I have an Android app that I want to push to be available to download for users in our company.
But I don't want the app to be visible publically to all.
Does anyone have any suggestions on how I can achieve this?
As mentioned in Google G-Suite,
You can use the managed Google Play store to host Android apps
specifically for your organization. You can control who can download
an app. You can also benefit from security checks, such as user
authentication and malware detection. You publish private apps to the
Play store from the Google Admin console or the Google Play Console.
Go through this link and follow the steps :
Manage Google Play private apps
It has some FAQs. Please read this and check if it fulfills your requirements.
I am trying to test google play services features in an app, without publishing the app.
I went through the below link to do that.
https://developers.google.com/games/services/console/enabling
This process worked earlier but i think it has changed now, as i am getting the following error even after checking all the steps mentioned in the link above.
"The application is incorrectly configured. Check that the package name and signing certificate match the client ID created in Developer Console. Also, if the application is not yet published, check that the account you are trying to sign in with is listed as a tester account. See logs for more information."
Does anyone know if there has been any change in the process or if i am missing out something? Thanks.
You need to publish the app before it becomes available for testing.
If you publish the app and it is only in the "alpha testing" section then it is NOT available to general public; it is only available to activated testers in the alpha section.
EDIT: One additional note: "normal" uses will not find your app on Google Play, but also the activated tester can not find the application by using the search box.
Only the direct link to the application package will work (only for the activated testers).
You do not need to publish an app for testing. From the error it seems that the users/testers who want to test are not white listed. Quoting from the official documentation.
If your game is in an unpublished state, you must whitelist the user accounts that you want to grant access for testing. Otherwise, your testers will encounter OAuth and 404 errors when attempting to access the Google Play games services endpoints. Also remember to add yourself as a tester, or the Play Games SDK will not work for your user account
Hope this Helps!!
I am trying to publish app through Google Play Private Channel.What step i followed is as below
1. Sign-In with name#xyzcomp.com in Gmail mail App (i am not admin of our domain www.xyzcomp.com)
2. Go to Google Play Developer Console
3. Paid $25 successfully.
4. Upload testAPK (not published)
5. Verify domain (xyzcomp.com)
6. click on Pricing & Distribution
But i am not able see Restrict Distribution .
When i go through this link , i found that i missed one step that is , but as told i am not admin of domain so i am not able to see these thing through my login.
So, how will I rectify these mistakes? I have one more question I need to contact with domain admin or I can do by myself. Any help is really appreciated.
I am not very familiar with this, but it seems you have to be the administrator of a Google Apps account to restrict distribution on a Google Play private channel. You will have to ask your administrator to enable the feature for you.
I have a problem which is quite similar to this post:
Google Play Private Channel "Restrict Distribution" option missing. Both the question and the answers in that post did not help me out.
The option to restrict the distribution is also missing for me. I've made myself a checklist of the things I did and I can not figure it out why it is still not showing up. I made sure that the following things were done:
The company has a Google Apps for Business with a verified domain.
The Google Play Developer Console service is turned on and available for everyone.
"Allow users to update Google Play Private Channel" and "Allow users to access Google Play Private Channel" are both checked.
The developer account (Which is an #gmail.com account) has been invited as a user to the Google Apps domain of the company.
Just to be sure I also added someone from the domain as a user to the developer account.
The developer account has all the rights he needs on the Google Apps and the user in the developer account has all the rights he needs.
Waited for more than 24 hours, as things could take up that amount of time to get taken care off.
It doesn't matter if I upload an APK to the Google Developer Console with the developer account or with the user from the domain. The option to restrict the distribution is not visible on either of them.
If some one could help me out with this problem, then I would really appreciate it. Just mention it if I need to clarify some stuff a bit better. I'll edit my post then.
Got my answer after contacting the Google Play Developer Support (Got their response faster than I expected). It seems that the primary e-mail of the developer account must be in the same domain as the Google Apps.
A quote from the response that I got from the Google Play Developer Support:
In order for the option to be available to restrict distribution to your domain, the primary email of the developer account must be part of that domain.
So adding a domain user as a user to the developer account will not work.
You might ask yourself the question "But how do I change my primary e-mail?". The answer to that question is that you can't. You need to make a new developer account, transfer your apps from the old one to the new one and after that (Although it is optional) request a cancellation and refund of the old account. More information about this can be found here: https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/139626?hl=en
I think I followed all steps which I have found so far but the download link for my alpha test isn't working.
I uploaded the app 3 days ago, created a google group and added the group to the list of alpha testers.
