iPhone: How to run a Beta build, in addition to the App Store build?

Question

Hi, All!

I have an app on the Store for which we’re readying an update.

The other members of our team have the App Store version already loaded up (~purchased) on their respective iPhones -- and those contain User Data which each member needs to be able to keep.

In the meantime, we need to test out a Beta version of the next version of the app.

Presumably, we’d need to have the two versions (ad hoc, and app store) co-existing on each device, at least until everyone’s signed off on the beta and it’s uploaded to the store (at which point, they'd delete the beta version).

[Once it’s on the Store, of course, they can each update their main (i.e., Release) version of the app via the usual App Store 'update' mechanism. In that case, all their user data is still retained intact.]

So assuming that’s the proper workflow ...

How do I issue a Beta to the team, and have it not replace/overwrite the existing App Store version?

I’ve tried customizing parameters in the beta’s “[appname]-Info.plist”, but haven’t found a setting yet that allows the two versions (beta and release) to co-exist on the same device.

Any ideas? And is this is the proper approach to them being able to keep their data?

(And last, how might I do it with & without a script? I assume there's just one parameter that'd need to be changed.)

I hope this all makes sense -- thank you in advance for your help!

Answer 1

So you want to have two versions of the same application on one device? I don't think there's a way to get this effect -- updating an application, which keys on unique CFBundleIdentifier, replaces old version bundle but not data.

For the effect you want, you must have two distinct applications. They need different CFBundleIdentifiers, so they won't overwrite each other. They then cannot share data, so you'll have to arrange for export/import involving an off-device shared space.

If you don't want this hassle, issue the team extra devices and test on those. The team's primary devices remain on the AppStore version. You must still export/import to bring content from the test devices to the primary devices. Any paid content each has on the App Store version should be available for their beta, though, as usual for app upgrades and one-owner multiple-devices scenarios.