Thanks so much for your interest in being a beta tester for My Golf! The My Golf beta program is currently open to up to 50 golfers with the following qualifications:
- Have an iPhone or iPad running iOS/iPadOS 16 or 17
- Are able and willing to install Apple's TestFlight app on your iPhone device.
- Are an avid golfer willing to use your iPhone on the course or while you are practicing on the range or at home.
- You are pretty fluent in English (U.S.). The app is not yet localized to any other languages.
- You are OK with Imperial units (i.e. yards and feet). The app does not yet support metric units (except for mm/cm for club-face contact points).
As a beta user you'd have no obligation whatsoever to do anything -- and you'd be getting all of the features completely free. We'd just hope you'd use the app -- since usage lets us know if crashes occur or not. Maybe you'd even be willing to give feedback or ask questions about it -- which can be done directly from within the app or using TestFlight.
If you want to learn a bit about the app before joining the beta program be sure to take a look at https://mygolfworks.com/.
TestFlight
An abundance of detail can be read about the TestFlight app at https://testflight.apple.com, but this document contains the information that is applicable for this beta program.
To get started:
- Install TestFlight (https://apps.apple.com/us/app/testflight/id899247664/) on the iOS or iPadOS device that you’ll use for testing.
- Open your email invitation and tap "View in TestFlight" or tap the public link (https://testflight.apple.com/join/QSo08yul) on your device.
- If you’re a new tester for the app, tap Accept.
- Tap Install to install the app on your device.
- If you’re a returning tester, tap Update or Open.
Join Now
To join the beta program, you must use the Public Link provided below. If you are viewing this article on your iPhone or iPad, tap the following link:
https://testflight.apple.com/join/QSo08yul
If you are viewing this article on your Mac or PC you can scan this QR code with your iPhone or iPad:
or type out the following shorted URL in your mobile browser:
http://mygolf.mobi/44zIirC
It will direct you to the TestFlight app and you can then follow steps 3 to 5 above.
The link is configured to limit the number of participants to 50 golfers. The limit will be increased over time as we roll this beta program out to more interested golfers.
Premium Subscription
The My Golf app is a free app with a limited set of features available. To unlock all features, customers must subscribe to the monthly or annual membership.
However, as a reward for being a participant in the beta program, the premium subscription is completely free for you. You do not even have to do anything to unlock it -- it's already available and ready to go.
What to Test
Whenever we post up a new version of the app for beta testing, notes will be provided about what's new in the version (though some of it may be a repeat in consideration for newly added beta testers). However, that screen is briefly seen and quickly dismissed so it's pretty easy to not know anything about what just happened. So in general, just continue to enjoy the app and do what you do -- and please provide feedback whenever you can because it's all super helpful.
But if you are really interested in helping us test out whatever is truly new and to help bang out any issues that the new stuff may have, you will be able to find out all the details about what's going on with the Road Map page and on the Release Notes page.
Providing Feedback
While testing a beta version of an app or App Clip, you can send the developer feedback about issues you experience or make suggestions for improvements based on the “What to Test” content. Feedback you submit through TestFlight is also provided to Apple as part of the TestFlight service.
You can send feedback through the TestFlight app or directly from the beta app or beta App Clip by taking a screenshot, and you can report a crash after it occurs. If you were invited to test an app with a public link, you can choose not to provide your email address or other personal information to the developer. Apple will also receive all feedback you submit and will be able to tie it to your Apple ID.
To send feedback through the TestFlight app:
- Open the TestFlight app on your device.
- From the Apps list, tap the app you want to send feedback for.
- Tap Send Beta Feedback.
- In the share dialog, tap Include Screenshot to choose a screenshot. If you don’t want to send an attachment, tap Don't Include Screenshot.
- Add your comments (up to 4,000 characters), and optionally enter your email address if you were invited with a public link.
- Tap Submit.
To send feedback through the My Golf app:
- Open the My Golf app on your device.
- Open the Membership view by tapping the My Golf logo icon in the top left corner.
- Tap on Support.
- Tap on Help Center
- In the top right corner, tap on the icon that looks like a square with a pencil.
