How to share an iPhone app only with your team or company: 5 ways (2026)

By Sigsten Gustavii· 3 September 2026· Updated 27 October 2026· 9 min read

Plenty of good apps are not meant for everyone. A stock count for one warehouse, a sales tool for a dealer network, a checklist for volunteers at one festival: each should reach a known group of people and nobody else. The public App Store is built for the opposite.

Apple has five official ways to share an iPhone app with a closed group, plus a sixth for very large companies. They differ in who can install, how many people, whether Apple reviews the app and how long it lasts. This guide compares them, then shows how to pick one and set it up.

The five ways at a glance

Every route except internal TestFlight needs the app to pass some form of review, and every route needs a paid Apple Developer Program membership, $99 a year. A free Apple ID only installs on your own devices, which is covered in our guide to sharing an app with friends.

1. TestFlight internal testing: your own team, today

Internal testers are people who already have a role on your App Store Connect team. You add them as team members, put them in an internal group, and assign a build. They install Apple's free TestFlight app, accept the invitation and download your app.

• Up to 100 internal testers, each a member of your App Store Connect team.
• No review. Apple only sends builds to its Beta App Review when they go to external testers.
• Automatic distribution: tick it on the group and each new build you upload is delivered to everyone in it.
• 90 days per build. After that the build stops opening, and you send a new one.

Internal testing suits a small company whose staff can be added to App Store Connect. Adding people gives them access to your developer account, so give each the narrowest role that works.

2. TestFlight external testing: a wider group, by link

External testers can be anyone with an email address: contractors, partners, volunteers, a client's staff. You create an external group and invite them by email, or switch on a public link that anyone can open to join, with an optional cap on how many can.

• Up to 10,000 external testers.
• Beta App Review: the initial build you add to an external group goes to Apple for review. Later builds may not need a full review.
• 90 days per build, as with internal testing.

TestFlight is designed for testing, so it works well for a pilot, a season or an event. For an app people rely on every day, the 90-day cycle means you keep sending fresh builds, and a permanent route below is a better home.

3. Unlisted App Store apps: private by link

An unlisted app is a normal App Store app that Apple hides from every list. It does not appear in categories, recommendations, charts or search results. People reach it only through its direct link, and through Apple Business and Apple School Manager. Apple's own examples are partner sales tools, employee resources and research studies.

1. Finish the app and submit it to App Review as usual, with a note in the Review Notes that it is meant for unlisted distribution.
2. Fill in Apple's unlisted app request form on the developer site.
3. Once Apple approves the request, the app's distribution method changes to Unlisted App, and you share its link with your group.

Anyone who has the link can download the app, so Apple suggests building a way to keep out people who should not use it. The usual answer is sign-in: only people with an account see anything inside. An app already on the App Store can also become unlisted, and keeps its existing link.

4. Custom apps through Apple Business

A custom app is made for specific organisations and is visible only to them. In App Store Connect, under Pricing and Availability, you set the distribution method to Private and name each organisation by its Organization ID from Apple Business or Apple School Manager. Apple Business is the service Apple called Apple Business Manager until this year.

Once App Review approves the app, it appears in the organisation's Custom Apps section, and its administrators hand it out to staff devices through mobile device management or redemption codes. Apple notes two points to plan for: the private option is only available before the app's initial approval, and if the app holds sensitive data you give App Review sample data and a way to sign in.

Custom apps fit a company with managed iPhones, or a developer building one app for several client businesses.

5. Ad Hoc distribution: registered devices only

Ad Hoc installs an app directly on devices whose identifiers you have registered in your developer account. Apple allows up to 100 devices per product family, per membership year, so 100 iPhones and 100 iPads. Removing a device mid-year does not give the slot back; the count resets at the start of a new membership year.

Ad Hoc needs no review, but every new phone means registering it and signing the app again. It suits a handful of fixed devices, such as tablets at a till or test phones, more than a team that changes.

And for large companies: the Enterprise Program

Apple's Developer Enterprise Program, USD 299 a year, lets organisations with 100 or more employees build and hand out apps strictly for internal use, without the App Store. It comes with a verification interview and ongoing checks. Apple itself says the standard Developer Program, with the routes above, is right for most organisations.

Which way should you choose?

A common path is to start with TestFlight while the app is still changing every week, then move to unlisted or custom distribution once it settles. The same App Store Connect record carries you from one to the next.

Doing it with Borel

Borel builds the app and gets it into TestFlight from your browser, so you never need a Mac or Xcode. Publishing is part of Borel Pro, from $20 a month, with your Apple Developer Program membership.

1. Build the app by describing it in the Borel chat, and try it in the iPhone simulator in your browser.
2. Add sign-in if only your team should see what is inside. Borel apps can have email accounts in Borel's cloud; see how to add login to an iPhone app.
3. Publish to Apple. The publish flow fills in the listing, connects your App Store Connect account, then builds, signs and uploads the app on Borel's Mac.
4. Press Test on TestFlight on the build. Borel makes an internal group called Borel Internal Testers, adds the people on your App Store Connect team as internal testers, assigns the build and shows a QR code for the TestFlight app.
5. For people outside your team, press Create a public install link. Borel makes an external group with a public link and sends the build to Apple's Beta App Review, usually done within a day, then the same QR code installs the app.
6. Manage testers opens your app's TestFlight page in App Store Connect when you want to add or remove people yourself.

Each build in Borel's list says where it stands, and one past Apple's 90-day limit is marked as expired, so you know when to send a fresh one. When the app is ready to stay, submit it for review from the same window, then ask Apple for unlisted distribution or set it to Private for an organisation in App Store Connect. The Publishing page in Borel's docs walks through each screen, and the TestFlight entry in our glossary explains the terms.

This app is for our team only. Add sign-in with email accounts so nobody else can see the data, put a short welcome screen in front that explains what the app is for, and add a Settings screen with Sign out and Delete account.

The bottom line

To share an iPhone app only with your team, use TestFlight internal testing for up to 100 colleagues on your App Store Connect team, and external TestFlight for a wider group of up to 10,000. For a long-lived private app, choose an unlisted App Store app shared by link, or a custom app delivered to a named organisation through Apple Business. Ad Hoc and the Enterprise Program cover the edge cases. If you are making the app with Borel, it can be in your team's TestFlight the same day.

I like that a team app no longer needs an IT department to reach people's phones. Start with TestFlight for your own team, and move to an unlisted or custom app once you know it sticks.

– Sigsten

Make your iPhone app in Borel

Describe the app you want and see its first screens before you pay anything.