Diawi Alternatives for Ad-Hoc iOS and Android App Distribution

Diawi has been the go-to quick-share tool for mobile developers for years. Upload an IPA or APK, get a link, send it to someone. No account needed, no setup ceremony, no learning curve. For sharing a build with a client over lunch or handing a debug APK to a colleague, it's hard to beat that simplicity.

But if you've landed on this page, you've probably hit the wall where Diawi's simplicity stops being an advantage. Maybe install links have failed at the worst possible moment. Maybe you're managing a growing team and have no way to track who installed what version. Maybe you're tired of uploading builds manually because there's no CI/CD integration. Or maybe you just need more than "here's a link" for your release process.

Let's be honest about what Diawi does well, where it falls short, and what alternatives exist for teams that have outgrown ad-hoc sharing.

Where Diawi Falls Short

Reliability Issues with Install Links

This is the one that hurts most. Diawi's install links sometimes fail — the download doesn't start, the iOS install prompt doesn't appear, or the link expires unpredictably. When you're demoing to a client or distributing a release candidate to your QA team, a broken install link isn't just inconvenient — it's a blocker. And because Diawi has no upload retry mechanism, a failed upload on a slow connection means starting over from scratch.

For a tool whose entire value proposition is "upload and share," reliability should be bulletproof. When it isn't, the simplicity argument falls apart.

No Team Management

Diawi treats every upload as an isolated event. There's no concept of a team, no way to see who has access to which builds, no role-based permissions, and no audit trail of who installed what. If you're working solo, this doesn't matter. If you're coordinating a team of five developers and ten testers, you're flying blind.

You can't invite testers to your organization, manage access when someone leaves the team, or restrict builds to specific groups. Every link is either accessible or it isn't — there's no middle ground.

No Version Tracking

Upload version 1.0, then 1.1, then 1.2 — Diawi treats each as a completely separate upload with no relationship between them. There's no timeline showing your release history, no way to compare what changed between versions, and no lifecycle management. If someone asks "which version did QA sign off on last Tuesday?" — good luck finding that from a list of Diawi links in your Slack history.

No CI/CD Integration

Modern development teams automate their build pipelines. Builds compile on CI, tests run, and the artifact gets uploaded to a distribution platform automatically. Diawi doesn't integrate with CI/CD pipelines. Every upload is manual — open the browser, drag in the file, wait, copy the link, paste it somewhere. For teams shipping multiple builds per day, that manual step is a bottleneck and a source of human error.

No Task Management or QA Workflow

Diawi is purely a file-sharing tool. There's no way to create QA tasks, track testing progress, manage blockers, or run release checklists. Everything that happens after someone gets the build — the actual testing work — is handled entirely elsewhere. For quick ad-hoc shares, that's fine. For a structured QA process, it's a gap you have to fill with other tools.

What to Look for in a Diawi Alternative

The right alternative depends on where you are as a team. Here's what matters at different stages:

If you're a solo developer or tiny team (2-3 people):

• Reliable uploads and install links — the basics must work every time
• QR code sharing for quick installs
• Simple UI with minimal setup

If you're a growing team (5-20 people):

• Everything above, plus:
• Team management with roles and permissions
• Version tracking across releases
• CI/CD integration so uploads are automated
• Notifications via Slack or Teams when new builds are available

If you're running a structured QA process:

• Everything above, plus:
• Built-in task management for QA assignments
• Blocker tracking tied to specific releases
• Release checklists (playbooks) for store submissions
• Two-way sync with project management tools (such as Jira and Linear)
• Version lifecycle management from planning to release

Alternatives Compared

TestApp.io — From Ad-Hoc Sharing to Full QA Workflow

TestApp.io handles both ends of the spectrum: it can be as simple as Diawi for quick shares, and as structured as you need for a professional QA workflow.

Distribution that just works: Upload IPA, APK files. Testers install via direct link, QR code, or the TestApp.io mobile app. Uploads use chunked resumable upload protocol — if your connection drops mid-upload, it resumes instead of restarting. That alone solves one of Diawi's most frustrating reliability issues. No app review process means builds are available to testers instantly.

Team management built in: Create an organization, invite team members, assign roles. Know exactly who has access to which builds. When someone leaves the team, revoke access in one place. Role-based access control means testers see what they need to see, and nothing more.

Version tracking and lifecycle: Every release is tracked in a timeline. Versions move through defined stages — Planning, Development, Testing, Ready, Released, Archived. Dashboard tabs show you what's in testing, what's ready, and what's shipped. No more searching through Slack for old Diawi links to figure out what version your testers are running.

CI/CD integration: The ta-cli command-line tool integrates with GitHub Actions, Bitrise, CircleCI, Fastlane, Jenkins, Xcode Cloud, GitLab CI, Azure DevOps, Codemagic, and Travis CI. Builds upload automatically as part of your pipeline — no more manual drag-and-drop. Check the help documentation for setup guides specific to your CI platform.

