Onboarding tests answer a question analytics structurally cannot. A funnel tells you that forty per cent leave on the permissions screen. It cannot tell you that the copy asked for location access before saying why, because the person who found that unreasonable left without filing a report.
What to put in the public brief
- That it is an iOS app and the rough category
- The iOS version floor, if there is one
- How long the run should take
- That a screen recording is required
- Whether they need to create an account
Keep the app name, the build link and the test credentials private. A public brief naming an unreleased app is a launch leak with a reward attached.
What to put in the private instructions
Give the build link and any test account
Say plainly whether they may use their own Apple ID, because the answer changes who can take the task.
State the task as an outcome, not a route
"Get to the point where you have saved your first item", not "tap through the five onboarding screens". A named route tests whether they can follow instructions; an outcome tests whether your app can.
Ask them to talk aloud, or note every hesitation
Hesitation is the signal. You are buying the moments they paused, not the moments they succeeded.
Ask one recall question about a screen partway through
It is the cheapest authenticity check there is, and a worker who did not run the app cannot answer it.
Proof worth requiring
Ask for
The full screen recording, their written answers, and the device and iOS version. The recording is the artefact; everything else is index to it.
Do not ask for
A rating out of ten. It compresses the only useful thing — where they stalled and what they thought was happening — into a number you cannot act on.
When this task type is the wrong tool
If you already know where people drop and want to compare two fixes, this is heavier than you need — usability testing answers a comparison faster. If the app is not installable outside TestFlight and you cannot add external testers, nothing here works until that is solved.
For Android, the same brief works with one change: fragmentation is real, so name the device tier you care about rather than accepting whatever arrives.