CODEWITHSUNDEEP
androidgoogle-play
BIBD
BIBD

Reputation: 15404

How can I publish a beta in Google Play while my app is still in Timed publishing?

I have an app that's close to launch. In prep for this, I've put it into production with "Timed publishing". It's ready to go, all I have to do now is click "Go Live".

However, I have a bug fix and I want to put out a beta for it now, before I'm ready to release the app to the world at large.

I've managed to upload the beta, but how can I release it to my beta testers through the store. Previously when I've played with Timed publishing, it didn't actually go out to the Beta testers until I clicked "Go Live".

I don't want to do that, because I'm not ready for my app to be made public at all, and I'm afraid it will go anyway.

I've tried switching to Advanced mode and Deactivating the version in production right now; however, it won't let me save. It complains The application could not be saved. Please check the form for errors. But don't see anything on the form that looks like an error.

How can I do this, or what should I be looking for to find the error?

Upvotes: 2

Views: 2288

Answers (2)

BIBD
BIBD

Reputation: 15404

I got an answer out of Google:

We don't currently support the functionality of removing production APK. If you press "Go live" button on the upper right corner, both production and beta version will be published on Play Store. It's not possible to keep production version silent and only have beta version live.

We currently require that once a Production APK has been published, the app must always have an APK in Production. This requirement is in place so that we are in compliance with the DDA by ensuring that once an app has been made publicly available, that it remains available for any users who may have installed it.

In my not so humble opinion, this is a deficiency in Google Play's system. I can see that requirement once it has been made public, perhaps even only after someone has actually downloaded it, but until then I as a developer should be able to pull it completely or be sure it's going to go straight to a Unpublished without ever appearing on the store so that no release happens by accident.

Google continues:

If you would like to prevent users from downloading your latest production version, since you haven't made it live, one option is to edit the previous production APK file to which you want to roll back with a higher version code than the current APK file. You may then upload the old APK as an update.

After you make sure the production APK is not the one you want to present to public and the beta APK is the right one, you can then press "Go live" so users will still see the previous production version while testers can download beta version.

The other way is to unpublish the current app and then publish a new app with a new package name for beta testing only. [...]

Both those are round about ways of accomplishing the work I need to do, it just adds more effort on my part to set up another app for my beta testers to use. It would; however, allow them to use both side by side on the same device when it goes live.

Upvotes: 4

Guillem Roca
Guillem Roca

Reputation: 341

Right now I'm facing the same problem, but I think it's not possible to publish a beta if timed publishing is enabled without going live.

Here is the reference about this topic I found in Google support:

Timed publishing Reference link: https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/6334282?hl=en&ref_topic=7072031

Upvotes: 3

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