I invited a few members and the app status shows published, after clicking on the link I can signup as alpha tester, but when I click on "Download from the Play Store" the error message "We're sorry, the requested URL was not found on this server" comes.
Did I miss an additional step? Do I have to grant some special rights to the group members somehow?
--- update can this be caused by the permissions of the app?
under the apk info in the developer console I can see:
functions:
android.hardware.LOCATION
android.hardware.location.GPS
android.hardware.location.NETWORK
android.hardware.TOUCHSCREEN
permissions:
android.permission.ACCESS_COARSE_LOCATION
android.permission.ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION
android.permission.INTERNET
-----UPDATE2
Well I don't have any idea what changed but now the download link is working for my alpha testers.
For me, it resulted to be a cache problem so deleting the cache in Setting > Apps > Google Play Services > Storage > Clean Cache and deleting chrome's cache, did the trick.
If your app is published in alpha or beta version :
it won't be shown in search results,
use the link that google play sent you in the group of testers in order to open it in Google Play application.
(see edit below)
You can also open this URL : https://play.google.com/apps/testing/APP_PACKAGE with a browser if the email configured in your phone is a member of the google testers group.
i don't think permissions in manifest can hide an app of the store !
EDIT
After you have uploaded your APK file and published it to Alpha or Beta version, you will see a link "manage testers group" or something like that. Click on that link ... you will be asked to add a google group of testers, below the popup you will see a message like this : "share this link with you testers group". Copy that link and send it to the group by mail.
Sorry I am writing with SO android app, I can't paste screenshots therefore ... may be tomorow ;-)
Hope it's ok.
I don't have any idea what changed but now the download link is working
You issue was just the publish delay -- it takes some time for Google Play servers to pick up your submission (for any publishing operation, even with alpha builds), usually under 24 hours.
Try opening the link on both your test device and in a desktop browser.
I was able to sign up as a tester from the device, but not install the app (said not found), but going to the desktop browser was able to use google pay to install it remotely to the device.
Make sure its the url in the form https://play.google.com/apps/testing/{your.namespace}
Sign in to your Goole Play Console.
Select your app.
On the left menu, Select Release management -> App releases.
Select Manage Alpha or Manage Beta.
Manage testers, click on right side down arrow.(Just below CREATE RELEASE)
Choose a testing method: select Closed Beta Testing.
Next Create list or select the name of your list.
Feedback Channel: Enter your email to get feedback from testers.
Copy Opt-in URL and send it to your testers.
Now once you completed, Google Play servers takes time for any publishing builds alpha or beta. For me it takes 15-20 minutes to available.
Sometime clear cache of your browser and refresh link. will work.
Once link is available, Open it in your testing device and click on below link
Download the *APP NAME* app on Google Play
Press the Update Button. After installation you can test it.
How authorized testers turn on internal app sharing
Before authorized testers can download apps using internal app sharing, they need to turn on internal app sharing on their Google Play Store app.
Open the Google Play Store app Google Play.
Tap Menu Menu > Settings.
In the “About” section, tap the Play Store version 7 times.
After the Internal app sharing setting appears, tap
the switch to turn on internal app sharing. Tap Turn on.
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 it's going to be like this.
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.
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).
If you followed the mentioned instructions and it's still not working, in 2019 make sure to also check the following:
1) Make sure the testing group is selected, but is also active:
2) Ask your testers to log out of their google account, then to clear the cache of their browser. They should then close/re-open the browser and log in into the invited email address.
There are several causes for the internal/alpha testing link not working:
1-You are on a different google play account
2-Your email is not added at the email list for testers
3-Go to google play console> your app > app releases > internal test > make sure list name is check as if not the testers will not have access to the app
Hope this helps to solve the issue
One of the causes of that issue might be its availability in (one) particular country only. (USA, usually).
In that case you just should go to the app details and allow its distribution to other (local) stores.
My problem was that even though I deinstalled my release version the link from internal testing brought me again to the release version. This fixed it.
I had this problem if I was logged in with multiple different Google accounts. I opened a new private browsing window and logged in with the account that I wanted to use as an alpha tester, and then the download link worked.
I got the same issue, seems a bug. Solved by:
1.Click "unpublish".
2.Wait for a while, click "re-publish".
Then my App became available in a few minutes.
In my case I was listed as tester in several list (alpha and internal test).
I had only joined the alpha testing channel and I had no way to access the app via the link nor via searching the store.
And as soon as I also joined the internal test channel.
The link to the app magically started working.
So I guess the rule is: you need to make sure you have joined the most privileged testing group that you're invited to.
Also make sure the app, you're going to test, is uninstalled from your device.