I have already published an app to version 2, and have uploaded an app with version 3 to to Google Play as a beta testing version, and then discovered with errors, so I have modified the codes is now ready for publish.
I tried to upload the correct apk with version 3 to Google Play, but it says I have already uploaded a version 3 apk already.
Question:
How to remove the wrong apk from the Google Play? Or what should I do? Or I can only modify and upload the app as version 4?
Thanks!!
You can not remove the apk from google play. You just have now update your application version and upload the new apk on google play that is the only way.
Please note that package names for app files are unique and permanent, so please choose wisely. Package names cannot be deleted or re-used in the future. Keep in mind that if you've lost your keystore, you'll have to publish the app with a new package name and a new key. You should also update the description of the original app and unpublish it.
If the app was ever published, this will not work. You can unpublish an app, but you cannot delete any .apk files that were ever active while the app was published. (This behavior is undocumented as far as I can find.) This is unfortunate; it would be nice to be able to completely remove all traces of an app that was never downloaded by anyone. Even better would be a sandbox area that emulated all aspects of Google Play, including buying your own app (and would support doing it through the emulator).
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I currently use the inner sharing of the play console to release new versions to testers. (They have exactly the same package name and signing key.)
However, the testers responded that they could not upgrade from the official version to the test version, so the app update process could not be tested.
If I install the app first and open the inner sharing link, the play store displays
"A public version of this app is already installed on this device. Uninstall it and try again"
Is there a way to upgrade directly from the official version to the test version in the play store like installing an apk? (not uninstall app)
For example, the internal test of the play console may be possible?
Thanks for your help.
If you're using internal app sharing https://play.google.com/console/u/0/internal-app-sharing/ to share your app, then it won't work. Internal app sharing is used to quickly share an app with your internal team and testers, it doesn't undergo google play review process.
So you can't update your public version using this.
You can however, use different play console tracks for uploading your apps and they will support updates. Here https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/9845334?hl=en is the link for setting up open closed or internal track. When you upload your app to any of these tracks, they'll go through the google review process and once the app is available on playstore, testers can easily update it.
In case you don't want to wait for review, and want to use internal-app-sharing only, then, you can create 2 different versions of your app(different version numbers) and upload both of them to internal-app-sharing. You can then share the 2 links to your testers, and your testers should first install the lower version app and then open up the link of higher version number apk. It'll show the update button.
Edited(Thanks to #pierre): Although it looks like you're uploading artifacts signed with the same key, the Play Console actually re-signs the artifacts in the internal-app-sharing to avoid distributing an app signed with the production key that hasn't gone through their review process.
I first accidentally uploaded an APK to production in the google play developer console.
So I generated a new apk with higher version code and published it in beta channel as Open Beta Testing so it will listed in play store as Early Access .
Now when I click publish, it actually publishes my app to the play store, even though I have now uploaded to the Beta channel. There is not intimation that app is in early access.
It behaves like production release.
There is no way to delete the production APK.
The unpublish option in console will unpublish the whole app ..There is no option to unpublish production alone.
I hope I don't need to delete the whole app project from google play?
My Steps
I searched many questions in Stackoverflow like my question about Google play issues. They suggested to create an new app with different package name.
(This is not a duplicate question)
But I don't want change my package because I registered the package name with many API providers and backend providers (like Firebase , Fabric)
And we like the package name very much.
And the old questions in SOF is pretty outdated. So I want to know any changes happened in google policy.
You can unpublish the app and wait to publish app in right time.
How to unpublish an app in Google Play Developer Console
I am not sure if this will affect closed tests etc., but I don't think so
Once you have published in production, you always have to have a production APK. You can't unpublish in production and still have a version in beta.
I am able to unpublish the production app at : Store Presence > Pricing & Distribution > App Availablity > Unpublish. After the unpublish of the app at production - my app continues to available at internal test/beta distribution.
Here I am developing Android app with android studio. I turned my google account into a google developer account and then published my app in the play store after signing that app within my computer. After a month I published an update for that app with the same package name. I also upgraded the "Version Name" & "Version Code". I checked the the situation by using a phone which has the initial release of the app, but after I released the update the specific page of that app in play store doesn't show an update button ("open"button is there).
How can I correct this?
Thanks.
If your phone with the "initial release" of the app didn't install it from the Play store, then the Play store won't update it. I suspect this will be your problem.
The Play store will only update apps for which it did the initial install (to avoid treading on the toes of app developers during development or other app stores).
The way it checks for "Did the Play store install this" is "Does the signature of the app match the signature in the Play store" and "does the user on the phone have a record of install from the Play store on their account on any device".
