Android app beta / alpha test apk not installing

Question

My company has an app published on google play store and android marketplace. One of the problems that we are fixing in the next version of the application is adding back xlargeScreen = true (in the previous version it was set to false), so now the application does not appear on large tablets). We are trying to set the alpha / beta testing setting so that we can make sure that all our problems are fixed before we push apk to life.

I downloaded apk to alpha and published it. I made the google + community, added it to accepted testers and sent a link for the application. But, when we go to the link and install as testers, nothing happens. If I go to the google play store, it will show the date of the last upload to the account, but the install button tries to install the previous version in real time (which is incompatible with the test device, yay!). Also, someone used their device, and the entire installation was installed on their version.

I considered the question “Wait until 24 hours for publication to go through”, a problem, but the first alpha was uploaded on Friday for lunch and will not work today at lunch on Monday. I converted the old apk to beta and put the new one in alpha (more bugs) at lunch today. I checked all the settings and everything looks right, but I don’t see how I can actually download the beta or alpha at this point. And if I suppose to download the production version 1) How can I assume that on a device that is not compatible with the production version, and 2) how to choose the beta version and alpha version?

Answer 1

Ok, so it takes about 2 hours to publish alpha / beta, and if you select it, it will be available in the google play store instead of the live application.

My particular problem was that the new alpha / beta apk is still incompatible with the device. I wish there was some kind of notification on the page to show that you were viewing the test version (or, even better, the way to select the alpha beta on the Google game page after you select it).

It turns out that <uses-permission> in some cases will make the device incompatible if it lacks this function. Adding <uses-feature android:name="problem feature" android:required="false" /> for violating permissions fixed my problem.