Amazon just announced the launch of a new developer tool called Live App Testing, which lets you distribute apps in the Amazon Appstore to a pre-defined set of testers. This way, chances of a successful launch are increased, as this testing takes place before the app goes fully live.

Those in the testing group will be able to use in-app purchasing and other Amazon services in its production environment, so developers can make sure things are working right. You can also use the opportunity to gather feedback and make improvements.

“In house testing with side-loaded apps is great for isolating and fixing bugs, but it’s not enough. To be certain that your customers are getting the experience you want them to have, you have to test your app against a production environment,” says Amazon’s Paul Cutsinger.

“Live App Testing allows you to create a version of your app that is only distributed to select testers of your choice,” he explains. “You invite testers by adding their email address to Live App Testing. Once testers are invited to test, they will receive an email with instructions to download the test app and begin testing against Amazon’s production environment. Only invited testers will be allowed to download and test your app. As a part of Live App Testing, you can test your apps on any Android or Amazon Fire device.”

Amazon provides a step-by-step guide to using Live App Testing here.

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