Ken Yarmosh – Product Strategist and Technology Connoisseur

Three Ways to Do Over the Air (Wireless Ad Hoc) iOS Beta Programs

August 31, 2010

One of the most tedious—and depressing—chapters in my book App Savvy relates to the beta testing process for iPhone and iPad apps. As I indicate there, it’s a necessary evil because launching a new app or a new feature into the App Store without testing it is simply asking for trouble (more on that in a separate post). Aside from having to collect the beta testers’ device UDIDs, continuing to distribute new builds to those testers and needing them to continually reinstall the updated apps is a time-consuming, inefficient, and frustrating process.

In the past few weeks, however, there’s been an avalanche of new tools and frameworks that tackle these issues head on, by providing over the air (wireless ad hoc) updates of beta apps. The idea is simple: once a beta app is installed, the tester will automatically receive the latest build when the developer pushes it to them. Let’s take a look.

TestFlight

Of all these new tools, TestFlight is currently the most interesting. Used by Neven Mrgan during the development of The Incident, TestFlight appears to not only provide over the air updates of beta apps but also helps with, “streamlining what happens before and after the builds as well: signing up new testers, grouping them for A/B testing and different tiers of builds, managing tester feedback, and hopefully much more.”

Apparently, there was a cool iOS app companion that was recently rejected by Apple that could, “collect new users’ UDIDs and send out push notifications when updates [were] available.” That’s definitely a bummer but the good news is that 23Divide—the developers behind TestFlight—are working on both web and desktop apps that will offer similar functionality. Here’s the TestFlight workflow, both from a developer’s and tester’s perspective:

A developer’s TestFlight workflow.

1. Invite testers via -email
2. Upload your IPA
4. Watch as TestFlight parses everything out of the IPA (version, name, icon, list of testers, expiry date, etc.)
5. Continue to watch as TestFlight notifies your testers that a new build is available for installation.
6. Monitor the dashboard to see who has installed the build, who has crashed the build, how long the testers have tested, etc.

A tester’s TestFlight workflow.

1. Install the TestFlight app via the app store (free)
2. Sign up / in
3. Accept any invitations to test (when you accept the invitation, the developer is given your UDID)
4. Receive notifications for new builds
5. Touch install

Hockey

From what I’ve seen, Andreas Linde looks to have been the first to discuss his over the air beta framework “Hockey” just about two weeks ago ( which I had linked to then). I’m assuming that put the pressure on others who were doing the same, causing this deluge of over the air iOS beta tools to launch.

A week after his initial announcement, he formally launched Hockey as an open source iOS framework:

Before Hockey, developers needed to inform the testers, give them a link to download the binary, instruct them how to add the files to iTunes, connect the device, sync, and if it didn’t work, start all over again.

…

With Hockey, this is all history, as long as the beta tester has iOS 4 installed on the device. The beta application can be installed by clicking on a link on a webpage and the application will notify the user automatically when it starts, if there is an update available and the user can install it from within the application. Wherever they are and whenever they want. No iTunes required, in fact, not even a computer is required any more! All that is required, is a webserver and some simple code to be integrated.

iOS Beta Builder

Finally, there’s iOS Beta Builder, a Mac-powered app. iOS Beta Builder is, “a simple MacOS X app takes your archived IPA file and creates the required manifest and HTML files for wireless distribution. It even zips up a copy of the app for folks on 3.x that need to install via iTunes.”

Since all of the over the air tools require iOS 4, it’s nice that iOS Beta Builder also provides a version for those still running on 3.x.

Concluding Note

These are exciting updates and invaluable tools/frameworks for iOS developers. It at least appears that Hockey and iOS Beta Builder are open source, while I’d guess that TestFlight will probably have some sort of cost. But with the additional tools TestFlight might offer (e.g., collection of UDIDs and feedback), it would be well worth the investment to run a much smoother and more insightful iOS beta program. Note that it’s also likely that Apple will release similar tools / frameworks in the future…in the meantime, definitely take advantage of these options.

Mobile a Moving Target in 2010

As a speaker for Digital East, I was interviewed by Tech Journal South about mobile and native mobile apps specifically.:

“They’re looking at this year and asking how will it lead me into next year,” he says. Some firms are willing to throw some money at mobile this year, but don’t really expect much to start happening until 2011.

“Mobile is such a moving target this year,” he explains. “Tablet devices have been touted for some time as the ‘Next Big Thing,’ but didn’t really materialize until Apple introduced the iPad.”

Android device makers are very active and is surpassing Apple in the number of devices using the Google operating system and shipping daily.

So, he says, “People are just trying to keep up with what’s happening. They’re not sure if things will change drastically again this year. They want to be leaders, but they don’t want to over or under invest in something they don’t completely understand.”

Yarmosh says he sees a lot of indications that tablet computing and apps are becoming important this year. “I have my iPad with me in every meeting and that’s the only thing they’ll want to talk about.”

