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This is a follow up of this question.

I made a mistake and posted an APK by error on production tab. I clicked "unpublish this app" to revert my error. The problem is that now beta testing is disabled.

Do I have to create a new application with a different package name?

I tried to deactivate the production APK but it throws an error and It won't let me do it.

EDIT

I believe the correct question is: Can I republish only to beta channel?

Community
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StackOverflower
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  • You can't deactivate a production APK if it has been installed at least once I believe. As for why the beta tab is now disabled that I don't know. – shkschneider Apr 28 '15 at 16:21
  • @shkschneider: can I republish only to beta channel or if I click "republish this app" will do it for production also? – StackOverflower Apr 28 '15 at 16:24
  • @Olayinka: that's not true. I have 2 applications in beta without any production APK. Do you first publish to live and after that you do beta testing? – StackOverflower Apr 28 '15 at 16:29
  • @Olayinka False. You *can* publish a beta app if there is no production APK, I have 2 beta apps without a production app. – shkschneider Apr 28 '15 at 16:29
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    @StackOverflower How did you solve your problem? I also have an app which was live some time ago. And now I need to beta test new verstion without republishing old verstion to production. – RustamG May 03 '17 at 05:06
  • Did you get any solution? – Irshad Apr 08 '19 at 05:57

4 Answers4

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You're able to "solve" it by setting your country availability to a single country where you know you will probably not get a lot of downloads. I set "Yemen" and then I published the app again.

Now, you're able to publish a beta version to your beta track .. and after it has been uploaded you are able to set the country availability for that beta. Under "Manage country availability" -- you may either "sync with production" or set "customize availability". Select the latter and choose all the countries.

Beta country availability

Peter Theill
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If you are ok with not using play store to do your beta test,

This is what I used for my apps.

Test Fairy

Yushi
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Your best bet is to utilize Google's alpha/ beta setup within the Google Plus atmosphere.

The instructions for setting it up are here: https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/3131213?hl=en

You will have to create a Google Plus group, which you can invite others to, and only they will be allowed to download / install the beta version. You can also just limit it to yourself (slightly unproductive, but you could if you wanted to).

Hope that helps.

-Sil

PGMacDesign
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Please kindly note that, if you only wish to publish your app in beta testing only, the best and the only solution at the moment will be for you to leave this app as unpublished. And create a new app with another package name.

Since if you re-publish your app, all the tracks (including production track) will become active to the user to download.

Hope this helps some one.:)

Irshad
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