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    Notify testers about new builds


    The optional Firebase App Distribution iOS and Android SDKs let you display in-app alerts to your testers when new builds of your app are available to install. This guide explains how to use the App Distribution iOS and Android SDKs to create and customize new build alerts for your testers.

    Before you begin

    If you haven't already, add Firebase to your iOS project .

    Step 1: Enable the App Distribution Tester API

    1. Select your project in the Google Cloud console .

    2. Under Firebase App Testers API, click Enable.

    Step 2: Add App Distribution to your app

    1. Open the Podfile you created for the project (or run pod init to create one), then add the following line inside the target section:

      pod 'FirebaseAppDistribution'

    2. In the directory of your podfile, run pod install , then open the created .xcworkspace file.

    3. Import the Firebase module in your App struct or UIApplicationDelegate :

      Swift

        import 
  
 FirebaseCore 
 import 
  
 FirebaseAppDistribution

      Objective-C

        @import 
  
 FirebaseCore 
 ; 
 @import 
  
 FirebaseAppDistribution 
 ;

    4. Configure a FirebaseApp shared instance in your app delegate's application(_:didFinishLaunchingWithOptions:) method:

      Swift

        // Use Firebase library to configure APIs 
 FirebaseApp 
 . 
 configure 
 ()

      Objective-C

        // Use Firebase library to configure APIs 
 [ 
 FIRApp 
  
 configure 
 ];

    5. If swizzling is disabled, pass any opened URLs to the App Distribution SDK in your implementation of application(_:open:options:) :

      Swift

        func 
  
 application 
 ( 
 _ 
  
 app 
 : 
  
 UIApplication 
 , 
  
  
 open 
  
 url 
 : 
  
 URL 
 , 
  
 options 
 : 
  
 [ 
 UIApplication 
 . 
 OpenURLOptionsKey 
  
 : 
  
 Any 
 ] 
  
 = 
  
 [:]) 
  
 - 
>  
 Bool 
  
 { 
  
 if 
  
 AppDistribution 
 . 
 appDistribution 
 (). 
 application 
 ( 
 application 
 , 
  
 open 
 : 
  
 url 
 , 
  
 options 
 : 
  
 options 
 ) 
  
 { 
  
 return 
  
 true 
  
 } 
  
 // Handle other non-Firebase URLs here. 
  
 return 
  
 false 
 }

      Objective-C

        - 
 ( 
 BOOL 
 ) 
 application: 
 ( 
 UIApplication 
  
 * 
 ) 
 app 
  
  
 openURL 
 :( 
 NSURL 
  
 * 
 ) 
 url 
  
  
 options 
 :( 
 NSDictionary<UIApplicationOpenURLOptionsKey 
 , 
  
 id 
>  
 * 
 ) 
 options 
  
 { 
  
 if 
  
 ([[ 
 FIRAppDistribution 
  
 appDistribution 
 ] 
  
 application 
 : 
 app 
  
 openURL 
 : 
 url 
  
 options 
 : 
 options 
 ]) 
  
 { 
  
 return 
  
 YES 
 ; 
  
 } 
  
 // Handle other non-Firebase URLs here. 
  
 return 
  
 NO 
 ; 
 }

    6. Finally, recompile your app.

    Step 3: Configure in-app alerts

    The App Distribution SDK provides two ways of setting up in-app build alerts for your testers: a basic alert configuration, which comes with pre-built app update and sign-in dialogues to display to testers, and an advanced alert configuration, which allows you to customize your own user interface. We recommend first using the basic alert configuration if you're new to the App Distribution SDK.

    Basic configuration

    Use checkForUpdate to display a pre-built enable alerts dialogue to testers who haven't yet enabled alerts, and then check if a new build is available. When called, the method enacts the following sequence:

    1. Checks if a tester has enabled alerts by prompting them to sign into App Distribution with their Google account.

    2. If the tester has not yet enabled alerts, displays a pre-built dialogue.

      Enabling alerts is a one-time process on the test device and persists across updates of your app. Alerts remain enabled on the test device until either the app is uninstalled, or until the signOutTester method is called. See the method's reference documentation ( Swift or Objective-C ) for more information.

    3. Checks for newly available builds for the tester to install.

    You can invoke checkForUpdate() at any point in your app. For example, you can prompt your testers to install newly available builds at startup by including checkForUpdate() in the onAppear(perform:) of your app's root view.

