Publishing to TestFlight, new testers, do I really

Question

I have published an app through the testflight website to allow my colleagues to test, and as more and more of them opens the initial email and find time to go through the registration process, testers are trickling in on my testflight team.

However, the process to add them to the test seems a bit convoluted, so I thought I'd verify, and ask, if I'm doing it right, or if I have missed something obvious.

At the moment the whole procedure looks like this:

1. A colleague opens up the initial email, with the invitation link
2. He/she then registers the device, and registers for the test
3. I am informed of this new tester through an email and through the testflight site
4. I then have to download (or write down/copy) the list of UDID's of all the new testers since last time
5. I then have to visit the devices part of the Apple Developers site, and upload that file
6. Edit my provisioning profile to include the new devices
7. Wait for it to approve, and download the provisioning profile
8. I drag the provisioning profile into the Xcode provisioning profile organizer
9. I then go back to MonoDevelop, and ensure it is still pointing to the right profile (I don't know if using MonoDevelop/MonoTouch complicates this process so I didn't want to leave it out, it might be irrelevant for this question)
10. I rebuild, and republish on testflight
11. I then visit the testflight website, find the new/updated build, and ensure all my testers are informed of it

I noticed that if I do not update the version, it will "silently" replace the existing build, and reuse the list of testers that have already been informed, so if I just check all the new testers and complete, it'll only inform the new ones.

However, it seems a bit of a work to have to keep downloading and mucking about with the provisioning profile files.

Did I miss something obvious? Is there a way for me to make any part of this easier?

For instance, I noticed that I can create a provisioning profile inside the Xcode organizer, however that dialog box doesn't list any certificates so I can't complete that dialog. If this is a key element, leave a short answer to that effect and I'll instead repost a new question about that.

This question is just: Is the above procedure correct?

Answer 1

I've done quite a bit of work for Ad-Hoc applications on iOS and that's the procedure Apple makes you take unless you bump your subscription up to the Enterprise account.

Answer 2

Testflight has an option to update your provisioning file since a couple of months. Before it was already there, but "Area 51" features should be enabled to see it. So step 8, 9 and 10 are not needed anymore..

Answer 3

TestFlight used to allow uploading of new provisioning profile so you didn't have to rebuild to add new testers. TestFlight would then re-sign your existing apps for you and notify users accordingly. But it seems after Xcode 6 came out, they took out that option. Probably has something to do with the new way of signing apps.

https://developer.apple.com/library/mac/technotes/tn2206/_index.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/DTS40007919-CH1-TNTAG205

Answer 4

No need to rebuild the .ipa

• Upload the .ipa
• Send invitations to testers
• Add their devices to provisioning profile
• Download the approved profile
• Go to TestFlight builds >> Permissions >> Upload profile ...
• Click Send Email/Update
• You're done - the new user get's the link to download the app.

Hope that helps.

Answer 5

Yes, you need to go thru that manual process to add UDIDs to your profile. There's no way around that, unfortunately.

After you create a new provision you can use xcode to "sync" the new provisions file if you would like. Open it up, go to the Organizer, select "Provisioning Profiles" on the left and press refresh. I honestly do it manually, it's not that much work after all.