How to find beta testers for your app

Beta options side by side

From Apple’s TestFlight page and Google Play Console help.

Start with the people who already care

The best first testers are people who have the problem your app solves and told you so: a waitlist, followers who replied to a post, people in a community where you have been helping, friends who fit the audience. Ask them directly and personally before you post a public link. A few testers who use the app for its real job tell you more than many who open it once.

iOS: a TestFlight public link

In TestFlight you can add up to 100 internal testers from your team and invite up to 10,000 external testers. For outsiders, create a group in App Store Connect, add a build, and fill in the beta app description and beta review information; the first build has to be approved by App Review for TestFlight, and later builds go to review automatically when you add them to a group. Then invite by email, or turn on a public link you can post anywhere. Testers install through the TestFlight app and can use your builds on up to 30 devices.

Android: closed tests with a Google Group, or an open test

Google Play has three testing tracks. Internal testing takes up to 100 testers by email. Closed testing takes email lists or a Google Group: only members of the group can join, so anyone who joins the group can then opt in, which is the simplest way to grow a closed test without editing lists. Open testing lets anyone join; for a new app with no production version, people can even find the open test through Google Play search, and you can leave it unlimited or cap it at 1,000 or more. Each tester opts in once through the link you share. If your personal developer account was created after 13 November 2023, a closed test with at least 12 testers opted in for 14 days in a row is required before you can publish, so start recruiting before you need them; the details and the production access form are in Google Play’s 12 testers for 14 days rule.

Where to share the invite

Post the link where your future users already are, not only where other makers are: communities around the problem your app solves, with their self-promotion rules read first. Maker communities and launch sites help too, especially early. From our check of live listing pages, BetaList lists early-stage products but its visit button goes through its own redirect, and Indie Hackers product pages link out with nofollow, which passes no ranking signal but sits next to the founder’s posts where readers do click. The full checked list, with the link type each site gives, is in our guide to free app promotion sites.

Collect feedback you can act on

On Google Play, testers cannot leave public reviews for test versions, so give them a channel: the feedback URL or email you set on the track shows on the tester opt-in page, and open and closed testers can also send private feedback through Google Play. On iOS, testers send feedback through TestFlight. Ask each tester one or two concrete questions, such as what they tried to do first and where they stopped, instead of “any thoughts?”. When a tester goes quiet, that is data too.

From testers to first users

Testers who stay are your first users and often your first reviewers once the app is live. Before launch day, set up a pre-order on the App Store or pre-registration on Google Play so the people you reached can get the app the moment it ships; our app launch checklist covers both, along with review and staged rollouts. Get the store page ready with the ASO checklist.

Where Censuus fits

Censuus ranks apps by the visits they draw and by sponsorship. Once your app is in a store, adding it is free on the List my app form, and it can rise on the visits it earns. Sponsorship raises placement and adds a followed link to your website; the details are on the sponsor page. We do not promise testers, downloads or rankings in the stores.

Guides for app developers

• App launch checklist: iOS and Android, step by step
• TestFlight public link: set it up, limit it, and fix it when it does not work
• Google Play’s 12 testers for 14 days rule, explained
• How to get the first users for your app
• How to get more app reviews without breaking the store rules
• Free app promotion sites, checked for dofollow