I want to publish a beta version of some app of mine on the android market and face the problem that I cannot upload an app with the same package-name twice - not even with a different certificate. But having 2 package-names for release and beta version makes a lot of trouble ( e.g. having to change references to the different location of R every time )
Is there a best-practice/good workaround for that problem?
Yes call your package
com.you.app.beta
Fix all the bugs in this app. Then when you go live just copy the project refactor your package name (Eclipse CTRL+ALT+R on the item) update your manifest and re-release. The beta package is then not supported by you any more and you can even click unpublish, or release an update that shows an upgrade screen linking to the new package (i.e. new market url)
com.you.app
What's the problem?
since IO 2013 there is now one option to do beta-testing:
https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/3131213?hl=en
We upload but do not publish beta versions of our apps. Once uploaded, the market will assume that any incoming license check is being done from a legitimate installation that was side loaded and will respond "licensed". So our beta testers can test a full implementation, including the licensing code. (Test account responses are also honored for uploaded but unpublished apps.)
When the testing is complete, we upload the release version using the same package (and signing cert), and publish.
I came across this blog which discuss Android Beta Testing and feels like that the better way. So just sharing with you guys. Hopefully it will be helpful for all . http://zubhium.posterous.com/android-app-beta-testing
Pushing app with com.packagename.beta is not a very good idea. It creates unnecessary confusion and secondly you don't want to get unstable version in market to get bad ratings for your brand.
Why can't you just use the same package name for the release version? Doing so would also let your beta users get notified of an "application upgrade" (that is, the release of the final version).
If you do want to use different package names, one way is to make an ant script that you can run that changes all the imports, and the manifest.xml, to use the new name. So you have your code that you develop in, then you can just run your ant script whenever you're ready to upload to the Market; say "ant beta". This would rename all your packages from com.company.app to com.company.app_beta, and you could release it on the Market.
It is good practice not to upload a beta version to the Market. You should only upload production ready applications to the Market, as this is what the users expect.
If you want to beta test your application, it is better to use a private distribution channel.
If you use the same certificate, then an application with the same package name will be considered as an update to a previous one. Users will be able to update easily.
Related
I tried to use Google In-App Updates library in my application that already in the Playstore. But i have some problems about how to test it. I am not gonna use FakeAppUpdateManager since there are no UI is being shown and no update is really performed
First, I cannot test it with debug build even if i set the versionCode lower than Playstore version code because of different keystore.
Second, According some tutorials said that i must using release build and signed with same keystore that i use to upload on Playstore. but when i did that, i still didn't get any in-app update. My guess is: because i used Google App Signing so the fingerprint is different and it is not recognized as same application (let me know if i am wrong about this).
Is there any elegant way to test this out?
I have an app that's close to launch. In prep for this, I've put it into production with "Timed publishing". It's ready to go, all I have to do now is click "Go Live".
However, I have a bug fix and I want to put out a beta for it now, before I'm ready to release the app to the world at large.
I've managed to upload the beta, but how can I release it to my beta testers through the store. Previously when I've played with Timed publishing, it didn't actually go out to the Beta testers until I clicked "Go Live".
I don't want to do that, because I'm not ready for my app to be made public at all, and I'm afraid it will go anyway.
I've tried switching to Advanced mode and Deactivating the version in production right now; however, it won't let me save. It complains The application could not be saved. Please check the form for errors. But don't see anything on the form that looks like an error.
How can I do this, or what should I be looking for to find the error?
I got an answer out of Google:
We don't currently support the functionality of removing production APK. If you press "Go live" button on the upper right corner, both production and beta version will be published on Play Store. It's not possible to keep production version silent and only have beta version live.
We currently require that once a Production APK has been published, the app must always have an APK in Production. This requirement is in place so that we are in compliance with the DDA by ensuring that once an app has been made publicly available, that it remains available for any users who may have installed it.
In my not so humble opinion, this is a deficiency in Google Play's system. I can see that requirement once it has been made public, perhaps even only after someone has actually downloaded it, but until then I as a developer should be able to pull it completely or be sure it's going to go straight to a Unpublished without ever appearing on the store so that no release happens by accident.
Google continues:
If you would like to prevent users from downloading your latest production version, since you haven't made it live, one option is to edit the previous production APK file to which you want to roll back with a higher version code than the current APK file. You may then upload the old APK as an update.
After you make sure the production APK is not the one you want to present to public and the beta APK is the right one, you can then press "Go live" so users will still see the previous production version while testers can download beta version.
The other way is to unpublish the current app and then publish a new app with a new package name for beta testing only. [...]
Both those are round about ways of accomplishing the work I need to do, it just adds more effort on my part to set up another app for my beta testers to use. It would; however, allow them to use both side by side on the same device when it goes live.
Right now I'm facing the same problem, but I think it's not possible to publish a beta if timed publishing is enabled without going live.
Here is the reference about this topic I found in Google support:
Reference link: https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/6334282?hl=en&ref_topic=7072031
I'm trying to add an application for beta testing for first time. I made a mistake and instead of adding it on beta tab I did it on production one.
I'm trying to cancel the publish process but I'm not able to do so.
I've switched to advanced mode and clicked "deactivate" but I get the following error
This configuration cannot be published for the following reason(s):
You must have at least one active APK.
I don't want to publish the App. This other question Unable to deactivate APK accidentally uploaded to Prod seems to indicate that there is no possibility to revert this mistake. How is that posible?????
EDIT
It seems I'll be able to unpublish this app. Is it possible to publish it again later using the same package id and just change the version?
No, you can unpublish but once your application has been live on the market you cannot delete it.Only older version can be deleted
You cannot cancel the publishing, at least I think that if you upload a beta apk with higher version name it replaces the active app.
The error I think it's because the app is not published yet it takes around 2 hours to publish.
If this question I'm about to ask was already asked, please just direct me to the link as I didn't find it. For the beta testing in google play, do you have to first un-publish a beta APK before the new one will take its place? Also can you upload the same version code or do you have to create a new version code with each APK upload in Beta?
The reason I ask is I was about to Beta test a new version of an application. I upgraded the application on my test phone and it crashed. I found out there was a line of code I forgot to take out for testing purposes which caused the upgrade to break. Which is funny because the testing code was testing, indirectly, the upgrade code. Anyway, so I didn't want to upload a whole new code version just overwrite the pre-existing APK upload. I was hoping this was possible due to it only being in Beta status. Also, I guess this means having to potentially wait another 24 hours for his new Beta APK upload to take effect. That was another thing I was hoping to bypass was uploading the same version in Beta would wipe out the pre-existing Beta version code so the changes would be immediately upgradable. Wishful thinking I'm assuming.
Thank You in advance.
No, you do not have to un-publish your application to upload a new Beta version. However, you must increment the version code in order to release a new Beta version. The version code must be incremented, so devices that installed your application can track whether an update is available, by comparing the installed version code to the Google Play version code.
Every time you release a new version or update your application info, it could take a few hours for these changes to propagate. In my experience, it only takes about 5 hours until people start receiving the update notification. If you are really bothered by the time it takes for new versions to be available, you could use a different app distribution service, for example HockeyApp, TestFlight, etc...
When your app is ready to production, you don´t have to unpublish, just "promote to production", you don´t have to change the versionCode.
If your Beta application has bugs, made the changes and you have to upload another .apk and yes, you have to change to the newer versionCode.
If your app was published, you can´t overwrite the pre-existing APK.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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...
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.