- Tap on Start A Conversation. This creates a support ticket and allows you to attach screenshots too.
Alternatively:
- Open the My Golf app on your device.
- Open the Membership view by tapping the My Golf logo icon in the top left corner.
- Tap on Support.
- To report an issue or bug, tap on Report and Issue, type out the details, then tap on Submit
- To provide general feedback, tap on Submit Feedback, type out the details, then tap on Submit
Frequently Asked Questions
How stable are the "beta" versions?
Extremely stable. The kinds of issues you may run into are mostly really just cosmetic or don't have an optimal user experience yet. This is the kind of feedback that is extremely helpful to us. We'd really appreciate as much of this feedback that you are willing to give.
There will be crashes from time to time, but by the time you have the beta in your hands those crashes are likely not new ones but ones that we haven't yet prioritize to fix. But if they are new ones then they are likely important enough to get fixed right away! At the time of this writing, 97.6% of our golfers do not experience a crash over a 30 day period. Our goal is for this to to be 99% crash free over a 90 day period.
For us, beta is just one of several steps in our release process and data-corrupting issues do not make it this far. It is of utmost importance that any user generated data for the app is never gunked up and rendered useless. And this has never yet happened at all because of the layers of safety that we have in place for the release cycle of the app.
Internally, we only use pre-release versions of the app (either "beta" or "pre-beta") because we need to be punished if any data gets messed up. So this forces us to be very careful with it.
Can I talk about the beta with other people?
Yep! There are no secrets here. We make our roadmap and release notes available to the public.
Can I share the public link with other people?
Yep! It's a public link that can be shared with anybody. The only issue might be that its limit will get exhausted. But over time we will increase the limit. Apple allows it to go as high as 10,000.
Can I use both the beta version and the release version at the same time?
You won't be able to install both on the same device at the same time. However, if you have multiple devices you can have the beta version installed on one of them and the released version installed on the other -- and they will both have synchronized data if iCloud is enabled and you have enough storage. However, only in the beta version will the membership be free. Premium features are only available on the released version if you have a paid subscription or are on a free trial.
How will I know if I have the beta version or a release version installed?
The beta version will have a badged icon with the β symbol embedded in it.
Also, apps that have been installed from TestFlight have a yellow dot to the left of the app name below the icon on your phone's screen. Release versions of apps do not have any dots next to the app name.
What if I no longer want to be a beta tester but want to use the released version? Is my data lost?
You can transition from a beta tester to a release user very easily with no data loss. The completely risk free approach is to go to the App Store and install the released version directly over the beta version on your device. All of your data will be retained and available.
As an extra precaution, you may want to consider backing up your iPhone or iPad prior, just in case. That way you can do a quick restore if things didn't go as expected.
If you do not use iCloud (or did not have enough iCloud storage while using the app), if you delete the app from your device you do risk losing your data -- generally all of it. So be careful!
Finally, due to caching by the iOS operating system, you may need to reboot the device (or wait a while) after installing the release version before the icon changes to the non-badged version.
How long does it take for a beta version to become a released version?
Our rule of thumb is to promote a beta version to release 3 to 4 weeks after the first beta build for a new version is put up on TestFlight. We want to give enough time to find any potential unforeseen issues and to respond to any of your feedback.
Why not Android?
We do see a future where My Golf is implemented for Android, but that future is pretty far away. The app isn't implemented on Android due to a lack of resources. Developing software for Android is remarkably different than for Apple platforms. And the kinds of engineers needed and the costs of development are remarkably different as well.
The best compromise we have at the moment is the fact that the app is supported on iPad. We acknowledge this isn't ideal, but golfers with Android phones that want to be able to use the My Golf should consider purchasing an iPad as a compromise -- they can still use their wonderful Android phone but be able to use this app with the lowest cost iPad. The experience is very nice on an iPad mini.
You don't have to have a cellular plan on the iPad to enjoy the app. Internet connectivity isn't required in order to use it on the range or on the course. However, GPS accuracy might not always be very great on the course without a cellular plan.
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