Microsoft retired Visual Studio App Center on March 31, 2025. Most of its distribution features have open replacements, but one of them was hard to find anywhere else: auto-provisioning. When a tester's iPhone joined, App Center registered its UDID in your Apple account, created a new provisioning profile and re-signed the build.
That's exactly what BuildFerry does.
What App Center users miss most
- New testers without a rebuild. Most hosting tools still need you to add the UDID, update the profile and export again.
- One link per app that always serves the newest build.
- No Mac in the loop for signing.
App Center Distribute and BuildFerry side by side
| App Center (retired) | BuildFerry | |
|---|---|---|
| Status | Retired on March 31, 2025 | Live |
| Collects UDIDs | Yes | Collected by a signed profile in Safari |
| Registers iPhones with Apple | Yes, with auto-provisioning | Yes, through your App Store Connect key |
| Re-signs for new iPhones | Yes | Yes, in the cloud |
| Approval before install | Groups and invites | You approve each iPhone (or auto-approve) |
| Android | Yes | No, iOS only |
| Builds in the cloud | Yes | No: your CI builds the .ipa |
| Upload from CI | Yes | GitHub Action, CLI and fastlane |
| Crash reports and analytics | Yes | Not yet |
Moving from App Center
- Create an App Store Connect API key with Admin access. Here's how.
- Connect it in BuildFerry. A distribution certificate is created for you.
- Upload the last .ipa you distributed through App Center.
- Send your testers the new share link. They allow a one-time profile and you approve each iPhone.
Devices you registered through App Center are already in your Apple account, so they still count toward your 100-device limit, and BuildFerry shows the exact number.
When something else is the better choice
- You need Android too: Firebase App Distribution or a hosting tool covers both platforms.
- You need builds in the cloud: a CI service such as Xcode Cloud, GitHub Actions or Bitrise builds the .ipa, and one more step sends it to BuildFerry. Set it up with GitHub Actions or with fastlane.
- You need crash reporting: pair BuildFerry with a crash reporter, or use TestFlight for larger betas.
Questions
What replaced App Center Distribute?
Microsoft pointed customers to Azure Pipelines for builds and BrowserStack for device testing, but has no direct successor for distributing test builds. For iOS, BuildFerry covers the part most teams miss: registering new iPhones and re-signing the build automatically.
When did App Center shut down?
Visual Studio App Center was retired on March 31, 2025. Its Analytics and Diagnostics features continued until June 30, 2026.
Does BuildFerry auto-provision iOS devices like App Center did?
Yes. Once you approve an iPhone, BuildFerry registers it with your Apple team through the App Store Connect API, updates the ad hoc profile and re-signs the build in the cloud.