Distribute a Mendix Native App with Appcircle

Introduction

Once you have built your Mendix native app with Appcircle, you can distribute it to testers using Appcircle's built-in Testing Distribution module. This lets you share builds with QA teams or stakeholders without going through the App Store or Google Play, making it useful for internal reviews and beta testing.

Prerequisites

Before starting this guide, make sure you have completed the following prerequisites:

• Set up a build profile and built your app by following Build a Mendix Native App with Appcircle

Create a Distribution Profile

To create a testing distribution profile, do the following:

1. Go to the Testing Distribution module from the left navigation menu.
2. Click Add New to create a distribution profile.
3. Give the profile a name and save it.

Link Distribution to Your Build Profile

To automatically send builds to your testing distribution profile after a successful build, do the following:

1. Open the build profile in the Build module and click the gear icon to open Build Configuration settings.
2. Navigate to the Distribution tab (next to the Signing and Triggers tabs).
3. Enable the Auto Distribute toggle (recommended if you have regular testers) in the Automatically Distribute to Testers, if you want every successful build to be sent to testers automatically. If disabled, you will need to manually send builds from the build profile after they complete.
4. After enabling the Auto Distribute toggle, select the distribution profile you created from the dropdown.
5. Save the configuration.

With Auto Distribute enabled, every successful build will be sent to your distribution profile and testers will be notified automatically without any manual steps.

Distribute Build to Testers

After a build is distributed to the testing distribution profile, you can share it with testers. Appcircle provides 2 different distribution method here. Manuel and Automatic.

For Automatic Distribution

Appcircle can send binary automatically to testers. To enable this feature, you should have testing groups and enabled the automatically distribute and select testing groups:

1. Open your distribution profile in the Testing Distribution module.

2. Navigate to Testing Groups section on the left panel.

3. Add a new group, and add email addresses for this group:

   

4. After that, go to the Testing Distribution profile and open the settings from the 3 dots icon at the top-right of screen.

5. Navigate to the Auto Send tab in the opened modal, then select the group that you want to distribute binary automatically:

   

For Manuel Distribution

Appcircle can send binary manually to testers. To use this feature, you can use the Share With Testers option of distribution profile. You can send binary to testers one by one, or select a group:

1. Open your distribution profile in the Testing Distribution module.

2. Click the Share with Testers button (on the right side):

   

3. Give an email address or select a testing group to able to send a binary.

4. Click the Next button, and then send the binary to testers:

   

Testers will receive an email notification containing the following information:

• The app name and version number
• Release notes (if you added any)
• A secure download link
• Installation instructions for their device

When testers click the link, they will be directed to the testing portal to able to download binary where they can do the following depending on their platform:

• iOS: Download and install the app directly (for Ad Hoc or Enterprise provisioned apps). If using an Ad Hoc profile, their device UDID must be included in the provisioning profile.
• Android: Download the APK and install it. They may need to enable Install from Unknown Sources in their device settings.

For more details on managing testers, configuring authentication for download links, and other distribution options, see Appcircle's Testing Distribution documentation.

Testing Portal

All application versions distributed via Appcircle’s Testing Distribution module are accessible through a single centralized portal. Users can directly access all available versions and their associated information (such as release notes, branches, commits, etc.). Through the portal, users can also access past versions and easily view the differences between them.

Read More

• Build a Mendix Native App with Appcircle
• Publish a Mendix Native App with Appcircle