App not updating for alpha testers on google play

android google-play

My app is being tested using Google Play. I am one of my alpha testers, naturally. I released a new alpha version of the app. I was expecting it to update automatically on my device. But it's not updating. Am I missing a step? According to Google

Once they install the app and opt in, they'll automatically be updated to the new test version.

"Automatic" is not automatic. How long have you waited? Give it 12 hours, at the very minimum, before you start worrying.

Wow! 12 hours! I published yesterday some time before 6pm (maybe 4pm). So for sure it has been 12hours. Still I was expecting immediate.

It used to be quite a bit quicker, but the Play Store has grown a lot in the last few years. Also, make sure you have the Play Store version of the app on your device, not the signed-with-debug-key-by-eclipse version.

Thanks! since you posted no "response" I had to give each of your comments an upvote and accept the one response.

Open Play Store app > main menu > My apps & games -> every time you open this page it checks for updates. No need to clear cache or anything else. Cheers

respectTheCode

Nothing with Google Play is automatic. They have a caching system much like Apple App Store among others. From my experience, once or twice a day the cache system gets flushed and the market gets updated.

At some point after that, the updates get pushed. This can be a multi-day process unfortunately.

This is disheartening news. I am on a tight schedule with my testers and this wait is not good.

On a tight schedule it might be easier to set up a host and just give them a link where an updated version is kept.

Force quit AND clear the play store cache/data and it will update instantly.

if you need immediate updates to testers, you can use the "Internal Test" track now

@pstanton looks like "internal Test" is not immediate. Still takes couple hours to update for me. Shame on you, Google

asprotte

Just had the same problem. My update wasn't available after 48 hours. Tried closing the app store and restarting the phone, which didn't work. Then I went into the phones settings and cleared the play stores cache, which worked immediately, and I could download the latest alpha version.

Could you please tell us where is this setting: I didn’t fin it.

Go Device Settings -> Apps -> All and click on the Play Store App entry. Scroll down and click on Clear Cache. Maybe this might help. However in my case the Update to my Alpha Test version was still not available.

On my Sony Xperia look for "Google Play Store" ie. not together with apps starting with P and the "clear cache" is an option under "Storage".

Worked for me immediately, too! Thanks for this tip!

Worked for me! Another way to get into the app settings is holding down on the Play Store app icon, and then tapping "App info", then tapping Storage, then tapping "Clear data".

Dan Leveille

In addition to the time it takes for app updates to fully process, the Google Play app itself also caches app information, so your users (and you) may be seeing a cached version of your Google Play list.

Here's a trick to force Google Play to fetch the latest version of your app. This works every time for me.

How to reset the Google Play app's cache:

Force close the Google Play app Open the Settings app Go to Applications > Application Manager > Google Play Store > Storage Click Clear Cache

The Google Play app's cache should now be reset. Try finding your app again and see if it shows the latest version.

In my version of Android step 3 is "Apps & notifications > See All [57] Apps > Google Play Store > Storage & cache > Clear cache"

This is the only thing that worked for me in March 2022!

Ricardo Stuven

Google announced on March 2018 the availability of an internal test track.

According to documentation:

You should create an internal test if you want to quickly distribute your app for internal testing and quality assurance checks. […] An internal test can have up to 100 testers per app.

This is what I tried but the update won't show up on some phones no matter what I do.

Same things happens on my side as well, Bloodhound.

In my case it still need hours for the internal test track user to receive update. I don't what's wrong or maybe it is the way it is.

Make sure you uninstall the app installed from the non-internal track and reinstall it using the opt-in URL to install the app from the internal track, which has the form https://play.google.com/apps/internaltest/INTERNAL_APP_ID. In the docs, read about: "Step 3: Share your opt-in URL with users".

up to 100 testers per app means 100 emails added or 100 devices in total. As I know you can have unlimited devices connected to one email and that is potentially limitless

birdman

I had a similar issue where my tester was able to see the production version of my app in Play Store but not the new Beta version update even though it was uploaded many hours before and available to other Beta testers as an update.

I had added him as a Beta tester to my Google Group, also added as a test user in my Google Play Store account. The solution was to force stop Play Store then restart it again.

The Beta Update was available as soon as he went back into the play store and searched for the app.

Thanks. That's really useful for forcing Google Play to update its cache (or whatever it is doing).

סטנלי גרונן

This might work for you:

On your Android phone or tablet, open your Settings (possibly represented by a cog icon), then click on Apps. At the top of the screen, click the 3 dots in the top right corner to open more options and click show system apps. Scroll down and tap Download Manager. Tap Storage Clear Cache and clear data. Open the Google Play Store and the updated version will be there to download.

Thanks @josh marsden. That was fun, but didn't solve it for me :)

This worked for me but I had to go to App Storage > Google Play Store > Clear Storage & Clear Cache

Blue Bot

reposting @Aeramor comment as an answer as this solved the issue for me.

Force quit AND clear the play store cache/data and it will update instantly

This worked for me.

Mamun Kayum

It may take some time to get the update from the android device. For me for "Internal testing", after uploading an update, I was getting it from my device for a while. Once I cleared the cache for "Google playstore" app of my android phone, I got the update immediately.

Marcos Vinicius

1 - Upload APK in alpha test 2 - Add your email in one google group or google plus community 3 - copy the link test provided by google play and press accept button

Now just wait until your application became updated.

So eventually my phone got an update. But some of my testers didn't get updated. Do you know why that might be?

@CoteMounyo maybe some tester doesn't have the google play configured to update yours apps automatic, in this case the tester has to access manually the google play and update your apps.

If you forget to copy that link, it looks like you can never get an alpha link again. EVER. What the hell?

@user3562927 Yes you can, it's under the list of allowed participants in the internal test.

JDune

While clearing the Google Play cache resolved one issue for me, I noticed something else strange that may help someone out. When I clicked "About this app" on the app page in the Play Store, the version shown for my app was the previous version number. This made me think that the new version was still unavailable and I just needed to wait. However, after waiting several hours for the new version to appear on the Play Store, I decided to try downloading it anyway, and lo and behold, the latest version had been installed.

I have added new tester to internal test track and he could not see "You are internal tester.." message and option to download test version. Clearning Google Play Store data and cache solved the issue.

Dustin Taylor

I found that the link I provided to testers was almost immediately going to the newest version. No need to clear cache or any other steps required.

Just check to see the link goes to the new version, then inform testers to click the app link for the update and install it.

fyi, this was for an internal test release with an email list of testers created in play console. Also, the first release had a delay before a link was available, but subsequent releases were available through the link provided to testers very shortly after rollout.

Lotan

It tooks 72h for me to update close testers app. Without removing caché or anything, just...waiting 3 long days :(

Curtis M

I did all of the above (cleared cache in Google Play and Download Manager), restarted my phone, and then checked for updates in the "My apps & games" located in the settings drop down (3 bars on the left of the search bar when opening Google Play) and there it was, voila.. waiting to be updated. About 5 minutes after I updated my app, I got my email saying my update was live.

Simon

Don't forget to pass in WIFI mode to get the update (depending of your settings).

App not updating for alpha testers on google play

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