One of the more challenging things in creating iOS applications is the whole provisioning and deployment process.  This becomes especially true during beta testing of your application using Ad-Hoc distribution.

The process is something like this:

1. Gather all the UDIDs from your test subjects
2. Enter these into the iOS Provisioning Portal
3. Create a distribution certificate (if you haven’t already)
4. Create an Ad-Hoc provisioning profile
5. Download the profile and certificate
6. Configure and build your app signing with these credentials

Then, your testers need to get the application and install it.  Generally like this:

1. Email the testers the provisioning profile and app bundle
2. The tester need to drag both to iTunes (or Organizer) and then tether and sync

This makes it a little cumbersome for most testers and difficult for non-tech savvy users.  One could post the app bundle to a website with a manifest and then create a launch page (like an internal app store) and then notify the users.  This is where Test Flight (www.testflightapp.com) comes in … managing the web-delivery of your application in a really easy-to-use process.

Remembering the above, now I do this:

1. (optional) Ask your test users to register their devices
2. (optional) Create a team out of these testers and download their device IDs
3. (optional) Upload all of these device IDs at one time to the Provisioning Portal
4. Follow the same process as above to create a provisioning profile and build
5. Now upload the IPA bundle to Test Flight and I am done

At this point, the testers can receive a notification of the new build (and subsequent builds) and simply visit Test Flight on their device.  They will be able to install your beta app straight from the browser.  Further, I can report on who has installed the app and who has not.

All this and the website has a nice easy to use design on top of that!