Publish an iOS package to TestFlight (External Testers)

Important

Visual Studio App Center is scheduled for retirement on March 31, 2025. While you can continue to use Visual Studio App Center until it is fully retired, there are several recommended alternatives that you may consider migrating to.

Learn more about support timelines and alternatives.

1. From the Stores home page, select the external group to distribute to.
2. Select Publish to Store in the upper-right corner.
3. At the first step of the wizard, you need to upload your .ipa file. After the file has been successfully uploaded, you'll see details, like icon and version. Select Next.
4. Enter release notes. Only plain text is supported and release notes must be longer than 10 characters. Select Next.
5. Select Publish. The status for this release on the store details page will show as Submitted. Submitted means that the .ipa has been delivered to App Store Connect for evaluation.
6. Once App Center has completed the hand-over of the app to App Store Connect, the status of the app changes to Published, and the app is available to download through Apple's TestFlight service.
7. If a failure occurs with publishing by Apple, the status will change to Failed with the appropriate error message.