📱 Building a test version (Android)
Before publishing your app in the stores, try it on your phone. The test version is an Android file you install yourself and can share with a few friends.
Start the build
- Admin → Your site → App, Build and publish section.
- Check the Version (for example
1.0.0). Raise it for each new version (1.0.1,1.1.0…). - Tap the green Build a test version (Android) button.
Trinity Host builds your app on Expo's cloud. Nothing to install on your computer.
How long?
Usually 15 to 40 minutes. A card shows where it's at: Waiting → Building → Ready, and how long ago it started. The page refreshes by itself.
You can close the page. When it's done:
- a note lands in your Messages (Trinity tab);
- you get an email;
- App lights up in the left menu: green ✓ when it's ready, red ! if it didn't work. The light goes off when you open App.
When it's ready
A green Your test app is ready! card appears with the Install on your phone button. That link works for your friends too: send it to them so they can try the app. See the guide "Installing the test version on an Android phone".
If it didn't work
A red card explains what happened. Nothing was published. Tap Try again: most failures go through on the second try. If it happens again, ask Coach Trinity or write to support with the message shown.
What about iPhone?
Apple doesn't allow installing a file the way Android does. iPhone tests go through TestFlight, Apple's testing app, once your Apple developer account is ready (see "Publishing in Google Play and the App Store").