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Declan McKenna
Declan McKenna

Reputation: 4910

How to create a Beta for my Android app?

How do I package/export my app from eclipse for consumption? Where can I upload it other than android marketplace? I've done all the programming but have no idea what to do next.

Upvotes: 2

Views: 4153

Answers (4)

QED
QED

Reputation: 9933

Read about publishing here. The process isn't too bad. You must:

  • Create a signing certificate
  • Build and Export for publishing
  • Sign
  • Distribute

If you just want to distribute to testers, you can sign with a debug certificate. Those who want to install the debug app on their phones must go to Settings->Applications->Unknown Sources. From there it's as easy as using adb install <path to APK> or uploading the app to a web server and having the target phone navigate to its URL using Android's browser.

As for other marketplaces, there are a lot these days, with Amazon's the closest second to the Android Market. Even WalMart has jumped in!

The biggest pain is setting up your signing credentials, but it's not a big deal. Just read the dev guides and you'll be publishing in no time.

Upvotes: 3

bytebender
bytebender

Reputation: 7491

Depends on if you are going to hold a private or a public beta. First things first though.

You need a signed .apk in eclipse, click File->Export and then open the Android Folder and click "Export Android Application"

It will walk you through signing your .apk. If you are going to do a private beta you could use a different key than the one you plan on using for the android market if you wanted.

If you are holding a private beta you can put the .apk out on dropbox or another service like that and send your beta testers the link. You will want to make sure they have checked "Unkown sources" in there settings.

If you are holding a public beta you can publish it to the market and just let everybody know it is in beta.

I have done it both ways... Having a public beta may discourage certain users from downloading the app but you will establish your place in the market. On the flip side you could be affected by ratings. It will depends on if your app is really ready for beta or is in more of an alpha stage.

Hope this helps.

Upvotes: 2

XMoby
XMoby

Reputation: 171

I suppose this part of the documentation could help. It describes the specifics on how to publish your .apk file outside the standard Android Market channel. In fact, the whole "Publishing" section of the doc gives you a quite complete overview of what is possible to do, and how to do it.

Good luck your your app!

Upvotes: 2

Damian
Damian

Reputation: 8072

You should check out this excellent talk given at Droidcon uk last year

http://skillsmatter.com/podcast/agile-testing/how-to-run-a-private-beta-on-the-android-market

Upvotes: 4

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