Where do alpha testers download Google Play Android apps?

Question

I have developed my app and have published it through Google Play for alpha testing. As one of the testers I get an opt-in link, where I signed in as a tester. After that I was hoping to download the app directly with my phone by going to the Play Store on my phone. But as it seems to turn out, I have to got to the app's web profile and then from there click download; only then does the Play Store download the app to my phone.

I want to get other alpha testers involved and I was hoping to make the process easier for them. Is there an easier way? As in, once they opt-in, I would like them to just use their Android phone to download the app the way they would any other app. Is there a way?

Clarifications:

• I am not looking for an alternative to Google Play

• I have already gone through the Google Group creation process. My question is concerning what happens after a group member opts-in. Can they use their phone directly (play-app on phone) or must they download from the website? So far I have not been successful using the play-app.

Hoar

Could you post the APK and distribute that to them? – Candide

I don't understand the question. – Hoar

Your app has an APK once compiled. If you sign it properly and before you publish it you could theoretically distribute it to anyone you want, and they can manually install it. – Candide

@AmitApollo I want to use google play for my testing. So within that constraint, what's the easiest way. – Hoar

You've added the testing accounts to GMAIL Accounts with Testing Access under Your Google Play Console? – Candide

Also make sure those test accounts have devices that are supported for the APK. – Candide

This question appears to be off-topic because it is about Google Play Store support. – Lizzettelizzie

I had everything configured, but did not use the Chrome browser. After logging in with Chrome and clicking for the beta program it worked. – Darbie

"After publishing an alpha/beta APK, it may take up to 24 hours for your test link to be available to testers." – Michaelamichaele

if you are from the play developer console: go to apk after it is published=> click on "manage list of testers" => and paste the link from there to your tester account logged in browser: play.google.com/apps/testing/your.app.package if it does not work with firefox try from chrome – Abomasum

the idea of having to send alpha testers an email with a link goes against the normal usage model (which is: go to play store, click on an icon, follow directions) ... if I have to send them an email, that changes the normal usage model ... – Bennybenoit

This question is fine. Relax, developers are making apps. – Lee

It had been significant time since my app was published to the alpha group. But I wasn't able to view the update on the playstore. But joining the beta group immediately made the alpha release available to me. – Romanov

For some mysterous reason it gives me this Not found error when trying to access Play store view with my developer account altough it is also listed as one of the testers! I tried with my personal google acc. (also listed as tester), and it worked perfectly. – Cantone

Answer 1

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).

Quinary

I want to allow only alpha testing (not to the general public). – Dedifferentiation

Holger is correct, you can publish just an alpha apk (I've done this myself in the past two weeks). Your testers will get a URL to download the app from the Play Store. If you publish another version of the app for your alpha testers, keep in mind that it can take a few hours for the new version to show up at the Play Store as well. Good luck. – Eke

For Beta testers, they have to uninstall the production app (if they have it), enroll using your link and then Download the app from the Market again (after you have "published" your Beta). They will get the beta version instead. – Stoltz

I get the page saying u are a tester, but the only link i see for downloading is the "Download form playstore" when i press this link, the app cant be found. p.s. I have removed the other version from my device – Transpolar

UPDATE: Publishing took a bit longer then expected. Now it does work – Transpolar

When clicking publish, the link appears on "Select testers" but if you don't select any group in the field above, the link does never come active. After adding one, it works perfectly. What confused me was that I added testers on settings, and I thought it was enough, but it wasn't. – Chihli

When the tester clicks on the link that brings him/her to the PlayStore, there it should say "Update". – Betelgeuse

One thing that caught me was that even after publishing an alpha app, the link to view it in the play store didn't work. You have to click on the "invite" button and you will then find the direct link there. – Lott

Also note: It sometimes takes 24-48 hours for your APK to appear. Annoyingly, it just appears as a vague error until it is available. It'd be nice if it mentioned that. – Carburize

Where is the invite button? – Nicaea

You almost answered the question, now if you could please advise where this 'direct link' can be found I can get to my app :) – Obscurant

I was able to make the alpha test app available in the Google Play Store (I can still find the apps from the search box on devices that have opted-in accounts). Now, as you say, with newly published apps I cannot find them on the Google Plays Store any-more. – Coadjutrix

Answer 2

Here is a check list for you:

1) Is your app published? (Production APK is not required for publishing)

2) Did your alpha/beta testers "Accept invitation" to Google+ community or Google group?

3) Are your alpha/beta testers logged in their Google+ account?

