Enterprise in-house distribution for SIT and QA environment testing

Question

We use enterprise in-house distribution to distribute the Alpha builds of our mobile app to internal QA teams and to company employees that volunteered to test the builds. These are app instances that point to system integration test environment (SIT) or QA environment. Only devices that under MDM can connect to QA or devices in a private company network can do so.

with the custom apps now becoming the default distribution mechanism and enterprise becoming possible for cases that cannot be covered by custom apps per wwdc 2019 video on business apps,

1. can we continue using enterprise in-house distribution for the above case?

2. If we should move to testflight, we will need to distribute to external group as the 25 internal will not be enough for our test group. in that case would apple review allow us to distribute apps that link to internal environments for testing. In this case of course the final release candidate build will test against production and that's the one that will be released to production.

Thanks!

Enterprise

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Posted by

swiftBank

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Answer 1

Hello swiftBank,

This is a great question to post on here as it is something that Apple will need to consider as they continue to improve the developer experience for testing with large number of users for controlled applications such as yours pointing to internally protected environments.

Our organization currently has this approach with a large number of applications and environments due to certain Apple functionality only being available for real testing using an App Store signed application instead of an Enterprise signed application.

To answer your first question, there is nothing preventing you from continuing with your operations as is until Apple provides additional clarity on what will happen with the Enterprise program and what that means for regular developers. For example, MDM platforms still require an Enterprise certificate untill ABM and DEP are adopted widely across the globe so Apple will need to provide guidance or a timeline on when developers will be forced to change distribution models. Your model also sounds like it fits within the original Terms of the Enterprise Developer Agreement.

To answer the second question, I would recommend preparing yourself for TestFlight as certain functionality that provides additional security on the iOS platform simply does not exist for Enterprise Signed applications. If it is not possible for Apple to connect to your internal testing networks managed by your organization, then they will most likely ask for a video demonstrating the features of your application much like they do with Bluetooth applications. Apple does a great job working with developers on this and long as you are transparent with the App Review Team.

Best of luck and hopefully this helps!

Posted by

ChuckMN

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Answer 2

Hello swiftBank,

This is a great question to post on here as it is something that Apple will need to consider as they continue to improve the developer experience for testing with large number of users for controlled applications such as yours pointing to internally protected environments.

Our organization currently has this approach with a large number of applications and environments due to certain Apple functionality only being available for real testing using an App Store signed application instead of an Enterprise signed application.

To answer your first question, there is nothing preventing you from continuing with your operations as is until Apple provides additional clarity on what will happen with the Enterprise program and what that means for regular developers. For example, MDM platforms still require an Enterprise certificate untill ABM and DEP are adopted widely across the globe so Apple will need to provide guidance or a timeline on when developers will be forced to change distribution models. Your model also sounds like it fits within the original Terms of the Enterprise Developer Agreement.

To answer the second question, I would recommend preparing yourself for TestFlight as certain functionality that provides additional security on the iOS platform simply does not exist for Enterprise Signed applications. If it is not possible for Apple to connect to your internal testing networks managed by your organization, then they will most likely ask for a video demonstrating the features of your application much like they do with Bluetooth applications. Apple does a great job working with developers on this and long as you are transparent with the App Review Team.

Best of luck and hopefully this helps!

Posted by

ChuckMN

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Enterprise in-house distribution for SIT and QA environment testing

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