Apple has rolled out the TestFlight public links feature announced earlier this year at WWDC, allowing developers to share public URLs for app betas to make it easier for new testers to sign up. Apple’s TestFlight service provides developers with the ability to invite beta testers for their apps, although the process previously required devs to collect e-mail addresses from users and send out invites via e-mail in order for users to enrol into the program.
With public links, developers will simply be able to send out a link that users can open on their iOS device; clicking the link will automatically enrol the user into the beta group, although users will still need to have the TestFlight app installed on their device.
The ability to use public links will allow developers more flexibility in opening up their apps to wide public beta testing; for example a developer could simply share a public TestFlight link on Facebook or Twitter, allowing any follower or fan to sign up for an earlier release.
Developers will also be able to limit the number of sign-ups, allow users to join on a first-come-first-served basis as long as slot are available, and devs can also arbitrarily disable the public link at any time. TestFlight allows for a maximum of up to 10,000 testers for a single app, and users signing up via a public link will also do so anonymously — developers will not get any information on the tester such as a person’s name or e-mail address, unless of course the user explicitly chooses to contact the developer.
