Find and Share Test Builds Faster and More Securely: Introducing New Artifact and Private Install Pages

Find test builds faster, share them more securely. For testers, finding your latest test build to quickly validate recent changes is usually straightforward. Click-click and voila! However, locating an older test build from a couple of weeks ago can be a real challenge, especially if your team runs hundreds of CI builds each day.

Scrolling through hundreds of CI builds takes a lot of time and unnecessary frustration.
Especially, that you don't care about the CI build itself, just the generated test build.

So why not have a list, where you can find all the test builds in one place?

Introducing the Artifact Page

To streamline this process, we're excited to introduce a centralized page for installable artifacts. Each of your Bitrise apps now features a new Artifact page, where you can easily find all the IPA, APK, and AAB files generated in any of the CI builds for that app.

What you can do on the Artifact page

On the Artifact page, you will see all the installable artifacts of your Bitrise app along with their details and the CI build that generated them. You can:

• Download or install the artifact directly from the list.
• View more details about the artifact on its details page.
• Access the private install page for secure distribution.

Introducing the Private Install page

Previously, you could generate a Public Install page for each APK and IPA, which could be shared with testers without any authorization. This was useful for external testers or those without a Bitrise account. The Public Install page could be easily shared via Slack, Teams, or email, thanks to the BITRISE_PUBLIC_INSTALL_PAGE_URL and BITRISE_PUBLIC_INSTALL_PAGE_URL_MAP environment variables exported by the Deploy to Bitrise.io Step.

However, there are situations where you need a more secure, restricted distribution method. With the new Artifact details page generated for any IPA, APK, or AAB, you now also have a Private install page. This page requires a Bitrise login, ensuring that only authorized personnel can access and install the artifact.

How it works

The Deploy to Bitrise.io Step (version 2.8.0 and above) now generates two new environment variables:

• BITRISE_ARTIFACT_DETAILS_PAGE_URL: Contains the details page URL of the CI build's first installable artifact (IPA, APK, AAB).
• BITRISE_ARTIFACT_DETAILS_PAGE_URL_MAP: Contains the details page URLs of all installable artifacts (IPA, APK, AAB) of the CI build in a map.

Alternatively, you can access an installable artifact’s details page from the CI build/artifact tab or the Artifact page.

Here's a quick video on adding a button to your Slack message that points to the Artifact page.

What’s coming next

In Q3, we’ll be introducing new and improved ways to share test builds with your testers and to use Bitrise’s app distribution system with other, external CI systems. Upcoming features include:

• Option to use Release Management with external CI.
• Option to use Bitrise beta distribution (OTA) with external CI.
• Tester group management for beta distribution.

Stay tuned for these updates.

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