4) Are your alpha/beta testers using your link from Google Play developer console? It has format like this: https://play.google.com/apps/testing/com.yourdomain.package

Menes

4 solve problem for me. Where you are find this link format? I can not see it n developer console. – Hade

APK->ALPHA TESTING->Alpha testers->Manage list of testers->Share the following link with your testers. – Menes

Make sure that beta testers give your the email address, which was used for registering their Android device. Any other personal email address will result in 404 error too. – Ceroplastics

Using the link from 4. it has another link that says 'Download app from the play store' When I click that I get the 404 – Scribner

Thanks for this. I had my APK uploaded, but not published. Duh. Now Play is 404ing, but I'm hoping it will work in a few hours... – Dress

@MattGrande yes, it takes some time before app is available on Google Play. – Menes

I had to visit the Google Group to make sure I was logged in before the link would work for me – Misbelief

No email was sent (at least not automatically) about the test URL. I had only the regular one with ?id=bla.bla.bla Where did you find that link? – Limbourg

Amazing - accepting group invite isn't enough. Thank you so much for pointing out step 4 - that made the difference. – Libertarian

I am having the same issue, contacted google via fro explanation (big mistake) the were rude.. and clue less. I have other google pay account, 1. 1. I crete test group , alpha or beta – Forepaw

I am having the same issue, contacted google via chat fro help.. (big mistake) they were rude.. and clueless. I have other google play accounts., and when I upload and publish, the tester receives notification after sometime that there is an update. If not, at least when they go the play store on their devices, they will see that there is an update for the alpha app....it not working that way now.. only way is to download from the "tester acceptance link" – Forepaw

Im unable to publish it to alpha testing, I just want to get the opt-in link...I get "An opt-in link will be available here when you publish your app." Here is my question: #38649207 – Alisa

it's stupid. You have to click a link in order to get access to the test builds. Why not create a test flight app for google. jeez – Joyajoyan

I added myself as Alpha tester and rolled-out the Alpha Release, its been 17 hours i have not received any email. Shall i wait for more hours to get the email. – Tarratarradiddle

Answer 3

1. Publish your alpha apk by pressing the submit button.

2. Wait until it's published.
   (e.g.: CURRENT APK published on Apr 28, 2015, 2:20:13AM)

3. Select Alpha testers - click Manage list of testers.

4. Share the link with your testers (by email).
   (e.g.: https://play.google.com/apps/testing/uk.co.xxxxx.xxxxx)

Deduce

The user must accept the invite, and then there is a little bit of a wait before the link works. Somewhat annoying - should be largely immediate. – Betweentimes

@AnthonyHorne How long is the wait? I've been waiting for almost 7-8 hours for the new alpha version update. I already have a prod version on playstore. – Malvasia

@ShobhitPuri Within a day. Make sure the link is not cached. Try a different browser on the phone, if necessary. – Betweentimes

How do I get that link, it is not showing for me? #38649207 – Alisa

@Deduce is that compulsory to publish application on production before publish on Beta? – Frisbee

Answer 4

It should be noted that releasing an alpha app for the first time may take up to a few hours before an opt-in link is available and invitations are sent out to the email addresses in your testers list.

From Google support:

After publishing an alpha/beta app for the first time, it may take a few hours for your test link to be available to testers. If you publish additional changes, they may take several hours to be available for testers. [source]

You may want to wait until you have an initial opt-in link before publishing more changes to the app because doing so is likely to increase your wait time for receiving your tester link; or, may lead to your testers testing with the incorrect version.

Hope that clears things up for anyone confused about why they don't have an opt-in link as depicted in screenshots in this SO thread!

Zacynthus

To add to this, if you go to the page that lists your apps, you can see if the app has been published (I noticed there's no indicator in the release page itself). – Feeding

Answer 5

Under APK/ALPHA TESTING/MANAGE TESTERS you find:

Choose the method you want. Then you need to first upload your Apk. Before it can be published you need to go to the usual steps in publishing which means: you need icons, the FSK ratings, screenshots etc.

After you added it you click on publish.

You find the link for your testers at:

Inglorious

I don't see this link anywhere. It was there back when I created the tester list, but I've never been able to get back to it. I published my alpha apk, and it's listed as published. But "Manage Testers" is not clickable, nor is "Closed alpha testing". There is nowhere I can manage my tester list. I haven't received any emails about it on the account I added to the alpha. Do I just have to wait some more? This is pretty ridiculous. – Ensepulcher

What ? Do I have to manually send the link to their email ? I already save the form (with testers email list) but they don't received any email from google. – Serpens

@user3562927 See my recent answer. It could explain what's happening in your specific cases. – Zacynthus

@Serpens See my recent answer, it could explain what happened for you. – Zacynthus

@Zacynthus -- my problem turned out to be Safari. I switched to Chrome and it magically appeared. – Ensepulcher

Answer 6

Google play store provides closed testing track to test your application with a limited set of testers pre-defined in the tester's list known as Alpha Testing. Here are some important things to be considered to use alpha testing.

