Tomas Chlebek Apple in recent months buys regularly smaller technology companies, whose contribution it then implements in its development. The latest such acquisition was Burstly, which is known as the owner of the TestFlight testing platform.
This is used for beta testing of iOS applications. It gained popularity due to its ability to release early versions of apps to small groups without having to go through the App Store's approval process. It also allows you to have a good overview of what version of iOS their users have on their devices and possible reasons for application crashes, and is also a good means of testing the functionality of "in-app purchases" (payments within applications) and advertisements. In conjunction with Apple's acquisition of Burstly, TestFlight is announcing the end of support for Android, effective March 21st.
An Apple spokeswoman declined to disclose the reason for the acquisition, only for Re / code made a traditional line that is practically a confirmation of the acquisition by the Californian company: "Apple buys small technology companies from time to time, but we generally do not discuss our intentions and plans." Most likely, the acquisition of Burstly has something to do with Apple's tendency to streamline the work of iOS developers - let it be an example recent increase in promo codes from 50 to 100. The advantage of these is that they can be given to reviewers and testers before the app is released to the general public.
In general, Apple's previous support for app beta testing has been virtually non-existent, and developers have had to use third-party services such as HockeyApp or just TestFlight. In contrast, the Android platform is much more accommodating in this regard. For iOS developers, this means that Apple could introduce an official tool for the distribution of beta versions, which could perhaps be related to an increase in slots, at least for the purpose of beta testing. These are currently limited to 50 devices, which can be used up very quickly when testing universal applications for iPhone and iPad, for example.
