I developed an Android app and added it as a beta app to the play store. Then I discovered that my beta testers would have to buy the app, so I changed it to free (oops). I now understand that I can't change a free app to a paid app and that I need to add a new app to the developer console.
However, when I try to add a new app, the Google Developer Console reports that the title has already been used (obviously). But that's the name I need (i.e., I have the same-named app available on other platforms). What should I do? If I delete the existing (beta) app will it let me reuse the name? I don't want to try doing this without knowing, because I suspect I'll break the versions that are being used by my beta testers.
Thanks!
Make sure to use a different package name for your paid version. Rename the free beta version and then use the intended name for the paid one.
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In Android Studio I have two "flavors" of the same app, one is the free version with some functionality removed, the other is the full version with some extra bells and whistles thrown in.
When I am in the Google Play console, do I have to maintain two separate projects but just use the free-release apk for the free project, and the full-release apk for the paid version?
If so, how do I know ahead of time how to give a link from the free version to the paid version if I don't yet have any sort of URL or method for going there?
If you are referring to knowing before which URL should you add to your free app to redirect users to your paid app, then you can use the general convention that the Google Play employs
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id="packagename"
So you can give your packagename of your full app
I am wondering what is the best way to have two different versions of an android app. I would like to have version of my app with ads and one without ads (the paid one). What is the easiest way to achieve this ? I have found something called version flavours here but since I am new to android development I am not sure if that is what I want. Please any suggestions for addressing this ?
You could have two versions of the application in Play store. However, you would have to maintain these separately and it is frustrating to upgrade from free to paid with this approach. If you chose this way of maintaining your application, you would have to have two projects, one for each version. This would result you into having two copies of almost identical source code.
One approach I've seen people do is that the free version also contains the premium features which are unlocked once the user installs a paid unlocker application from the store. However, this has the same result as the first option: you would have to maintain two applications (this time different, though) and the users would have to install additional software.
The best option is to include the premium version as an in-app purchase. The app would contain all the premium features but would be locked by default. Once the user pays for the in-app product (in this case the premium membership), he would unlock all the features.
You can read more about in-app billing here.
Why not just publish two apps with the free one as this :
MyApp
and the paid one as this:
MyApp(Paid).
And this is how to prepare them:
Get your app working, and add ads and then sign it and generate the apk. Publish it. MyApp.apk
Then go back, and remeove the ads, change the package name, add the Paid to the name, and then sign the apk. MyApp(Paid).apk
Then Publish it.
I'm planning to start a beta test for a new Android app.
Is it allowed to upload a beta version of an app to Google Play with the purpose to remove it after 3 weeks?
The user would be informed that the app is only available for 3 weeks, it would be a free download and marked as Beta.
Google Play Store's Alpha/Beta testing feature allows you to upload APKs whose access is limited to a group of testers. These testers should be a part of a Google Group or a Google+ community.
But what you are trying to do is not for testing purpose, is it? For you, it would be more suitable to upload a free (beta) APK. After 3 weeks, unpublish the app from Play Store and then reupload a premium version. Remember that once you publish an app as Free you cannot make it Paid. So you will have to upload the premium version with a different package name.
You can do this, but are you planning on charging for the app in the final production release?
If so, you won't be able to charge for the app under the same Google Play Store product listing. You'll have to create a new Play Store listing with a new package name for your APK (this is a Google Play Store restriction: you can't go from free to paid with the same APK).
See this or this for info on how alpha/beta works and how price changes apply to alpha/beta. Basically:
Any change you make to your app's Pricing and Distribution page
affects Alpha, Beta, Production, and any future versions; this also
applies to setting the price of your app (Free or Paid).
If you still want to use the same product listing (and not have a different package from beta to prod), then you'll have to release the beta version with a price, and then just refund all the beta purchases from your Google Wallet account. This could make your beta testers a bit wary though, so just doing different packages might be your best option.
What about "Paid Apps" as Alpha/Beta testing...
I am uploading one "alpha_version" apk under "Alpha" tab... I have tagged application as "Paid" app and also configured specific prices... (As Google does not allows to change from "Free" to "Paid"). I have also added "Tester" for this alpha version..
My Questions/Confusion:
As my application is "Paid" one - do my "tester group" needs to pay before downloading this "alpha" version
Can I set application mode as "Free" for "Alpha" and latter on make is "Paid" for Production build?
Once I publish this "alpha" version - does it view-able/visible on Google Play store (I am sure it will be for visible for tester only
not for all users - right?)
Any help/pointer would be greatly appreciated - Thank You.
AFAIK all users of a paid app, will need to pay for it. So also Alpha/Beta users. If you want them to test the app without paying for it, then you can distribute the app through e-mail or web, etc... without using the Play Store
NO. You also can't change a free app to a paid app in a later stage.
yes, but only test users will get the alpha/beta version.
If you want users to test your app for free in the Play store and sell your app to the general public, then you could distribute your app in an obfuscated name with irrelevant description for free for testers, and the real app, with the real name/description etc will be paid
It's annoying but you could just create another app in your developer console that is free and load your APK there. You will have to change the package name though and maybe give it a test name. Keep this free app in beta and then they can test it for free.
Then when you want to release it you create a new app that is paid and release that.
Please see my answer here:
https://stackoverflow.com/a/35352421/5916188
Yes, you can use a promo code to give beta testers (and others) a free copy at install time.
The help text on the publishing section says that once I make my app free I can no longer make it a commercial product. Is this true? Can I simply delete everything and re-publish my app to get around this?
Yes, its true that if you make your app free, you can't make it paid anymore. If you do want to make a paid version while you have a free version, you'll have to upload a new app with a different package name. You probably can't just delete everything and republish.