Important

After publishing an alpha/beta app for the first time, it may take a few hours for your test link to be available to testers. If you publish additional changes, they may take several hours to be available for testers

Managing Testers for Alpha Testing

1. The Screenshot is most recent as of answering this question. You can see the manage testers for closed alpha testing, You can add and remove tester one by one or you can use CSV file to bulk add and remove. The list of defined email addresses will be eligible for testing the app, here you can a control whom to provide the app for testing. Hence, this is known as Closed Testing.
2. You can see the link(washed out by red line), once your app available to test, your testers can download and test the app by going to the below-given link. For that Google will ask once to the tester for joining the testing program. Once they have joined the program, they will receive an app update. As stated by store, it may take 24 hours to make an app available for testing.
3. Once your app available, Your invited testers can join the test by going the link https://play.google.com/apps/testing/YOUR PACKAGE NAME

Managing App Releases

1. After the Manage testers card, there is a card for manage release, from here you can manage your alpha releases and roll-out them to production by clicking the button at the top of the card once they well tested. This process of rolling out from testing to production/public is known as stagged roll-out. In stagged roll-out, the publisher publishes by the percentage of users, to better analyze the user response.
2. You can also manage multiple alpha release app versions from here, at the bottom of the screenshot you can see that I have once more apk build version being served as alpha test app.

Managing Closed Track Testing Availability

1. Apart from the user based control, you have one more control over the availability of the app for a test in the country. You can add limited countries tester to the app. suppose your list of the testers are from multiple countries and you want the application to be tested in your country only, rather removing testers from the testing list, you can go through Alpha Country Availability. It gives more precise control over testers.
2. Here, In Screenshot, my app is available worldwide states that my testers (from testers list) can test the app in all countries.

Grammalogue

Your screenshot labeled "Managing Testers for Alpha Testing" shows a link to an opt-in URL. Instead of that link, I have a grey box that says "An opt-in link will be available here when you publish your app.". It has been more than 24 hours since I uploaded my .APK file and there still isn't any link there. – Edmundson

You need to publish the app as alpha release. Once your app is published, you will get the Opt-In URL available there. – Grammalogue

does publishing my app mean clicking on the "Release to production" button? I thought "Release to production" meant releasing the app to the app store. – Edmundson

No, do not release to production, it means that you are rolling-out the apk to production. To release as alpha, Upload the apk file on on alpha test page and just click review. Once it is reviewed by play store team, you will get the opt-in url. – Grammalogue

Thank you, it appears that my app just took 4 days to get validated, before the link appeared. Google really could have made this more obvious, by replacing the grey text with "Waiting for app to be approved by Google..." – Edmundson

Aaah, I knew it. Maybe you have a new developer account. Google Play takes more time for app uploaded in a new account. – Grammalogue

@Badr Yes, It is, but no other way. You have to go through it. :) – Grammalogue

Answer 7

In my experience the flow is:

• you publish the app as beta in Google Play and create the Google+ community
• invite the tester to the community
• once he has joined, send him the link of the test app in Google Play
• the tester opens the link in the browser (not google play app)
• registers as tester
• in the browser, install the apps to the device (the app will be magically pushed to the device)

Misunderstanding

This is what I expect, but not happening... the only thing is I am not using the G+ community based testing and that may be the issue... I using closed alpha testing option. I will try ... – Forepaw

Im unable to publish it to alpha testing, I just want to get the opt-in link...I get "An opt-in link will be available here when you publish your app." Here is my question: #38649207 – Alisa

Answer 8

Another issue of that page if you use multiple playstore accounts:

In some cases you still get a 404, even if you are currently logged in with the right account, the one you joined the beta community with. As a workaround, you can clear the browser cache, use another browser for the beta signup, or just use the incognito mode of your browser.

Pedicular

Answer 9

You can use a Google Group and have your alpha testers just join the group. Everything else should just be handled through the Google Play Store App.

Reverent

Actually, I am past the Google Group stage. When a group member opt-in: that's what my question is about. What happens then is what I have described. I am looking for an easier process if anyone knows of one. – Hoar

When they go to your app in Google Play, it should allow them to opt in to the alpha version and also allow them to opt out easily. I don't believe there is an easier way than that. It just comes down to readable instructions at that point. – Reverent