Terminology for iPhone

August 30, 2010

In my opinion, there’s no longer a missing dictionary app for the iPhone. Agile Tortoise’s Terminology—first launched on the iPad—is now available for the iPhone at an extremely affordable launch price of $0.99. It’s homescreen worthy.

About Android Being Open

August 23, 2010

Jason Hiner on Android’s “dirty little secret.” Nuff said…it’s also why I bought a Nexus One directly from Google:

Just as Google is overwhelming the iPhone with over 20 Android handsets to Apple’s one device, so the army of Android phones that can be carrier-modified is overwhelming the one Apple phone on a single carrier that allows it to stand apart and not play the old carrier-dominated game that resulted in strong handsets weakened by the design, software, and pricing ploys of the telecoms.

Over the Air Updates for iOS Beta Apps

August 16, 2010

Andreas Linde (@therealkerni) demos an open source framework he’s working on that will allow new versions of beta iOS apps to be updated when they are opened. Looks great.

Think First, Code Later

I’ve submitted a magical and revolutionary panel to SXSW ’11 in the Interactive track and need your vote. The focus will be on the strategy aspects of iOS application development. Here’s the description:

Before a single pixel is created, a line of code is written, or a marketing plan is conceived, a prospective app should be looked at strategically. Questions like, “What devices should be targeted?,” “Which category provides the best opportunity for success?,” or “How much will this app cost?,” can have direct impacts on the actual development process. This panel will explore the often overlooked, assumed, or ignored product strategy aspects of application development, describing them conceptually while showing them in practice for successful apps on the App Store.

Focusing on the strategic (and not the development) elements of Apple’s App Store ecosystem is what makes it revolutionary. The magical part is who will be on the panel (with me moderating):

Phill Ryu, partner at taptaptap
http://twitter.com/phillryu
http://taptaptap.com

David Barnard, founder of AppCubby
http://appcubby.com/
http://twitter.com/drbarnard

Natalia Luckyanova, co-founder of Imangi Studios
http://twitter.com/nattylux
http://www.imangistudios.com/

Chris Brown, co-founder of TapMetrics/senior engineer at Millennial Media
http://twitter.com/chriskbrown
http://tapmetrics.com/

Five Ways to Build Interest for Your App Through Sneak Peeks

August 10, 2010

One of the best ways to generate interest for an app before it’s launched is to release sneak peeks of what’s in progress. A sneak peek can include any aspect of the application. For example, it might be a a landing page that communicates the branding of the app, a crop or full screen of an element of the app, a short video preview, or even a feature list.

For the accomplished developer, the motivation behind sneak peeks may seem straightforward or intuitive but many devs don’t bother with them. As mentioned above, because of the anticipation and community support that a sneak peek creates, those that use them increase the probability of launching a successful application. Here are some tips and examples of how to do a successful sneak peek:

1) Build a Killer Splash Page

Something as simple as a splash page can be the earliest way to do a sneak peek. A splash page can showcase colors, branding, and the overall style of the app. An additional benefit of a splash page is that it can be used to gauge whether there is even any interest in the purpose or the functionality of the app before it is even built.

Tapmates’ Screenport – http://screenportapp.com/

2) Share Images on Community-Driven Sites like Dribbble, Forrst, or Ember

The design community has really come alive on sites like Dribbble, Forrst, Ember, and comparable outlets. These sites are specifically built to share sneak peeks. Perhaps more importantly, however, is that they also represent free places to get extremely quality feedback from the best in the business. There’s no better way to generate interest in an app by having peers and potential customers actually influencing the final product.

Oliver Reichenstein’s Dribbble icon shots for the upcoming Text Machine -

http://dribbble.com/players/iaInc

3) Create an Interesting Video Preview

It’s not necessary to be a professional videographer to develop a good video preview of an in progress app. In fact, simple is better. Showcase the key features of an app and include some upbeat background music or interesting narrative. Remember, what you want to highlight is the promise of the app. The actual app does not need to be completed at this point.

Preview of Prizmo for iPhone - http://www.creaceed.com/weblog/prizmo-previewmovie.html

4) Don’t Underestimate the Power of Text

Text alone may not provide a compelling sneak peek. But, when combined with a visual, it can be extremely powerful and should not be overlooked. Developers sometimes even post entire app descriptions, asking for feedback on them, before the apps are even submitted.

App Description Preview for PlainText -

http://blog.hogbaysoftware.com/post/910981376/plaintext-itunes-copy-text

5) Take Advantage of Your Networks

While some of these outlets are based around networks, don’t forget to share sneak peeks with existing social media outlets like Twitter, websites or blogs, or even e-mail newsletters. Take advantage of all networks available and target different types of audiences with these sneak peeks, to get broader perspectives and generate more interest.

If you found this information useful, then you’ll love my book App Savvy: Turning Ideas into iPhone and iPad Apps Customers Really Want (O’Reilly). Check out App Savvy or order it now on Amazon.com.

Older Articles

TestFlight

Hockey

iOS Beta Builder

Concluding Note

About Ken Yarmosh