Play store Beta Testing returning 404

Question

I'm a developer and i was thrilled when I was watching Google IO 2013 and learned about the new Beta testing feature. So I created a Google+ community and a google group and placed the testers in there (me included).

All we get (the developers and testers) when we visit the https://play.google.com/apps/testing/com.package.stuff is this:

Is there any trick I am missing? I would really like to use this feature.

I know there are alternatives like https://testflightapp.com/ but I'd rather keep my app under this environment where I can "promote" the Beta apk to the Production phase and so on.

Rodent

Is your app still in 'Draft'? You need to fill in all details and publish it as an alpha or beta app. – Hoopes

Yes, it's in draft. So, it doesn't work if all the details required are not met? it makes sense.. – Rodent

Yeh, once published as alpha or beta it should work. I had the same confusion. Worth noting, if it is a paid app you want to test you might encounter this issue #16618840 – Hoopes

The app is Free but thanks for the tip. I have a "check" on all the requirements but the url still goes for the 404. do i need to re-upload the beta apk? – Rodent

I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because questions about app stores are off-topic (see meta) – Pilgrim

Answer 1

I had this same issue. The reason the link is not working is because the app must be published before the link will be active. I repeat the app must be published, this does not mean there must be an APK in production. On the top right of your applications developer console page there is a drop down menu that allows you to publish the app. That link will become active immediately and your app will be available in a few hours to your testers on the Play Store.

Holsworth

You are absolutely right! Thanks, I was going nuts, not even the google support told me that detail – Rodent

how do you get a link to the alpha/beta to send out to your testers on G+ community – Olia

Look under your application's APK tab, then select which ever stage of testing you have your APK, Alpha or Beta. When you click the link "Manage list of Testers" you will see the link that needs to be posted to your Google+ community for testers to be able to access your app. The link is: play.google.com/apps/testing/<your_package_name> – Holsworth

"In a few hours.". That's the key. I've been sitting here staring at the screen waiting for it to work. – Galoot

Heh, how long is "in a few hours"? It's been >12 hours for me, and still nothing – Misha

That's very confusing. Alpha versions should be testable even as drafts according to my logic. – Octahedrite

Answer 2

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 they cripple the developer's ability to move fast...

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. More Private Channel info: http://goo.gl/DLGNe

• 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).

Talanta

Answer 3

2015 and the alpha/beta testing is, at best, 50% working. About 50% (23 of our 60+) beta tester never gain access to the app via the provided link. All the others have no trouble at all installing the beta app and receiving updates. No rhyme or reason. Single account on their device, some with gmail accounts, some with private email. It's a mixed bag of who gets access and who doesn't. In all cases, once they accept the invitation to join the group they have full access to the group. But they get a 404 when trying access the app. Not worth the trouble. Our fix is to give the testers access to to our private server and pass out the beta versions that way. Updates aren't automagic, but the testers can get the app hassle free

Soapsuds

23/60+ is closer to 33% you are being very generous with 50%. I am trying to use this as well and it hasn't worked for the past day. Searching for alternatives cause this is really ridiculous. – Comitia

I am having a similar problem when I was navigating to the url via Chrome, but when I switched to the other "internet" browser it seemed to work. – Deirdredeism

90% of the time this is because people have multiple accounts. try signing out of ALL accounts before clicking any links – Anklebone

Answer 4

First of all you need to create or have a Google+ community.

The process is:

• Create a new Google + community. It's required to have testers through Developer Console.
• Register this community in Google Play Developer Console
• Invite your beta testers to this community.
• Wait 8-24 hours before sharing the link
• Share the link with your testers
• Verify that your app is published for Beta Testing

If everything is right, the link should show something like:

Humpback

The google group or the community must be created with the same account that publish the app or I can use another account to create these groups? – Alarm

@DQuaglio See Sukhvir Singh's answer below and my experience as well - the account used to publish the app (Developer Console) has to be a member of the group, not necesarily the owner / creator of the community. – Pisci

Answer 5

I had the same problem and alpha testers had to get into my Google Plus Community for alpha testers.

Hewe

+1, cesarferreira said he has done that so it's not the reason why it did not work for him. However, I had the same 404 error for the same reason as you. So thank you for your answer. – Staysail

Answer 6

Fast forward to 2023… I can't get that opt-in URL to work for pre-launch internal testing. All I get is 404. What did work however is the closed testing track from such URL:https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=my.killer.app

Turns out testers need to join the internal testing program through a URL that looks like: https://play.google.com/apps/internaltest/xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

You can find that URL in your Google Play console under Internal Testing at the bottom of the Testers tab.

Embodiment

This is the new right answer. Thank you sir. Also I will add that I had gone to this link from my device I was trying to test on and that failed. It only worked when I went to the join testers link from PC, where I could then orchestrate the device install. – Worsen

Answer 7

I had the same problem (404 error on tester's link), but the cause was different from the one shown in buckson18's answer: in my case the app was published, but the user didn't join the testers Google Group, although he received the invite. After the user joined the group, the page showed correctly.

Hope this can help someone...

Rapprochement

Answer 8

I was also facing this issue. The problem was that Google group was not added. Another important thing to take care is that the account being used for developer console must be member of google group being added. I couldn't find this anywhere in the documentation.

Tetchy

Thanks @Sukhvir Singh! Google Play testing page didn't work until I joined with the Google account used in the Developer Console. Thought at first the issue was the community was private but not, as soon as I joined a few seconds later the testing page started working, thanks again! – Pisci

Answer 9

I have been using Beta testings for a couple of years and its very unreliable. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Now they have Open Beta Testing. I tried it today for the first time, and though I followed all the instructions, but it still doesn't show the app in the app store, unless I sign in, which makes it regular old style beta testing. Its much easier and hassle free to use HockeyApp to distribute app for testing.

After wasting hours with Goolge's Alpha and Beta versions, I always end up putting my app into production so that I could keep my testers. Its already hard to convince large number of people to do the testing, and then keep asking them to go through half working or not working procedures to download the app.

Protozoology

Answer 10

I solved it by go to https://play.google.com/apps/testing/[app package] on the device and then click that link and open it with google play

Cornflower

Answer 11

One thing that seems to have worked for us is to use the "opt-in URL" the Play Store developer console provides under "App releases" which should look like:

https://play.google.com/apps/testing/com.yourappname.android

This DIFFERS than the URL you see if you're already approved as a tester and visit the app's page on the Play Store in a browser. Ours looks like this:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.yourappname.android

Net net, use the 1st and not the 2nd. Good luck!

Hermeneutics

Answer 12

It should be noted also that the link is case sensitive so if you've got https://play.google.com/apps/testing/com.someAppName - if you put https://play.google.com/apps/testing/com.someappname it'll tell you it's not available!

Hassan