TestFlight Overview

TestFlight beta testing lets you distribute beta builds of your app to testers and collect feedback. You can enable TestFlight beta testing for up to 100 apps at one time in your App Store Connect account. Learn more.

Make improvements to your app and continue distributing builds until all issues are resolved before you submit your app to the App Store.

Step 1: Enter your test information

Enter test information about your app, such as a description and feedback email. You will need this if you plan to distribute your build to external testers (persons outside your team).

Step 2: Upload your build

Upload your build to the App Store. Read Cryptography and U.S. Export Compliance to determine if you need to provide export compliance documentation for your app. After builds are uploaded, they are available for testing for 90 days.

Step 3: Invite internal and external testers

You can create groups for internal and external testers, then assign specific builds to them. After you've added builds to a group, you can add external testers (up to 10,000 people) and internal testers (up to 100 App Store Connect users with access to your content) to test your app. If you invite external testers, the build needs to be approved by TestFlight App Review before testing can begin.

Step 4: Testers download TestFlight and accept your invitations

Testers install the free TestFlight app on their devices. Then they use their invitation email or a public link to accept invitations, install your app, send feedback, and get updates. Testers download and install thinned variants of your app.

Step 5: View tester and build information

Track your tester engagement and your app’s performance by viewing build status and metrics in App Store Connect—such as numbers of sessions and crashes. You can also resend email invitations to testers who have not yet accepted their invitation.

Step 6: Collect feedback from testers

Testers running TestFlight for iOS, version 2.3 or later and iOS 13 or iPadOS 13 or later, can send feedback through the TestFlight app or directly from your beta app by taking a screenshot. This is also available in TestFlight for Mac. You can view this tester feedback in the Feedback section in App Store Connect. Testers running tvOS or earlier versions of iOS can send feedback to the email address you specified in step 1.

Step 7: Stop testing

When you are done testing, you can optionally expire a build to stop testing it, and then go to Overview of publishing an app for the process of submitting your app to the App Store. If you don’t expire your build and submit it to the App Store, testers that have received an invite to test will still be able to test your build even after it goes live on the App Store. Your build will become unavailable in TestFlight after 90 days.

Do I need to get approval to start testing beta builds?

To make your beta builds available to members of your App Store Connect team, your app doesn’t need review by TestFlight App Review. To make your beta builds available to external users, your beta build may require review. When you add the first build of your app to a group, the build gets sent to TestFlight App Review to make sure it follows the App Store Review Guidelines. A review is only required for the first build of a version and subsequent builds may not need a full review. Testing can begin once a build is approved.