You run your Android closed test through a Google Group, and a tester opens the group link and gets "Content unavailable". That means the group is private. Two settings fix it.
Open your group and go to Group settings → General. The two dropdowns you need are just below Shared labels, one scroll down.
1. Who can see group
Set it to Anyone on the web.
2. Who can join group
Set it to Anyone on the web can join. Not Anyone on the web can ask, the option right above it. With "can ask", you have to approve every tester by hand, and nobody can opt in until you do.
3. Save
Press Save changes. Google says the change can take a while to apply. If it still fails straight away, wait a bit before you change anything else.
4. Warn your testers about this screen
"You don't have permission to access this content" is about reading old posts in the group. That's a separate setting and has nothing to do with joining. The Join group button works. If you don't tell testers first, they see that line and leave.
5. Join once from a second account
From the account that owns the group, a broken group looks fine. Open it in another browser profile. If the member count goes up without you approving anything, it works.
Why this happens
Nobody got a setting wrong. This is how a new Google Group starts:
And Play Console asks for the group first:
"For closed tests using a Google Group, users must join the group before opting into your test."
So a group left on its defaults is a wall in front of your test, and the error your tester sees never mentions the group.
Source: Play Console Help — Set up an open, closed, or internal test
The full version, with Workspace groups and connecting the group in Play Console: actparty.app/guides/google-group.html
ACT Party is a free app where developers test each other's apps to reach the 12 closed-test testers.
Top comments (0)