Build it Beta for Windows and Windows Phone

Over the last couple of weeks we’ve done some major work to Build it Beta which will significantly improve and simplify the process of getting Build it Beta installed and setup across Windows and Windows Phone. If this is the first time you’ve heard of Build it Beta, it is a home-grown solution for the deployment of Windows platform applications. The primary scenario that Build it Beta solves, is the need for developers to deploy applications to testers so that they can provide feedback. It does this by leveraging the enterprise deployment capabilities of the Windows platform, where applications can be signed using a enterprise signing certificate and then deployed to devices that trust that certificate.

Supported platforms

The following Windows platforms are supported by Build it Beta for the installation of test applications.

Windows Phone 8.0
Windows Phone 8.1
Windows 8.1
Windows 10 (Phone and desktop)

Supported application platforms

Applications targeting the following platforms are supported by Build it Beta

Windows Phone 7.x (XAP)*
Windows Phone 8.0 (XAP)
Windows Phone 8.1 (XAP)
Windows Phone 8.1 (APPX)
Windows 8.0 (APPX)*
Windows 8.1 (APPX)
Windows 10 UAP (APPX)

*Build it Beta supports signing and deploying applications targeting Windows Phone 7.x and Windows 8.0. However, due to lack of enterprise distribution support in Windows Phone 7.x there is no way to deploy applications to those devices. Windows Phone 7.x applications can only be tested on Windows Phone 8+ devices. The Windows version of Build it Beta targets Windows 8.1 so there is no support for deploying to Windows 8.0 devices. Windows 8.0 applications need to be tested on Windows 8.1+.

Here are some useful links for getting started with Build it Beta

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