    The following example checks whether or not the tester has enabled alerts and has access to a new build, and if so, displays a dialogue when the build is available to install:

    Swift

    Note: This product is not available on macOS, Mac Catalyst, tvOS or watchOS targets.
      AppDistribution 
 . 
 appDistribution 
 (). 
 checkForUpdate 
 ( 
 completion 
 : 
  
 { 
  
 release 
 , 
  
 error 
  
 in 
  
 if 
  
 error 
  
 != 
  
 nil 
  
 { 
  
 // Handle error 
  
 return 
  
 } 
  
 guard 
  
 let 
  
 release 
  
 = 
  
 release 
  
 else 
  
 { 
  
 return 
  
 } 
  
 // Customize your alerts here. 
  
 let 
  
 title 
  
 = 
  
 "New Version Available" 
  
 let 
  
 message 
  
 = 
  
 "Version 
 \( 
 release 
 . 
 displayVersion 
 ) 
 ( 
 \( 
 release 
 . 
 buildVersion 
 ) 
 ) is available." 
  
 let 
  
 uialert 
  
 = 
  
 UIAlertController 
 ( 
 title 
 : 
  
 title 
 , 
 message 
 : 
  
 message 
 , 
  
 preferredStyle 
 : 
  
 . 
 alert 
 ) 
  
 uialert 
 . 
 addAction 
 ( 
 UIAlertAction 
 ( 
 title 
 : 
  
 "Update" 
 , 
  
 style 
 : 
  
 UIAlertAction 
 . 
 Style 
 . 
 default 
 ) 
  
 { 
  
 _ 
  
 in 
  
 UIApplication 
 . 
 shared 
 . 
 open 
 ( 
 release 
 . 
 downloadURL 
 ) 
  
 }) 
  
 uialert 
 . 
 addAction 
 ( 
 UIAlertAction 
 ( 
 title 
 : 
  
 "Cancel" 
 , 
  
 style 
 : 
  
 UIAlertAction 
 . 
 Style 
 . 
 cancel 
 ) 
  
 { 
  
 _ 
  
 in 
  
 }) 
  
 // self should be a UIViewController. 
  
 self 
 . 
 present 
 ( 
 uialert 
 , 
  
 animated 
 : 
  
 true 
 , 
  
 completion 
 : 
  
 nil 
 ) 
 })

    Objective-C

    Note: This product is not available on macOS, Mac Catalyst, tvOS or watchOS targets.
      [[ 
 FIRAppDistribution 
  
 appDistribution 
 ] 
  
 checkForUpdateWithCompletion 
 : 
 ^ 
 ( 
 FIRAppDistributionRelease 
  
 * 
 _Nullable 
  
 release 
 , 
  
 NSError 
  
 * 
 _Nullable 
  
 error 
 ) 
  
 { 
  
 if 
  
 ( 
 error 
 ) 
  
 { 
  
 // Handle error 
  
 return 
 ; 
  
 } 
  
 if 
  
 ( 
 release 
 ) 
  
 { 
  
 UIAlertController 
  
 * 
 alert 
  
 = 
  
 [ 
 UIAlertController 
  
 alertControllerWithTitle 
 : 
 @"New Version Available" 
 message 
 :[ 
 NSString 
  
 stringWithFormat 
 : 
 @"Version %@ (%@) is available." 
 , 
  
 release 
 . 
 displayVersion 
 , 
 release 
 . 
 buildVersion 
 ] 
  
 preferredStyle 
 : 
 UIAlertControllerStyleAlert 
 ]; 
  
 UIAlertAction 
  
 * 
 updateAction 
  
 = 
  
 [ 
 UIAlertAction 
  
 actionWithTitle 
 : 
 @"Update" 
 style 
 : 
 UIAlertActionStyleDefault 
  
 handler 
 :^ 
 ( 
 UIAlertAction 
  
 * 
 action 
 ) 
  
 { 
  
 [[ 
 UIApplication 
  
 sharedApplication 
 ] 
  
 openURL 
 : 
 release 
 . 
 downloadURL 
  
 options 
 : 
 @{} 
 completionHandler 
 : 
 nil 
 ]; 
  
