Mobile apps

Warehouse staff use the Boxture mobile app on handheld scanners and phones for picking, packing, replenishment and moving inventory (see Mobile). The app is not distributed through the public app stores; Boxture distributes it itself. Super users upload new builds of the app, and users download and install the latest release from the Mobile apps screen.

Downloading the app

The Mobile apps item in the main menu opens a page with the available apps. It is shown when at least one app has been uploaded, to every user with a role other than Account owner or Shopify account owner. In other words: warehouse and other staff users see it, users who only own an account do not.

For each app the page shows:

• the Name, Icon, Operating system and Release type;
• the Latest release: its Version, Build number and Notes;
• a Download button.

The apps of the current account are shown. If no app has been linked to the current account, all apps are shown.

Installing on Android

1. Open Boxture in the browser of the Android device and sign in.
2. Go to Mobile apps and tap Download for the Android app.
3. Open the downloaded file. If Android asks for it, allow installation of apps from this source.
4. Install the app.

To update, download and install the latest release the same way; Android installs it over the existing app.

Installing on iOS

1. Open Boxture in Safari on the iPhone or iPad and sign in.
2. Go to Mobile apps and tap Download for the iOS app.
3. Confirm the installation. iOS installs the app directly from Boxture.
4. If iOS reports an untrusted developer, trust the developer profile in the device settings (General › VPN & Device Management) before opening the app.

Managing apps

Uploading and managing apps is done by super users under Admin › Mobile apps. The menu item is only shown to super users.

Apps

Admin › Mobile apps lists the apps with their icon, Name, Release type, Operating system and creation date. You can filter on operating system and export the list.

To add an app, click Create and fill in:

Field	Description
Name	The name shown to users, for example "Boxture Android".
Release type	alpha, beta, enterprise, production or store. Tells users which kind of build this is.
Operating system	iOS, Android, Windows, MacOS or tvOS. This determines how the download works: iOS apps are installed through an installation manifest, other apps are downloaded as a file.
Icon	Optional. When you upload a build, the icon is taken from the build automatically.

Create a separate app for each operating system and for each release type you want to offer, for example one Android production app and one Android beta app.

Releases

Open an app and choose Releases to see its releases. The table shows for each release its number, Bundle ID, Version, Build number, Unique downloads (counted by IP address), Total downloads and creation date.

To publish a new build:

1. Open the app and go to Releases.
2. Click New.
3. Choose the Build file: the .apk for Android or the .ipa for iOS.
4. Enter Notes, for example what changed in this build. Users see these notes with the download.
5. Save.

When the build is saved, Boxture reads the Version, Build number and Bundle ID from the file and fills them in, and takes the app icon from the build. You can override these fields yourself; values you enter are kept.

The release that was added last is the Latest release and is what users download from the Mobile apps page. Older releases stay in the list with their download counts.

TIP

For iOS, the build must be signed for in-house distribution (an enterprise or ad-hoc build). For ad-hoc builds only devices included in the provisioning profile can install the app.