This is an article for those who have or may register as new developers after Google's policy change. I am publishing a free application(DevsPayForward) for such developers to cooperate with each other. If you read the article and are interested, please use it.
14-days test of 20 people has been mandated by Google. As an indie developer, this alone is tough, but it seems that some developers have recently had their results rejected after completing the test and have to start the test all over again. If this happens, it can take up a lot of time, and the developer can become exhausted. Developers need to protect themselves.
Google's reject
Your app isn't ready for Google Play production yet
The following is a list of rejections.
- Testers were not engaged with your app during your closed test
- You didn't follow testing best practices, which may include gathering and acting on user feedback through updates to your app
- Your answers to the application quetions about your app, closed test, or production readiness were incompete or insufficient
This is what is described, and I don't know what the clear problem is. But I guess the bottom line is that they were rejected because they do not see the point of improving quality, which is the purpose of closed testing.
What we should do to avoid being rejected
Possible Reject Actions and Possible WorkaroundsWhat can I do to make them realize that the test is working well enough to avoid rejection?
- At the beginning of the evaluation phase
- During evaluation
- Upon completion of evaluation
At the beginning of the evaluation phase
Evaluation Start PhaseFirst, it is most important to get testers who can test reliably. There are holes in the current Google rules. I won't go into detail here, but it is possible to make it look like you have completed the test without having to prepare 20 accounts or even install the application. And the difficulty with this problem is that even if a developer follows the rules, there is no guarantee that his testers will follow the rules. Getting reliable testers is very difficult. The easy way is to use a paid service, but this may be a difficult choice for a developer who does not know if he will be able to generate a lot of revenue. This is a bit lengthy and will be discussed in more detail later.
During evaluation
During EvaluationDuring the testing period, even minor bugs should be fixed and upgraded. This will clarify your commitment to testing.
Upon completion of evaluation
At the end of evaluationAnswer questions from Google at the end of the test. I myself have submitted multiple apps and did not write much of a story in my answers, but fortunately I did not get rejected. It is likely that there are a lot of factors at the beginning and during the evaluation process, but what you describe here may help you if you are about to be judged as a reject target.
Securing a Tester
This section describes how to secure free testers. Please refer to my previous article comparing methods of securing testers. Now, there is no perfect way to secure testers that you can believe in. As long as developers are bribing each other for testing, the only way is to find a developer you can trust or to check the status of their testing, but unfortunately you can't know if they are lying. The least you can do is to confirm that you have done the installation. You can ask them to comment on the app in a way that you would not know unless you installed it, or get a capture of it. It's a hassle, but at least it avoids the opt-in only behavior. In addition to making it easier for testers to provide feedback on the apps they are testing, my app also checks the status of test apps. The important thing is to give other developers what they need as well. To get something, there must be a price. Systematization can be devised so that developers do not waste their time and effort, but it does not change the absolute number of tests. If a system returns results that significantly exceed the actions you have taken, you need to determine if it is a system you can trust. Installing and testing an application, in itself, is an important and time-consuming act. On the other hand, currently, if you just want to get 20 people to opt-in, it is easy to do. However, if the system requires very little money or testing, or does not require much testing, it is possible that such a method is being used.
There is a flip side to every good deal, and it is you who will be asked to redo the 14-day test. You need to be cautious yourself. What is the structure of the method you choose to operate and how can you validate the tester? Think about this when choosing your method.
Finally
I do not like Google's policy. But they are saying that this test is necessary to improve quality. I don't know if that is Google's intention, but in the end, all developers have to do is to improve quality. If developers cooperate with each other, it should be easy to achieve that. I would be happy if my app could be used as a one of those methods to help them do that. Let's work together to get through the test.
Until the end Thank you for reading. Please read other articles if you like.
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