Side by Side Install of Live and Beta with Apple TestFlight?

Question

With Apple's Test Flight, can I publish a Beta App for testers that has its own Bundle Id that is distinct from the live App Store App? This would allow it to be a side-by-side instal that doesn't interfere with the live App or share stored data.

(I'm pretty sure that this was possible with Test Flight before Apple's acquisition, but I wouldn't want to swear to it!).

Answer 1

Technically, this is possible.

In reality, it might depend on whether you are looking to distribute your build internally or externally.

Using the internal distribution with Apple's TestFlight, this should be no problem. You'll just need to create the new bundle id in the Developer Portal, a new Distribution Cert, a new Distribution Provisioning Profile, build your app with all this, and upload it to iTunes Connect, and distribute it.

Using the external distribution, it's also probably technically possible, though Apple's manual review of apps sent via external beta distribution might cause a problem. Apple may reject it.

Since nothing technically prevents this, I would give it a try and report back.