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Two emails, not one

Both come from Apple rather than from us, usually within a few minutes of each other. People often act on the second and never notice the first.

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1. “You’re invited to join a development team”

This one exists because of how Apple runs closed testing: you are added to our developer team rather than to a public beta. It sounds far more official than it is, and it does not make you a developer of anything.
It expires in three days. This is the one with a deadline, and it is the one people leave sitting in their inbox because the subject line looks like it is meant for somebody else. Tap Accept invitation.

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2. “…has invited you to test Vitality Tracker Workbench”

This is the actual invitation to the app, with a View in TestFlight button.
Check your spam folder for both. Because they come from Apple’s servers rather than a person, they are frequent casualties of over-eager filtering.

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The one thing that must match

The invitation is tied to a specific Apple ID. Not just an email address — the Apple ID your iPhone is signed into for the App Store. This is the single most common reason an invitation appears not to work.
1

Check which Apple ID your phone uses for apps

On your iPhone, open Settings, tap your name at the top, then Media & Purchases. The address shown there is the one that matters.
2

Compare it with the address we invited

They must be the same. Note that your iCloud account and your Media & Purchases account can be different addresses — it is the second that counts.
3

If they differ, tell us

We will re-invite the correct address. Do not sign your phone out of the App Store to fix this — it is far more disruptive than it sounds, and unnecessary.

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Redeeming it

1

Install TestFlight first

From the App Store, search TestFlight, install it. It is free, made by Apple, and about 40 MB.
2

Open the invitation email on your iPhone

Not on a computer. The link needs to open on the phone that will run the app.
3

Tap View in TestFlight or Start Testing

TestFlight opens and shows the Workbench with an Accept button.
4

Tap Accept

The app is now available to you. You have not installed it yet — that is the next page.

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If you land on a web page instead

Tapping the link before TestFlight is installed opens Apple’s site, which gives you a code to type in by hand.
Install TestFlight, open it, and use Redeem — the code is on that page. Returning testers find Redeem under their profile, in Settings.
The code is blanked out above because this guide is public. Yours is in your own email, and it is yours alone.

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If it does not work

None of these are your fault, and all of them are quick for us to fix.

Next: install the app