Beta iOS App with Testflight

Question

I’m sent the first version of a app to the Apple Store, however, before shipping to production, I will make available first to Beta Testers.

Currently, the status for External Testing is:

Waiting for Beta App Review

And the status for Apple Store is:

Prepare for Submission

My doubts are:

1. I need to submit to Apple Store to release the beta version?
2. Beta analysis is as rigorous as the production version (Apple Store)?
3. The approval period is the same for Beta and Production?

Answer 1

Need to submit to Apple Store to release beta?

It is not necessary, they are two different processes, because you will want to really test before sending a final version to the store. Then you can submit to test as many times as necessary before submitting a final version.

Beta analysis is as rigorous as the production version (Apple Store)?

The rigour is the same, since the version for Testflight must follow the even Guideline review. But in this case, you can explicitly indicate that it is a beta, demo, test, etc. In a production version, if any of these indications are in your application, it will be rejected.

The approval period is the same for Beta and Production?

The approval period is shorter, around 48 hours and a trial version is available by 30 days.

Remembering that there are two ways to perform these tests:

• For users interns you do not need to submit for beta review, these are the users of the iTunnes Connect, that has any of the 3 access permissions to your app. Up to 25 users.
• Users outsiders are those who are not part of your team and do not have access to iTunes Connect. Up to 1000 users.

For both cases, you need to register them beforehand and they received an email to activate the first time. From there, the application itself Testflight will notify each new version.