iOS beta testing with Apple's revamped TestFlight

[Chris Sheffield]

I’ve been trying to figure this out this morning and thought I would pass on what I’ve learned in case anyone else is interested.

First, there is an enhancement request for LiveCode here Bug 13716 <http://quality.runrev.com/show_bug.cgi?id=13716>, which requests adding a separate version string to the info.plist file. Right now, the version string specified in the iOS standalone settings is used in the info.plist file for both CFBundleVersion and CFBundleShortVersionString. The first one should be used to include a build number (i.e. 1.2.0.5), while the second should be used to specify the new version of your app, as it should appear in the App Store (i.e. 1.2). The request asks that a second field be added to the standalone settings so we can specify two different version strings. This appears to be necessary in order to effectively take advantage of the new TestFlight features. You can work around this now by explicitly setting a value for CFBundleVersion in the settings.plist template file before building your app (just be sure to make a copy of the file before editing it). Kind of a pain, but it works.

Second, you must use an App Store distribution profile when building your app. The new TestFlight doesn’t seem to work with anything else. In fact, you can’t even upload your app via Application Loader. Also, it appears you need a profile that was created *after* the launch of TestFlight Beta Testing. If you have an older one, you have to regenerate it. Although, I have done this and I still see a message in iTunes Connect that my build is missing the correct beta entitlement. So I’m not sure if there’s something that needs to be done in LiveCode or what. Possibly another entry added to info.plist? I’ll check into this a bit more.

Third, as far as I can tell, the new TestFlight requires devices running iOS 8 or newer. You have to download the new TestFlight app from the App Store, which will only install on these devices. Not sure why this is required. Would be nice if we could at least continue using iOS 7.x devices for beta testing, but that’s Apple for you…

I’m still working to figure some of this out, but, like I said, just thought I’d pass on some of this info in case it will help others. Of course, if you plan to just continue using the existing TestFlight service at testflightapp.com, then you can completely disregard this message. :-) (Although I’m not sure how much longer that service will continue. Anyone know?)

Thanks,
Chris


--
Chris Sheffield
Read Naturally, Inc.
www.readnaturally.com