chore: Disable iOS external group distribution by default

[Cal-L]

Description

These changes disables iOS external group distribution by default within our workflows. We're going to try relying on internal group distribution instead since it removes the Apple review bottleneck from External builds. Uploaded builds to internal groups will be immediately available.

Changelog

CHANGELOG entry:

Related issues

Fixes: https://consensyssoftware.atlassian.net/browse/MCWP-607

Manual testing steps

Feature: my feature name

  Scenario: user [verb for user action]
    Given [describe expected initial app state]

    When user [verb for user action]
    Then [describe expected outcome]

Screenshots/Recordings

Before

After

Pre-merge author checklist

• I've followed MetaMask Contributor Docs and MetaMask Mobile Coding Standards.
• I've completed the PR template to the best of my ability
• I've included tests if applicable
• I've documented my code using JSDoc format if applicable
• I've applied the right labels on the PR (see labeling guidelines). Not required for external contributors.

Performance checks (if applicable)

• I've tested on Android
  • Ideally on a mid-range device; emulator is acceptable
• I've tested with a power user scenario
  • Use these power-user SRPs to import wallets with many accounts and tokens
• I've instrumented key operations with Sentry traces for production performance metrics
  • See trace() for usage and addToken for an example

For performance guidelines and tooling, see the Performance Guide.

Pre-merge reviewer checklist

• I've manually tested the PR (e.g. pull and build branch, run the app, test code being changed).
• I confirm that this PR addresses all acceptance criteria described in the ticket it closes and includes the necessary testing evidence such as recordings and or screenshots.

---

Note

Medium Risk
Changes the default distribute_external behavior for iOS TestFlight uploads across GitHub workflows and Fastlane, which could unintentionally stop external tester distribution if callers relied on the prior default.

Overview
iOS TestFlight uploads now default to internal-only distribution by setting distribute_external to false by default in upload-to-testflight.yml, scripts/upload-to-testflight.sh, and the Fastlane upload_to_testflight_only lane.

Workflow callers (e.g. nightly-build.yml, runway-*-builds.yml, auto-rc-ota-build-core.yml) remove explicit distribute_external overrides and update input descriptions to reflect the new default.

^{Reviewed by Cursor Bugbot for commit d2b15fb. Bugbot is set up for automated code reviews on this repo. Configure here.}

[github-actions]

CLA Signature Action: All authors have signed the CLA. You may need to manually re-run the blocking PR check if it doesn't pass in a few minutes.

[github-actions]

🔍 Smart E2E Test Selection

• Selected E2E tags: None (no tests recommended)
• Selected Performance tags: None (no tests recommended)
• Risk Level: low
• AI Confidence: 97%

click to see 🤖 AI reasoning details

E2E Test Selection:
All 8 changed files are CI/CD infrastructure files related to iOS TestFlight build distribution:

1. upload-to-testflight.yml: Changed distribute_external default from true → false. This is the core behavioral change.
2. build-and-upload-to-testflight.yml: Description text updates only (no functional change).
3. nightly-build.yml: Removed explicit distribute_external: true (exp) and distribute_external: false (rc) — both now rely on the new default of false. This means nightly exp builds will no longer distribute to external testers.
4. auto-rc-ota-build-core.yml, runway-production-builds.yml, runway-rc-builds.yml: Removed explicit distribute_external: false — these already matched the new default, so no behavioral change.
5. ios/fastlane/Fastfile: Changed nil-default for distribute_external from true → false.
6. scripts/upload-to-testflight.sh: Changed DISTRIBUTE_EXTERNAL default from true → false.

None of these changes touch app source code, E2E test infrastructure, test page objects, controllers, components, or any user-facing functionality. They exclusively affect the iOS TestFlight distribution pipeline configuration. No E2E tests are needed to validate these changes — they are build/release pipeline changes that would be validated by the CI pipeline itself running successfully.

Performance Test Selection:
All changes are CI/CD pipeline configuration changes affecting TestFlight distribution defaults. No app source code, rendering logic, state management, or performance-sensitive code was modified. Performance tests are not applicable.

View GitHub Actions results

[sonarqubecloud]

Quality Gate passed

Issues
0 New issues
0 Accepted issues

Measures
0 Security Hotspots
0.0% Coverage on New Code
0.0% Duplication on New Code

See analysis details on SonarQube Cloud