After a month of build-processing detective work, the Tideward external TestFlight alpha is officially open. As of today, anyone can install the alpha on iPhone, iPad, Mac, or Apple TV through TestFlight. Vision Pro support is queued for the next build (a small Apple Beta App Review issue blocking just that platform). Apple Watch is bundled with the iOS install and works as soon as you pair.

If you’ve been waiting on a public link, this is the moment.

Join the alpha at tideward.app/install/

What you’re installing

Tideward is an unhurried idle RPG, native on every Apple device. Twenty-three trades: combat, mining, fishing, smithing, foraging, cooking, magic, and on. A small coastal world you tend. True 24-hour offline progression that respects your time and the rhythm of a real day. No ads, no third-party SDKs, no tracking. Your save lives in your iCloud private database and only your iCloud private database.

The current build is 0.86, build 32. It’s an alpha. There are rough edges, balance is still settling, and a few features ship behind opt-in flags. But the core loop is solid, the cross-Apple-device sync is solid, and the privacy posture is settled.

What just changed

For most of May, builds 23 through 31 were processing-stuck. Apple’s App Store Connect ingestion validator was choking silently on iOS, iPadOS, macOS, and visionOS while tvOS shipped fine. A 4-platform stall with no error messages, no logs, no obvious cause. Builds would upload, validate, and then hang at “Preparing Build for App Store Connect” indefinitely.

Apple Developer Support diagnosed it last week as a TVTopShelfImage key in the shared Info.plist. Tideward’s Manu target archives all six platforms from a single project, and the tvOS-only TVTopShelfImage key was being included on iOS / iPadOS / macOS / visionOS archives where the validator rejected it as not-applicable. Removed the key, resubmitted, and four of five platforms cleared in the next ingestion pass. visionOS got its own separate rejection in the same submission cycle for a different issue, and that’s the one slice still being resolved.

So: iOS, iPadOS, macOS, and tvOS are open for external testers today. Vision Pro will follow within a build or two.

What the external alpha gets you

The same build the internal alpha testers have been running for the past 30 days. No paywall, no time-limited test, no ads, no telemetry shipped off-device. You get the full game minus the platform-specific Vision Pro slice (until next build).

The first 1,000 testers are the audience this is calibrated for. Bring whatever device you have (iPhone, iPad, Mac, or Apple TV) and play as long or as little as fits your day. Idle games are meant to be checked in on, not lived in.

What to do after you install

  1. Pick a character slot, set a starting class direction (combat, gathering, or artisan), tap into a first trade
  2. Let it run while you do something else
  3. Come back tomorrow. Offline progression hands you a story summary of what your character did while you were away
  4. Open a Discord conversation about a balance number that surprised you, a UI moment that didn’t click, or a feature you wish existed. The Discord is at discord.gg/hw6w93astV and it’s where the game’s design is actually built. Past tester suggestions have rewritten the smithing system, redesigned the offline summary, and shaped the current combat math

What’s not in the alpha

A handful of skills are still data-only (their UI ships next): Pilfering, Stargazing, Vigil. The achievement framework is mostly in but not surfaced. iCloud sync resolves correctly across devices but the multi-device conflict-resolution UI is still mostly invisible, which is the right call when conflicts are rare, but means the rare conflict is a little confusing when it happens.

Where to find me

This is the moment the game stops being a private project and starts being something that other people get to shape. I’m grateful you’re here.

Seth, Manu Games LLC