and unlike this one where the user just didn't know how the iTunesConnect portal works.
Below you can see that testing for external testers are turned off:
same for internal testing:
but when I transfer app, one of the criterias are not met:
Why?
I had the exact same issue, resolved by removing all Tester and Build from the TestFlight as discussed above also (!important) remove everything fields at the App Information - Test Information.
For me it was localised test descriptions. Make sure you check that drop down list on the right and clear out info for all languages.
I just solved the transfer issue, you just need to expire your build from tester by following the steps below. and then app will available for transfer..
open your app and click on testflight then click on the icon of your app as shown in below screenshot.
The click on expire build.
Now you can transfer your app :)
I've search for a long time and to me this worked:
Clean all builds inside: My Apps --> App Name --> TestFlight
Go to: Itunes Connect --> Users and Roles --> Tab "TestFlight Beta Testers" and click in the name from another user that isn't you.
Save.
Go back to the App in Itunes Connect: "Itunes Connect --> App Name --> Transfer App" and attempt to transfer again by clicking in "Transfer App".
To me this works. Hope help someone.
i had the same issue i deleted (mark expired) all the versions of app testing version in App TestFlight section and done the trick for me ;) attach is the screen shot of activity.
Another possible reason:
When you delete all test information from TestFlight, make sure you delete it for every language.
In the testinformation page, select every localised language and check if the form is empty.
I struggled with this for an entire day, I tried everything and finally found another workaround:
1) Expire all the builds
2) Delete all testers
3) Clear all the informations in the Testflight tab
4) Delete all langages except the main one
And finally the step which fixed the Testflight criteria for us
5) Create a new app version (no need to submit or even edit it)
now you check transfer.
Good Luck.
I know it's an old question, but it still bugs people to this day.
So the solution here, after you have removed all the testers, and expired all builds, go to TestFlight > Test Information and clear all the fields.
Also make sure you delete any localization you might have there. Give it 5 minutes, after which transfering will be possible.
Not sure if this is going to help,
Check Users and Roles > TestFlight Beta Testers
Do you have a tester who is testing the app that you want to transfer?
I have the exact same issue and I'm currently getting from Apple "our engineering team is still working diligently to have this resolved for you". I have been supplied with a workaround:
Enable TestFlight by adding a tester to a build
Then deactivate the build, by turning off TestFlight beta testing
Attempt to transfer again
unfortunately, I still haven't been able to resolve the issue.
We found that in addition to the other answers here, logging out and logging back in to iTunesConnect allowed us to continue after it was saying TestFlight was still enabled.
I was facing the same issue, going inside tranferring app console multiple times automatically fixed the issue and started showing all criteria as met.
Do the same step as #Imran Iqbal answer, if your app is Sign-in Required, uncheck Sign-in Required also, like:
then, you can transfer app.
I've exactly the same problem and could not solve it. The good news: After contacting Apple, they have confirmed a bug and they're working on a solutions. Apple confirmed also, that many developers ran into this.
Got that workaround from the support (that did not work for me):
1. Enable TestFlight by adding a tester to a build
2. Then deactivate the build, by turning off TestFlight beta testing
3. Attempt to transfer again
It looks like this is being done on purpose for new apps.
Now, A newly created app CANNOT be transferred into an account, until 14 - 21 days have passed.
An expiration period.
First, You must remove all build and user from TestFlight of that app. After its looks like below.
If you still not match last criteria than Sign Out and login again.
Creating new app version did it for me! Thanks!
The tricky solution is to enable testing again, add some tester in. The visit the TestFlight and under test flight users, you will see old active test flight users. Simple delete them.
Maybe I have a stupid question, but after the update to Xcode 7, I sent a new version of my app to the App Store (via standard: Archives - Organizer - Upload to App Store). But now it is my build in iTunes Connect in tab Prerelease with status Processing (btw more than 12 hours), and I do not know why. Why is my build in Prereleasse tab? Previously, I uploaded new build the same way and I could have it for a few minutes to submit for review. Thx for help.
Update: After more than 48 hours, I can finally submit my new build for review! ;-)
The issue seems to be related specifically to Xcode 7. Some people have mentioned these work arounds to get it to go:
1) Use Application Loader and not Xcode to submit to iTunes.
2) Re-submit with new Xcode 7.1 beta.
3) Re-submit with old Xcode 6.4.
Your milage may vary.
Edit: Problem seems to be solved now, it appears to have been related to that exploited Xcode issue in China which caused significant iTunes Connect delays.
It's not the feature of Xcode, instead it's actually a feature of iTunes connect by itself.
All your uploaded archives go directly to "Prerelease" tab and lets you the privilege to distribute those to some specific users for beta testing, through TestFlight(optional), before you actually set it for production.
This process lets you debug your app performance and lets you actually maintain a build log, without actually releasing the app for public. When you are all set, you pick the best from Prerelease builds and release that to actual production environment, for public.
More documentation from Apple is available here
And by the way, I think your Processing issue should be automatically resolved if you give it some time (possibly 24 hours or so) or you might need to remove your app and upload that once more. You might know, Apple is too much busy to maintain it's App Store's security, right now ;)!!!
Here is the history of my app.
In v1.0 I didn't have IAP.
In v2.0 I had IAP code, and it worked while I was developing. When v2.0 was released, I checked and run a non-testing device (an iPhone under my itunesconnect user name, but does not have provision file installed, so I take it as a non-relevant device) and I got error message, which of course was set up by myself. The error is for situation that the app could not connect to Apple or could not find IAP for the app. The error shows up quickly right after clicking buy IAP. This is as expected since no product ID is available. It doesn't need wait payment queue at all.
Then I checked itunesconnect and found the IAP probably not linked to the app, so I updated to v2.1 and added the IAP to my app in itunesconnect (no real code change, at least no IAP-related code changed), and IAP works fine finally in development stage in my testing iPad. Now v2.1 came out, but I still have the same problem as v2.0, that means IAP encounters error, most likely no IAP product ID found. At the time I'm typing, v2.1 has been released for 2 hours, and I still have quick error --- the product ID problem, most likely.
[edit]
BTW, there was a glitch between v2.0 and v2.1. When I noticed the IAP was not linked to my app, I did something too quick so that I cannot remember exactly. Basically the IAP was hung over there, I could modify it or submit it. After talking to Apple, I was told I need reject my binary of v2.1 and resubmit v2.1 along with the IAP. I don't know if this is related, but anyway I can buy IAP in development stage with my sandbox testing iPad.
[edit]
Any idea? Thanks.
BTW, the app is set to English default, but with Chinese/Spanish localization.
[edit]
One more thing, don't know if it's related. All v1.0, v2.0, and v2.1 versions are deployed to iOS 6 or later. When I was developing v2.1, I was trying to back to iOS 5 (via adopting so deprecated methods or constants). My app could run on iOS 5, but IAP wouldn't work iOS 5. Since IAP doesn't work, there's no point for me to go compatible with iOS 5, so I removed all deprecated methods and constants and went back to original v2.0 version and resubmitted with linked IAP to become v2.1.
For those who cares, here is my app. You're welcome to try. long press first page would get you to options page where you can try buy IAP --- no worry, there is supposed to be a confirmation dialog where you can cancel, even if my IAP works.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/icalc24!/id566916783?mt=8
[edit]
One more edit:
OH yeah, it works now. I don't which step of the following make it work:
1, I delete my app and restart my iPhone again (and again, yes) and re-download
2, it's 4 hours now after v2.1 is approved.