App Center FAQ

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Product: campusM

FAQ
Known issues
- Compatibility with Safari on iOS
- Visual Studio App for Android devices
Useful links for testers

What is App Center?

Microsoft announced last year that HockeyApp will be replaced by App Center mid November 2019.

App Center provides the same functionally that was available with HockeyApp.

From November 2019 App Center will be the main service used for distributing campusM iOS and Android monthly releases to testers.

Will testers need to create a new account with App Center?

No - the same credentials used for HockeyApp will work for App Center.

Will testers need to be invited to test the apps again?

No - in App Center testers will have access to the same set of apps they had in HockeyApp.

Existing testers will not need to accept any invites to access their apps in App Center.

Will testers need to register their iOS devices with App Center again?

Yes - testers will need to register their iOS devices with App Center in order to be able to download new releases.

This will require installing the App Center Device Registration profile on to test devices. App Center will walk testers through this process after logging in to install.appcenter.ms on their device.

note: Android users will not need to register a device in order to access new releases.

Will testers need to provision their iOS devices again?

No - any existing iOS devices provisioned with Apple via HockeyApp will still continue to work with apps distributed through App Center.

How will new iOS devices be provisioned with Apple?

We will continue to use an automated process to check for un-provisioned devices - this process runs daily.

Support for individual notifications is available with App Center. This means the we will now be notifying each tester individually once provisioning is computed for a new iOS device.

Please contact support if a new iOS device registered with App Center has not been provisioned within 24hr.

When will the apps be moved to App Center?

We will be moving all campusM apps to App Center on Monday 11th November. This will be a few days before the HockeyApp end life date published by Microsoft (16th November 2019).

It may take up-to 48hrs for the move to be processed - we will notify everyone when the move has been completed.

After an app has been moved testers will be redirected to the correct place in App Center if it is accessed from HockeyApp .

Once an app is transferred to App Center all new release notification emails will be addressed from App Center.

Will the HockeyApp mobile app continue to work?

The mobile app has been updated by Microsoft to work with App Center and testers will be able to continue to use it to download new releases.

Can admins manage who their apps are distributed to in App Center?

Not right now but we are exploring this as an option in the future.

Known issues

Compatibility with Safari on iOS

If you experience difficulties accessing releases on iOS devices try switching to use Chrome.

Visual Studio App for Android devices

As of March 2021, the Visual Studio App Center is no longer available in the Google Play store. Google Play store considers the in-app update code as malicious behavior, even if it isn’t used at runtime, and there are no current plans to bring the app back to the Google Play store due to their policies.

The same set of functionality is still available via the App Center install portal at: https://install.appcenter.ms

Useful links for testers

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/appcenter/distribution/testers/
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/appcenter/distribution/testers/testing-ios
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/appcenter/distribution/testers/testing-android

Article last edited: 30-Oct-2019