I made a full roll out for alpha version.
I thought that I will get a link to download my app from play market, but I didn't. I see that there is a Manage testers section where I fill in my email address that corresponds to play market account on my device.
As far as I understand I need to get a mail with a link to download the app.
So, question is - when I get this mail? Am I should get it immediately or after the app will be published?
So you have a link with the access to the app that links give you the access if your account was in the alpha list when the app is realize the link gives you the app but google always need a bit time to analyze if the app was already published it takes 2-6h if not he can take days
I released an app in the Google Play Store. After a few months I unpublished that app. The problem now is that the same app is available in some other sites / Play Store. When I search the app name in Google, I can see the app and I can download it. The app is still unpublished in the app store.
How to solve this problem? Unpublished app cannot see any where.
ask the site owner to take down your application.The will.But it will appear later.So basically there is no solution for your problem but ask site owner to take down the apk.
This site are doing fake advertistment for you!
They are saying, that your app has more then 50.000 downloads and so on.
It´s just at the beginning, later if you register your app on this site, you have to pay for the fake download values.
PS:
https://mobiles10.info/app/riftboy-dexter/de.hhn.laborgames.coffegame.riftboydexter/
This is a game, which i create with some students during my studies...
I'm sure, we have only 5 downloads, but this site says:
Average rating for Riftboy Dexter Game is 4.1/5 from total 137 user votes.
..
So don´t care about it.
Is it possible to publish an iOS App in App Store and Google Play Store, which is unlisted and can't be found by search? Only people, who have the link to the App in the Store can download it. Is this possible?
Both Google Play and Apple's App Store have options for publishing Enterprise apps. The two stores have different options and conditions, but it's possible.
Other options that are available to you is to release the app as an Alpha or Beta version for specific people on the Play Store, or simply create an .apk file and allow people to install it without passing through the store.
On the Apple App Store, you also have the option of having your app approved by the review team and then using codes for specific users to redeem on the store (but you only have about 100 of those per version) or submitting the app for TestFlight review (which is a much shorter process), in which case you'll be able to install the app on 1,000 different devices.
I hope one of these options works for you. Good luck!
Yes, this exact thing is now possible in the Apple ecosystem. It's called "unlisted apps". See here. Not sure about Google/Android.
I'm a developer and i was thrilled when I was watching Google IO 2013 and learned about the new Beta testing feature. So I created a Google+ community and a google group and placed the testers in there (me included).
All we get (the developers and testers) when we visit the https://play.google.com/apps/testing/com.package.stuff
is this:
Is there any trick I am missing? I would really like to use this feature.
I know there are alternatives like https://testflightapp.com/ but I'd rather keep my app under this environment where I can "promote" the Beta apk to the Production phase and so on.
I had this same issue. The reason the link is not working is because the app must be published before the link will be active. I repeat the app must be published, this does not mean there must be an APK in production. On the top right of your applications developer console page there is a drop down menu that allows you to publish the app. That link will become active immediately and your app will be available in a few hours to your testers on the Play Store.
First of all you need to create or have a Google+ community.
The process is:
Create a new Google + community. It's required to have testers through Developer Console.
Register this community in Google Play Developer Console
Invite your beta testers to this community.
Wait 8-24 hours before sharing the link
Share the link with your testers
Verify that your app is published for Beta Testing
If everything is right, the link should show something like:
I'm having the same problem, the link simply doesn't work, 36 hours after publishing. Might as well not even provide the alpha/beta features if they cripple the developer's ability to move fast...
Anyway, I'm sharing some information provided to me by Google Support, hoping it'll be helpful:
Ensure that you have added a valid Google Group email or Google+ Community URL to the Developer Console and that you are included in the group/community. Once the group/community has been added, the name of the group will display in the “Manage list of testers” link in the testing tab. (Please note when adding a Google Group you need to enter the email address and not the URL).
If you wish to use a Google Group in a Google Apps domain, the Developer Console and Private Channel must be enabled for your domain in the Google Apps Control Panel. More Private Channel info: http://goo.gl/DLGNe
An app must be published for several hours before the opt-in link will become available to testers.
Currently, testers must have only one account on their device. Devices with more than one account will receive the production version of your app. (Please note this requirement is temporary. Stay tuned for updates).
2015 and the alpha/beta testing is, at best, 50% working. About 50% (23 of our 60+) beta tester never gain access to the app via the provided link. All the others have no trouble at all installing the beta app and receiving updates. No rhyme or reason. Single account on their device, some with gmail accounts, some with private email. It's a mixed bag of who gets access and who doesn't. In all cases, once they accept the invitation to join the group they have full access to the group. But they get a 404 when trying access the app. Not worth the trouble. Our fix is to give the testers access to to our private server and pass out the beta versions that way. Updates aren't automagic, but the testers can get the app hassle free
I had the same problem and alpha testers had to get into my Google Plus Community for alpha testers.
I had the same problem (404 error on tester's link), but the cause was different from the one shown in buckson18's answer: in my case the app was published, but the user didn't join the testers Google Group, although he received the invite.
After the user joined the group, the page showed correctly.
Hope this can help someone...
I was also facing this issue. The problem was that Google group was not added. Another important thing to take care is that the account being used for developer console must be member of google group being added. I couldn't find this anywhere in the documentation.
I have been using Beta testings for a couple of years and its very unreliable. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Now they have Open Beta Testing. I tried it today for the first time, and though I followed all the instructions, but it still doesn't show the app in the app store, unless I sign in, which makes it regular old style beta testing. Its much easier and hassle free to use HockeyApp to distribute app for testing.
After wasting hours with Goolge's Alpha and Beta versions, I always end up putting my app into production so that I could keep my testers. Its already hard to convince large number of people to do the testing, and then keep asking them to go through half working or not working procedures to download the app.
I solved it by go to https://play.google.com/apps/testing/[app package] on the device and then click that link and open it with google play
One thing that seems to have worked for us is to use the "opt-in URL" the Play Store developer console provides under "App releases" which should look like:
https://play.google.com/apps/testing/com.yourappname.android
This DIFFERS than the URL you see if you're already approved as a tester and visit the app's page on the Play Store in a browser. Ours looks like this:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.yourappname.android
Net net, use the 1st and not the 2nd. Good luck!
It should be noted also that the link is case sensitive so if you've got https://play.google.com/apps/testing/com.someAppName - if you put https://play.google.com/apps/testing/com.someappname it'll tell you it's not available!
I've googled this and have only found bad answers from a year or more ago, so I'm hoping things have changed.
I have developed an app for an apartment complex and they want only their residents to be able to download/see it in the marketplace. It has to do with submitting maintenance requests and rental of common facilities, so, for obvious reasons they don't want just anyone seeing it, but want the convenience of the market place for distribution.
Can this be done without any of the goofy workarounds like garbling the name with a random string or changing the package name?
Here you can do like below:
Publishing on Google Play guide can show you the ins and outs and publishing to Google Play, but in a nutshell you upload the app to the Google Developer Console, and then publish it by going to “Product Details”, “Publishing Options”, “Restrict Availability” and checking off “Make this application available only to users of my Google Apps domain”. The app will then be sent to your Private Channel. Source: TechRepublic
But here is My suggestion:
If it's for residents only then you should upload APK some where on web (Instead of uploading on play store) and give them web link. Residents will download APK directly from that link. There way your APK will be hidden from rest of the world.