Android – Google Play Beta testing without a published app

androidpublishtesting

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  • Keep it unpublished and start with a new package name all over again?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.

Best Answer

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.