Beta testers

September 5, 2013 12:59 PM

I'm in the process of finishing the first version of my iOS minimalist Foursquare app. I'm wondering what is the best way to get beta testers for my app. I simply need feedback and ideas for improvement/changes to the app. The app is currently not in the App Store, but I want to make sure I get everything right, just before iOS 7 hits. What is the best way to do so?
posted by antgly to Technology (12 answers total)

jobs.metafilter.com?

I've beta tested apps before, but since they weren't on the store, the dev just manually loaded it on my iDevice. So, maybe hit up your local friends?
posted by tilde at 1:02 PM on September 5, 2013

Mod note: Deleted the specifics. If you want to put the name/link in your profile, that's fine, but it can't be in the question.
posted by restless_nomad (staff) at 1:04 PM on September 5, 2013

You can try asking in the forums for Foursquare users or MacRumors' forums.
posted by ignignokt at 1:06 PM on September 5, 2013

Once you have the individuals located, the best way to get them prerelease copies of the app to try out is with a service like Test Flight.
posted by alms at 1:11 PM on September 5, 2013

If you are looking for iOS7 users now, you need people with dev accounts - so try posting in the developer forums?
posted by jacalata at 1:35 PM on September 5, 2013

I see that you already posted on /r/foursquare and /r/iphone/. You might also try /r/favors.
posted by Jacqueline at 2:18 PM on September 5, 2013

There is this service, which I have not used, which can be of some limited use for beta testing. To clarify, I know people who have used it, with some success, but again, it's not a complete test, since the app runs in a virtual environment.
posted by dfriedman at 2:32 PM on September 5, 2013

Seconding testflight. I've used it for a few apps. It's awesome. They provide a beta signup page you can send out to forums etc. You can also insert checkpoints, logs, etc into your app that testflight will monitor for you.
posted by meta87 at 2:47 PM on September 5, 2013

Oh and I'm not sure what you mean dfriedman about the app running in a virtual environment. The app is installed and runs like any other app. Testflight just makes it easier to get an ios device's id and send the build.
posted by meta87 at 4:39 PM on September 5, 2013

You can use TestFlight or other such apps, but as for finding people, how about friends, relatives, and colleagues/associates? And how about people on Metafilter?
posted by Dansaman at 10:03 PM on September 5, 2013

Line up Beta testers here.

That's the iOS branch of a forum that I post to. I don't post in iOS because I have a Windows Phone, but I know at the Windows Phone site developers routinely recruit Beta testers for their Win Phone apps.

You will get a more diverse crowd at iMore.com than you will by asking friends and relatives.
posted by Doohickie at 8:53 AM on September 6, 2013

My company has had good experience with (I think) user-testing.com.

The challenge, I think, will be getting users who can side-load an app, yet think like the average user - not a common combination.
posted by jander03 at 9:59 PM on September 9, 2013