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iTunes Connect - Prerelease - Beta testing with Internal testers says 31 days left, what does this mean?

Will the app uninstall itself after 30 days? Will it become inactive or unusable? What happens?

unom
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2 Answers2

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From some months' experience, I find that my original answer(guess) is not right. If an application has expired on iTunes Connect Beta Testing. It will very soon(in one or two days after the expiration) stop working from the device that has it installed.

Original answer:

Short answer: when the testing period end, testers will no longer be able to accept invites and install builds. Testers that already have builds installed will not be affected.

In this document,

https://developer.apple.com/library/ios/documentation/LanguagesUtilities/Conceptual/iTunesConnect_Guide/Chapters/BetaTestingTheApp.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/TP40011225-CH35-SW2

Apple says:

“After the 30 day testing period has ended, the build status changes to Expired"

"To continue testing after the 30-day period expires, upload another build. Internal testers will automatically receive an update notification when the new build is available. To distribute the new build to external testers, you must submit it to Beta App Review. Once it is approved, you can send the external testers an update email by clicking Send Invites from the External Testers column on Builds, as shown above."

Apple doesn't describe clearly the behaviors on the tester side when a build expired.

But when I try to turn off the "TestFlight Beta Testing" on an app, the prompt says:

"Are you sure you want to stop testing? Testers will no longer be able to accept invites and install builds. Testers that already have builds installed will not be affected."

So I guess the behaviors on the tester side when a build expired are going to be the same as that when the testing is shut down by turning off the "TestFlight Beta Testing" option.

Jibeex
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  • Great. Essentially what is already installed remains untouched, which is good, I don't want tester s app to disappear because I went vacation. – unom Oct 30 '14 at 10:18
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    In my experience, the installed builds stop working after the 30 day expiration period, at least for internal testers. This seems contradictory to what I expected, too. – Dan Feb 12 '15 at 00:05
  • @Dan are you sure the builds stop working in 30 days? If yes, i think it'd be valuable for others if you posted that as a answer. For me, definitely valuable. – user1244109 Feb 26 '15 at 20:05
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    The installed builds will stop working for external testers after the expiration. If you want to get another 30 days then you have to submit a new build. – Tmac Apr 01 '15 at 14:05
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    As of Nov 13, 2015. the beta period lasts for 60 days. – Whirlwind Nov 14 '15 at 09:43
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In my experience with Internal testing, after 30 days, the build changes to Expired, and will no longer launch on devices where it has already been installed. Trying to launch the app will show the splash screen, and then it immediately quits and you're back on the home screen.

I've also found that uploading a new build does NOT automatically send out the update to existing internal testers. Although iTunes Connect will say the build is available, you have to manually toggle TestFlight testing off and then on again to get it to recognize the new build and send out the update emails to existing internal testers.

Dan
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    Essentially this means that "internal" builds are only usable for 30 days, and become inactive after that date? – unom Mar 01 '15 at 12:10
  • Based on my experience, yes. If you want them to last longer, you have to do it the old way by provisioning the UDID manually via the iOS Developer Portal, and then distribute builds manually. Since testflightapp.com is gone, there's no other way to do it that I see. – Dan Mar 01 '15 at 16:19