46

I created my first Android app and wanted to let some users take part at the new Google beta testing feature. Unfortunately my app got published as a production APK and is visible to everyone now. That was not my intention, because my app is far from being released.

If I unpublish my app it also get's inaccessible for the beta testing users. So I have to keep it published to run the beta test.

What are my possibilities to make the best of this situation?

  • Using a dummy app as production APK?
  • Keep it unpublished and start with a new package name all over again?

Easiest way would be to delete the published app, but Google says NO.

tshepang
  • 12,111
  • 21
  • 91
  • 136
user1530095
  • 569
  • 1
  • 4
  • 3

5 Answers5

33

You can put your Google Play Developer Console into "Advanced Mode" by clicking the button in the top right corner. Then you can activate/deactivate APKs as necessary, and upload APKs specifically for beta testers only. You do not need to change the package name.

mike47
  • 2,217
  • 1
  • 27
  • 50
  • 13
    Google Play does not allow deactivating a production APK if the app has been published (even if it was switched back to Unpublished state after publish). – Juuso Ohtonen Jun 13 '14 at 10:21
  • @Juuso, you can unpublish an APK, you just cannot delete it entirely. See here: http://stackoverflow.com/a/11074989/1992342 – mike47 Jun 13 '14 at 10:37
  • @mikejeep, yeah, but then I can't test in-app purchases: "Draft apps are no longer supported" http://developer.android.com/google/play/billing/billing_testing.html#draft_apps – Juuso Ohtonen Jun 13 '14 at 11:36
  • @JuusoOhtonen Well that is a specific use case that was not part of the original question or your response. And if you check that link you posted, there are alternative solutions, such as publishing an alpha or beta APK or using the static responses. – mike47 Jun 17 '14 at 03:03
14

After filling in all the details, In your developer console dont upload your APK to the production tab, only upload it in the Beta tab and click publish. Now wait for it to get published and find the playstore link which you can find after clicking the "Manage list of testers" link which is under the "Beta testers". Share this link with your beta users.

h1py
  • 193
  • 2
  • 9
  • 1
    I was getting really frustrated looking for the link that the documentation was referring to. Thanks for detailing where to find it! – ariscris Feb 13 '14 at 22:32
  • 6
    Does not help if you already (accidentally or not) published the production version. – Juuso Ohtonen Jun 13 '14 at 10:19
  • 5
    No foregiveness if you accidentally published to production. The short of it is, don't make mistakes when working with google play. Some sort of warning with a big fat red border around it would be nice along the lines of _Are you sure? This is your first production apk, and you have never run an alpha or beta test. Once you publish to production, you won't be able to test in alpha or beta without at least one production apk published. Are you sure that's what you want?_ – miraculixx Jul 12 '15 at 06:30
  • 2
    @JuusoOhtonen.. I wish i had read your comment before publishing it to production :( – Taimur Hassan Nov 06 '15 at 10:52
  • Was looking for this answer and still in 2015 it is not clear. When you upload a production app for the first time, even if do not publish it, using timed publishing the alpha and beta will stop working, after you upload a production apk, by mistake or to test, doesn't matter, you WILL NOT be able to test new versions in alpha, beta before you publish it public to store, at least one apk version. – Programista Nov 14 '15 at 15:22
6

Even I made similar mistake before and then unpublished my app. Started again the publish process with different package name as Google remembers your app by the package definition. You won't be able to delete an unpublished app. That needs to be unique. When you create your app, don't upload the apk first, just prepare store listing. Once done, you will see all the panes, production, beta, alpha under APK menu. hope this helps.

KKS
  • 3,600
  • 1
  • 27
  • 54
  • Thanks. I did this a week ago and everything went fine. After some fixes I uploaded my new app version and got me into this mess. It looks like Google has changed the user interface of the Developer Console. Last week I had to press **Publish** in APK row go get it into beta status. Now this is not necessary any more but I clicked the button anyway and my app was moved to production tab... – user1530095 May 30 '13 at 13:40
  • I'm still unhappy with my situation... but I will try the "new package name" way now. – user1530095 May 30 '13 at 14:31
  • 3
    @user1530095 You can remove everything if your app was not published at all in production but as such you did once, you can't delete it now and remove all the traces. Use this [link](http://android-developers.blogspot.co.uk/2011/06/things-that-cannot-change.html) And please mark this answer if you think its correct. there is no way around this problem yet! – KKS May 30 '13 at 14:43
  • Thanks for the link, but I already knew all these facts. I just need some advice how to deal with my situation after publishing my app by mistake. – user1530095 May 30 '13 at 15:56
3

Provided the constraints you have, I guess your best option is to set the filter of the APK to no devices if allowed; if not, set it to a single device (one you figure there are almost none in the market).

Additionally, you can change your publishing options for no country (or, again, to a single small country), although I think that might impact the beta testers as well...

tshepang
  • 12,111
  • 21
  • 91
  • 136
Jorge Galvão
  • 1,729
  • 1
  • 15
  • 28
1

I've just found myself in a similar situation (app was published to production prematurely, and I need to do some beta testing). Jorge's answer got me thinking. I found an option under "Pricing and Distribution" which allowed me to restrict distribution to my organization.

enter image description here

Community
  • 1
  • 1
rthbound
  • 1,323
  • 1
  • 17
  • 24