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Installing an app on a test device with Ship

Abstract

You can install an app from Ship, either by using the public install page option, or by logging in to Ship from the device itself and install it there.

To install an app on a device using Ship, there are two options:

  • Send either the public install page link or a QR code that takes you to the public install page when scanned to all the testers and other stakeholders.

  • Log in to Ship from the device and install it directly from there.

Accessing the public install page in Ship

To send the public install page link or the QR code to your stakeholders:

Artifact types

The public install page is not available for all type of artifacts.

  • For iOS, it’s only available if your app is signed with a Debug, Development or Ad-hoc type provisioning profile.

  • For Android, it’s only available if your Workflow builds an APK which is NOT split or if it builds a universal APK which is split. For AABs, there will be no public install page link.

  1. Make sure you have a Deploy to Bitrise.io Step in your Workflow that builds the installable file.

  2. Make sure that the Enable public page for the App? input of the Step is set to true.

  3. Log in to Ship.

  4. Expose the Workflow and run a build on Bitrise.

  5. Go back to Ship. Open the Details page of your app’s chosen build version.

  6. On the right, find the Public Install Page link or the QR code.

    public-install-link.png

  7. Copy the one you need and send it to the stakeholders (by email, for example).

Installing directly from Ship

To install an app to a registered device directly from Ship:

  1. Build your app on Bitrise.

  2. Log in to Ship from a supported device.

    Click on the Devices tab to find out if a given device is registered. Read our guide on how to register your devices on Bitrise.

  3. Under the name of the app, find and click the Install button.

In this section:

An app on Bitrise represents a Git repository that stores source code and has been connected to Bitrise to be able to run builds on it. As such, a Bitrise app isn't necessarily an actual application: it's just the code on which you run builds with Bitrise.

A Step is a block of script execution that encapsulates a build task on Bitrise: the code to perform that task, the inputs and parameters you can define for the task, and the outputs the task generates.

A Workflow is a collection of Steps, Environment Variables, and other configurations. When Bitrise starts a build, it runs one or more Workflows according to the configuration defined in the bitrise.yml file.