Microsoft introduces Visual Studio Mobile Center at Connect() 2016

For mobile developers that have been looking for an app to act as their control center, Microsoft has presented an option.

At their Connect(); 2016 keynote this morning, the company announced that they’ve opened up the preview program for the Visual Studio Mobile Center, which is designed to be “A mission control for mobile apps that brings together all the cloud and lifecycle services that help developers deliver high-quality yet apps faster.”

You can find details on the announcement as well as a brief introduction to the program on Microsoft’s official post on the Visual Studio blog.

Users who download the preview now can expect these features to be ready to go:

• Build your apps automatically with every pull request
• Test apps on thousands of real-world devices
• Distribute passing builds to beta testers
• Monitor apps for crashes and bugs
• Learn about real world usage with mobile analytics
• Connect to a mobile backend for automatic scaling and to add important cloud services like offline data sync, tabular data storage, and end-user authentication services

According to the post, this is only the beginning of what Microsoft has in store for the Visual Studio Mobile Center.

In the future, the team plans to add in expanded support for Cordova and the Universal Windows Platform. They also intend to add in support for cloud services like cloud notifications and “advanced analytics.” No timeline was provided to tell you when these features are expected, but you can bet that they’re in the works now.

If you’d like to try out the preview for the Mobile Center and give Microsoft your feedback, you can do so via the app’s official website. Through here, you’re going to be able to request an invitation that – when accepted – will open up access to the preview.

Further reading: Connect() 2016, Microsoft, Visual Studio, Visual Studio Mobile Center