How to build a test version ionic?

I have an app that goes through appstore/playstore version control at the beginning of the execution of the app. However, I want to be able to build a test version that wont go through the said version control process. How do i do it? I first thought of building the app without the --prod parameter and get ahold of the build in code. So, like this:

if (thisBuildIsProd) versionControl() else dontVersionControl()

But i could not find a way to do it.