Production Access is Rejected By Google Play| How to Solve it
Recently Google started going vague at indie developers and started rejecting the production access to many apps on the Google Play Console after Closed Testing. Basically if you reading this post it might mean that your production access got rejected and closed testing for 14 days started again. Lets see what are the reasons and how you can get production access.
Reasons for production access getting rejected
Based on email sent by Google, it might be because of the following reasons
- Didn’t fill the production form correctly : Many developers don’t fill this form with all the details. Google might have not understood about your app.
- Didn’t update your app: Google also thinks that you need to update your app based on the feedback received from the testers. If not, it might mean that you didn’t took the feedback from testers or you didn't act on the feedback.
- Testers were not engaged : This might not be the exact reason, since I talked to a lot of affected developers and many of them told that their testers tested their apps continuously for 14 days. They got testers from friends & family, fiverr, testing agencies, reddit, etc.
How to Get Production access in Google Play?
I personally talked to lot of affected developers and read a lot on posts on reddit about this issue. To ensure you don’t get this issue, you need to follow this steps
- Publish a new Closed Testing Release
- Fill the Production access form with Great answers (I will list the answers below)
Code:
if(Question == "Want 20 Testers for 14 days ?")
{
if(cost == "Free")
{
print("Download Testers Community App and List your App")
print("https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.testerscommunity)
}
}Publish a new Closed Testing Release
After 7–10 days of closed testing, publish a new closed testing release with some changes. You can create a new release by going to:
Play Console -> Closed testing -> Create new track -> Create new Release
Don’t worry that closed testing might start from day 1. It won’t start from day 1 again, it will not affect closed testing counter. we are doing it just to tell google that we made some changes based on testers feedback
Fill the Production access form with Great answers
This is one the main reasons for production access getting rejected. You need to answer 10 questions about your app and testing. Ensure that you fill at least 200–250 words for each question. I wrote the answers to those questions for a Chess app, but the answer will apply to every app with some small changes.
1) How did you recruit users for your closed test? For example, did you ask friends and family, or use a paid testing provider?
I recruited users for my closed test through a variety of channels. I started with a pilot test with friends and family to get initial feedback. Then, to expand the pool and gather more app centric feedback, I reached out to our target users and asked them to become testers for my app
2) How easy was it to recruit testers for your app?
Neither difficult nor easy
3) Describe the engagement you received from testers during your closed test
Engagement during our closed test was positive and insightful. All testers(target users , friends and family have tested all the features of our app thoroughly for 14 days and gave a good feedback to improve on
4) Provide a summary of the feedback that you received from testers. Include how you collected the feedback.
We collected feedback from testers through a combination of in-app surveys, talking to testers and using play store review section. The overall feedback was positive, with testers highlighting a few minor bugs and suggesting some features to improve the user experience.
5) What changes did you make to your app based on what you learned during your closed test?
The closed test provided valuable insights that helped us refine the app in several ways. Based on testers feedback, we simplified the login flow for better usability, fixed minor bugs, added 3 dimensional chess pieces and done many more changes.
6) How did you decide that your app is ready for production?
Our testers gave a positive feedback. We also addressed core functionalities, solved all bugs and added new features. Most of our testers are target users for whom we made this app. Since they really liked our app and we acted on their feedback, we are sure that our app is ready for production.
Conclusion:
We all hate Google’s 20 testers policy and prayed that google will take it back but after this new changes it seems that the policy is there to stay. But anyways we indie developers are here to stay too. I will update you with more information and solutions in future, so hit that follow button.
For any doubts contact me at testerscommunity7@gmail.com
