Part of: Online IPA Installer
Collect UDIDs from your testers
Send one link. The tester opens it on their iPhone, taps once, and the device identifier arrives in your dashboard, with the device name and model already attached. No cable, no Mac, no App Store download, and no account for them to create. When you have collected enough, export the list for Apple's Developer portal.
It is free on every BetaDrop plan, including the free one. Registering test devices is what makes ad-hoc iOS distribution possible at all, so it is not something we put behind a subscription.
Why Apple makes you do this
An ad-hoc build installs only on devices that were already named in the provisioning profile when the app was signed. Not devices you add later. Devices that were in the profile at signing time. So before a tester can install anything, you need a string off their hardware, and Apple caps the whole exercise at 100 devices per product family per membership year, with removed devices not freeing their slot until the yearly reset.
The traditional ways of getting that string all assume the tester is sitting at a computer with a cable: Finder on macOS, iTunes on Windows, or Xcode's Devices window. For a colleague at the next desk that is fine. For a client, a contractor or a beta group in another timezone it is the step where the week goes.
How UDID collection works
- 1. Send a link. From the Devices page, invite testers by email one at a time, or share a single open link that any number of people can use (useful when you do not know every address up front).
- 2. They tap once. The tester opens the link on the iPhone or iPad itself and approves a configuration profile. It is not an app and it does not stay: they can delete it immediately afterwards under Settings, General, VPN & Device Management.
- 3. Export for Apple. The device lands in your registry with its identifier, model and name. Export a CSV of
Device ID, Device Name, or a plain list of identifiers alone for a script or a Fastlane lane. Apple's Devices page takes them one at a time, or in bulk as a tab-delimited.txtthat adds a platform column, so convert the CSV before a bulk upload.
One thing that catches people after the portal step: registering a device does not retroactively bless a build. You still need to regenerate the provisioning profile and re-sign. See when you actually need to re-sign an IPA.
Two things to tell your testers first
Have them open it in Safari
Safari is the reliable route. Chrome, Firefox and Edge on iOS usually save the profile as a download instead of handing it to Settings, which looks like nothing happening, and an in-app browser (the one inside Instagram, LinkedIn, X, TikTok, Messenger or WeChat) blocks the profile prompt outright. Since you will almost certainly send the link through a messaging app, tapping it opens it inside that app's browser, where the capture quietly cannot start. Tell testers to hit the share or menu icon and choose Open in Safari.
The phone may make them wait an hour
Apple lists enrolling in Mobile Device Management among the actions Stolen Device Protection puts behind a Security Delay, and testers report this enrolment-style profile gets the same delay: two biometric checks, a full hour apart, before it will install. iOS 26.4 turned that feature on by default, so this is the normal path now rather than a rare one. The phone shows a security-delay notice and notifies them when the wait is over. Each check started from a collection link stays open for 90 minutes, so the same link still works on the far side of that hour. But a tester who was not warned reads the wait as a dead link and gives up.
Once the devices are registered
Add them in the Apple Developer portal, regenerate the profile, re-sign, and then upload the .ipa to get an install link your testers can open on the same phones they just registered. No TestFlight review, and nothing for them to install first — see how that compares to TestFlight.
Testers looking for their own device identifier rather than collecting other people's want the UDID checker; if a tester gets stuck part way through, send them help with reading a UDID.
Frequently asked questions
How do I get a UDID from a tester who isn't near a Mac?
Send them a collection link. They open it on the iPhone or iPad itself, tap once, approve a configuration profile, and the device identifier arrives in your dashboard with the device name and model already attached. Nothing is installed permanently, and the profile can be removed straight afterwards under Settings, General, VPN & Device Management. The older routes (Finder on macOS, iTunes on Windows, or reading it out of Xcode's Devices window) all assume the tester is sitting at a computer with a cable, which is the assumption that turns a five-minute task into a week of chasing.
My tester opened the link and nothing happened. Why?
Almost always the browser. Safari hands the profile straight to Settings; Chrome, Firefox and Edge on iOS usually save it as a download instead, which looks like nothing happening, and in-app browsers (Instagram, LinkedIn, X, TikTok, Messenger, WeChat) block the prompt outright. Tell the tester to tap the share or menu icon, choose Open in Safari, and start again from the same link.
My tester says the phone is making them wait an hour. Is it broken?
No, that is Apple's Stolen Device Protection. Apple lists enrolling in Mobile Device Management as a Security Delay action, and testers report that this enrolment-style profile gets the same treatment: two biometric checks a full hour apart, on by default since iOS 26.4. The phone notifies them when the wait ends, and the collection session stays valid for 90 minutes so the same link still works on the far side of the hour. Warn testers up front, or they read the wait as a dead link and give up.
What format do I need to add the devices to Apple's Developer portal?
Export straight from the dashboard. The CSV comes out with two columns, Device ID and Device Name. Apple's bulk upload on the Devices page takes a tab-delimited .txt (or a .deviceids file) with a third column for the platform, so convert the CSV before uploading it, or register the devices one at a time. The name falls back through your own label, the tester's name, then the device model, so no row arrives blank. There is also a plain-text export of the identifiers alone, one per line, for pasting into a script or a Fastlane lane. After the devices are registered in the portal you still need to regenerate the provisioning profile and re-sign the build: adding a device does not retroactively bless an .ipa that was signed before it.
How many devices can I collect?
The real ceiling is Apple's, not ours: 100 devices per product family per membership year, and removing a device does not give the slot back until the yearly reset. A BetaDrop account holds up to 1,000 devices and 200 open invites at once, roughly twice Apple's annual allowance. Those numbers exist to bound what a forwarded link can write into your account, not to ration the feature.
Does collecting UDIDs cost anything?
No, device collection is free on every plan, including the free one, and there is no per-device charge. That is deliberate: registering test devices is what makes ad-hoc iOS distribution possible at all, so putting it behind a subscription would paywall the step that lets someone try the product. What the plans change is distribution: how many devices can install one app over a rolling 30 days (10 on Free, 50 on Pro, unlimited on Studio), the monthly build download allowance (5 GB, 20 GB and 100 GB), how long build links live, storage and branding.
Is a UDID sensitive information?
It is a stable hardware identifier, so treat it as personal data belonging to the tester rather than as a throwaway string. It is what Apple matches against when deciding whether a build may install, which is the only reason to collect one. BetaDrop stores the identifier, the device model and a name against your account, and never returns an email address on the public collection routes. The token in a collection link gets forwarded, so those responses carry display names only. Testers can remove the configuration profile immediately after registering, and you can delete a device from the registry at any time.