 }]; 
  
 UIAlertAction 
  
 * 
 cancelAction 
  
 = 
  
 [ 
 UIAlertAction 
  
 actionWithTitle 
 : 
 @"Cancel" 
 style 
 : 
 UIAlertActionStyleCancel 
  
 handler 
 :^ 
 ( 
 UIAlertAction 
  
 * 
 action 
 ) 
  
 {}]; 
  
 [ 
 alert 
  
 addAction 
 : 
 updateAction 
 ]; 
  
 [ 
 alert 
  
 addAction 
 : 
 cancelAction 
 ]; 
  
 [ 
 self 
  
 presentViewController 
 : 
 alert 
  
 animated 
 : 
 YES 
  
 completion 
 : 
 nil 
 ]; 
  
 } 
 }];

    Advanced configuration

    The methods signInTester() and isTesterSignedIn give you more flexibility customizing your tester's sign-in experience, so it can better match your app's look and feel.

    The following example checks whether the tester has already signed into their Firebase App Distribution tester account, so you can choose to display your sign-in UI only for testers who haven't yet signed in. After the tester has signed in, you can then call checkForUpdate() to check whether the tester has access to a new build.

    Swift

    Note: This product is not available on macOS, Mac Catalyst, tvOS or watchOS targets.
      // Sign in a tester without automatically checking for update 
 if 
  
 ( 
 ! 
 AppDistribution 
 . 
 appDistribution 
 (). 
 isTesterSignedIn 
 ) 
  
 { 
  
 AppDistribution 
 . 
 appDistribution 
 (). 
 signInTester 
  
 ( 
 completion 
 : 
  
 { 
  
 error 
  
 in 
  
 // completion block for signInTester 
  
 if 
  
 ( 
 error 
  
 != 
  
 nil 
 ) 
  
 { 
  
 // handle failed sign in 
  
 return 
  
 } 
  
 // handle successful sign in 
  
 }) 
 } 
 // Only check for update if tester is already signed in - do not prompt 
 if 
  
 ( 
 AppDistribution 
 . 
 appDistribution 
 (). 
 isTesterSignedIn 
 ) 
  
 { 
  
 AppDistribution 
 . 
 appDistribution 
 (). 
 checkForUpdate 
 ( 
 completion 
 : 
  
 { 
  
 release 
 , 
  
 error 
  
 in 
  
 // completion block for check for update 
  
 }) 
 }

    Objective-C

    Note: This product is not available on macOS, Mac Catalyst, tvOS or watchOS targets.
      // Sign in a tester without automatically checking for update 
 if 
 ( 
 ! 
 [[ 
 FIRAppDistribution 
  
 appDistribution 
 ] 
  
 isTesterSignedIn 
 ]) 
  
 { 
  
 [[ 
 FIRAppDistribution 
  
 appDistribution 
 ] 
  
 signInTesterWithCompletion 
 : 
 ^ 
 ( 
 NSError 
  
 * 
 _Nullable 
  
 error 
 ) 
  
 { 
  
 // completion block for signInTester 
  
 if 
  
 ( 
 error 
 ) 
  
 { 
  
 // handle failed sign in 
  
 return 
 ; 
  
 } 
  
 // handle successful sign in 
  
 }]; 
 } 
 // only check for update if tester is already signed in - do not prompt 
 if 
 ([[ 
 FIRAppDistribution 
  
 appDistribution 
 ] 
  
 isTesterSignedIn 
 ]) 
  
 { 
  
 [[ 
 FIRAppDistribution 
  
 appDistribution 
 ] 
  
 checkForUpdateWithCompletion 
 : 
 ^ 
 ( 
 FIRAppDistributionRelease 
  
 * 
 _Nullable 
  
 release 
 , 
  
 NSError 
  
 * 
 _Nullable 
  
 error 
 ) 
  
 { 
  
 // completion block for check for update 
  
 }]; 
 }

    For information on additional methods, including signOutTester() , see the App Distribution reference documentation for Swift and Objective-C .

    Step 4: Build and test your implementation

    Finally, build your app and test your implementation by distributing the build to testers using the Firebase console.

    Visit the App Distribution Troubleshooting guide for help with common issues, such as:

    • Tester not receiving in-app alerts
    • Tester being prompted to sign in to Google more than once
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