After updating an app on play store it can take several hours to be available on play store. Just wait for couple of hours.
So first of all you have to make sure the following three points are in place:
You are installing exactly the same variant from android studio compared to the one you published on google play store.
The app you installed from android studio has a lower "version code"
You are using exactly the same signing key.
Most likely the third point is what is stopping this from working. The problem is that if you are using app bundle as publishing format, that apk is not created yet when you upload the bundle and it will only be create and SIGNED at a later the stage, when the app is about to be distributed on a specific device.
Unfortunately, there is a chance, like in my case, that the signature still will not match perfectly even if you used exactly the same key to sign the app, reason being that if you have singed up for Google Play Store signing, google will add some metadata: "It does however insert a minuscule amount of metadata that helps with verifying the source and integrity of the distribution. This metadata comes in two flavors: For all apps uploaded to Google Play, Play has been adding security metadata after the signing block to enable features such as authorized P2P app sharing. We announced this originally in a blog post in 2017. For apps uploaded as app bundles, we will improve this security by introducing what is called a source stamp. This source metadata is inserted into the app’s manifest by bundletool. When the APK is generated on Play’s server, it’s also signed with a Google key in addition to your app signing key."
I yet have to solve this issue unfortunately
Good day.
My question today is the following:
If I installed my app from the google playstore then tried to update it manually with an updated signed APK generated straight from android studio would it throw an error?
Does google play add extra meta-data to my app upon submission in which it can only be updated through google play?
My reasons for asking this question are due to my own observations and are stated in the following.
I recently published my app to the app store (my first app). Afterwards I immediately began working on an update the update is ready but this is where things get complicated. I installed my app from google play and then attempted to update it through a signed apk directly from android studio.
The update ran successful however the first screen runs (splash screen nothing special) then it launches the second screen which retrieves data from the database. When it lands on the second screen my app crashes.
I tried the following install patterns:
Installing a direct older version apk which was not submitted to the play store then the new apk (both are signed) which resulted in success.
I installed the new updated apk independent of the old apk (by removing the old version) which resulted in success.
From attempting these two scenarios it is certain my code is working properly so the issue must be related to installing an apk from google play as well as a new version not from google play.
Thanks for your help.
No, Google Play cannot change anything in your uploaded APK as Google Play does not have your signing key. The fact that you're able to install a new version of the APK signed by your key confirms that the key is the same and the app is exactly as you uploaded it.
I am developing an Android application and in this application, I am using "In app billing" features.
I uploaded apk on the google console account and set the product id, price and other required things and saved all the data in the draft.(Application is still in draft mode).
I did not publish my app yet.
After a few minutes, I realized that I uploaded old signed apk file and keystore of this apk has already lost.
Now I want to remove this old apk file and want to upload a new one in draft mode.
My problems are :
How to remove the old apk file from the google console account.(In Draft Mode)
How to upload the new signed apk file with new key store (As I have
lost my old key store)
EDIT:
I want to publish the app with the same name and with same package name. I do not want to change my app name atleast.
This can now be done by going to Release management > Artifact library and deleting the APK.
You cannot delete the artifacts anymore.
Here's a part of my chat with Pete through the built-in help & support.
Pete:
Thanks for waiting. You can't remove an apk that you've already
served. Your next Production apk has to be version code 3 or higher.
Me:
So I can't just delete the artifact of that build?
Pete:
That's correct.
(P.S. He mentioned version code 3 because of my specific issue)
You can try KOTIOS's answer.
Delete the aab / apk file from the Google Play Console on the App Bundle Explorer under Release Tab
Then select the apk/aab file you want to delete from the List
Quoting Can we still remove never-published apps from Google Play?:
Well, the answer is that the strategy still works. If you've never
published the app, you can remove all traces of it from Google Play
and another publisher account can then upload an app with the same
package name. All you need to do is deactivate (if necessary) and then
delete all .apk files and the app will disappear from your developer
console.
If the app was ever published, this will not work. You can unpublish
an app, but you cannot delete any .apk files that were ever active
while the app was published. (This behavior is undocumented as far as
I can find.) This is unfortunate; it would be nice to be able to
completely remove all traces of an app that was never downloaded by
anyone. Even better would be a sandbox area that emulated all aspects
of Google Play, including buying your own app (and would support doing
it through the emulator).
I also discovered that the delays involved in propagating changes to
all Google Play servers seems worse than it did a year ago with
Android Market. In one case, when testing license responses I had to
wait two hours after uploading (but not publishing) an app before the
response came back as anything from "NOT_MARKET_MANAGED".
You can do this by upload new apk with upper version
and the old Apk will deactivated automaticly