Task management: Built-in Kanban board and table view for QA tasks. Set priorities from Low to Blocker. Assign tasks to specific team members with due dates. Link tasks directly to releases. AI-powered task generation can create up to 15 platform-aware QA tasks from your release notes, saving time on repetitive test case creation.

Blocker tracking: Report blockers directly from tasks or releases. A dedicated dashboard shows blocker counts per version and surfaces warnings when unresolved blockers exist. Resolution workflow with notes ensures nothing gets swept under the rug.

Playbooks: Reusable release checklists built from templates (iOS App Store, TestFlight, Google Play) or custom configurations. Mark items as required so critical steps can't be skipped. Run a playbook for every release and track completion across your team.

Integrations: Two-way real-time sync with project management tools (such as Jira and Linear) via OAuth and webhooks. Slack integration with rich formatted messages and configurable event notifications. Microsoft Teams support via Power Automate with Adaptive Cards and action buttons.

Collaboration: Real-time activity feed on every release. Threaded comments with @mentions, emoji reactions, and file attachments. Your testers and developers can discuss builds in context instead of scattering feedback across chat threads.

Firebase App Distribution — Google's Distribution Tool

Firebase App Distribution handles iOS and Android build distribution and integrates with the broader Firebase ecosystem (Crashlytics, Analytics). It supports CLI, Gradle, and Fastlane plugins for CI/CD uploads. Tester management uses Google Groups or email lists.

Firebase is a step up from Diawi in terms of reliability and CI/CD integration. However, it shares many of the same workflow gaps: no task management, no blocker tracking, no version lifecycle management, and no release checklists. It's a more robust distribution pipe, but it's still distribution-only. If you're looking for more than just a Diawi replacement — if you want to actually improve your QA workflow — Firebase won't close that gap.

TestFlight — Apple's iOS Beta Distribution

TestFlight is free with an Apple Developer account ($99/year) and is the standard for iOS beta distribution. Internal testing supports up to 100 users instantly. External testing allows up to 10,000 users but requires Beta App Review, which can add 24-48 hours of delay.

The fatal limitation for Diawi users: TestFlight is Apple-only. No Android. If you're distributing builds for both platforms (which most teams are), TestFlight only covers half your needs. It also lacks task management, blocker tracking, and CI/CD tester management APIs. For iOS-only teams doing simple beta distribution, it's excellent. For everything else, you'll need a complementary tool.

Quick Comparison Table

Making the Switch from Diawi

If you're currently using Diawi and want to move to a more robust platform, the migration is straightforward since Diawi has no state to transfer — every upload is independent.

1. Sign up at portal.testapp.io and create your organization. Add your iOS and Android apps.
2. Upload your current build. Drag in your IPA, APK file. You'll get an install link and QR code — the same core workflow you're used to from Diawi, but with reliable uploads and version tracking.
3. Invite your testers. Instead of sharing links ad-hoc, invite team members to your organization. They can install builds from the TestApp.io mobile app or via links — but now you have visibility into who's testing what.
4. Automate uploads. If you have a CI/CD pipeline (even a simple one), add the ta-cli upload step. Builds will appear in TestApp.io automatically after every CI run — no more manual uploads.
5. Add QA structure gradually. Start creating tasks for your next release. Set up a playbook for your store submission process. Connect Slack for notifications. You don't have to adopt everything at once — layer in features as your team is ready.

The key advantage of this migration: there's nothing to lose. Diawi has no data, no history, no configuration to transfer. You're adding capabilities, not migrating state.

When Diawi Still Makes Sense

Let's be fair. Diawi isn't the right tool for teams, but it still has a place:

• One-off client demos: If you need to share a single build with someone outside your organization, once, with no ongoing relationship — Diawi's no-account-required simplicity is genuinely useful.
• Personal projects: If you're a solo developer testing on your own devices and don't need team features, Diawi's overhead-free approach works.
• Emergency shares: When your primary distribution tool is down (rare but it happens) and you need to get a build to someone immediately, Diawi is a reasonable fallback.

But the moment you have a team of more than two people, ship more than one build per week, or need any kind of QA process — Diawi's limitations become the bottleneck, not the solution.

Bottom Line

Diawi solved a real problem: making it trivially easy to share mobile builds. That problem doesn't go away as your team grows — but new problems appear alongside it. You need reliable uploads that don't fail mid-transfer. You need to know who's testing which version. You need automated uploads from CI so no one is manually dragging files into a browser. You need task management, blocker tracking, and release checklists so your QA process doesn't live in spreadsheets and Slack threads.

TestApp.io keeps the simplicity of sharing builds via links and QR codes while adding everything else: team management, version lifecycle, task management, blocker tracking, playbooks, CI/CD integration, and two-way sync with the project management tools your team already uses. It's the tool you graduate to when sharing a link isn't enough anymore.

Ready to upgrade from ad-hoc sharing? Sign up at portal.testapp.io — free to start, no credit card required.