Android – Does Google Play Store send “Beta App Update” notification to “Beta Testers”

androidapkbeta-testinggoogle-playnotifications

My question is little more specific to the question asked here

My App is not yet published into production. We have published few beta versions of the app on Play Store.

My question is Does Google Play Store send "Beta App Update" notification to "Beta Testers"?

e.g. My App previous Beta version code is 4 which is already available with few Beta Testers and I updated App version code to 5 in Beta itself, now will my Beta Testers receive an App Update notification from Google Play Store?

This was my 5th Beta App Update but not a single Beta Tester have received an App Update Notification for each app update we did so far.

How does it relate with the OPEN Beta Testing and CLOSED Beta Testing?

Is it that Google Play Store only sends app update notification to Production App Updates?

Any suggestions and reference links to the official docs will be helpful.

Best Answer

After searching for a while, we got know that we were

using 2 Gmail ids on one device and
non tester (not yet "become a tester") Gmail ids in other device.

When we removed one email id from play store and asked to do "become a tester", we had to wait for notification to receive but we didn't receive it yet again.

On Next Day, My colleague helped me to find this:

Nothing with Google Play is automatic. They have a caching system much like Apple App Store among others. According to this caching system, once or twice a day the cache system gets flushed and the market (Play Store) gets updated about this data. At some point after that, the updates get pushed. This can be a multi-day process unfortunately. If you've not missed any setting then, i guess, all you can do is wait a while (at least next 24 Hrs after the update is live).

And Yes!!!! We received a Beta App Update notification from Play Store after a wait time of nearly 24 Hrs. The time can be less in some cases but I don't know why it took so much time for us.

I hope this might help someone looking for similar answers.

Java

final String appPackageName = getPackageName(); // getPackageName() from Context or Activity object
try {
    startActivity(new Intent(Intent.ACTION_VIEW, Uri.parse("market://details?id=" + appPackageName)));
} catch (android.content.ActivityNotFoundException anfe) {
    startActivity(new Intent(Intent.ACTION_VIEW, Uri.parse("https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=" + appPackageName)));
}

Kotlin

try {
    startActivity(Intent(Intent.ACTION_VIEW, Uri.parse("market://details?id=$packageName")))
} catch (e: ActivityNotFoundException) {
    startActivity(Intent(Intent.ACTION_VIEW, Uri.parse("https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=$packageName")))
}

We use a try/catch block here because an Exception will be thrown if the Play Store is not installed on the target device.

NOTE: any app can register as capable of handling the market://details?id=<appId> Uri, if you want to specifically target Google Play check the Berťák answer

Android – Where do alpha testers download Google Play Android apps

You need to publish the app before it becomes available for testing.

if you publish the app and the apk is only in "alpha testing" section then it is NOT available to general public, only for activated testers in the alpha section.

EDIT: One additional note: "normal" users 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).

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Android – How to open the Google Play Store directly from the Android application

Java

Kotlin

Android – Where do alpha testers download Google Play Android apps

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