App not updating for alpha testers on google play

Question

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.

Answer 1

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.

Answer 2

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.

Answer 3

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:

1. Force close the Google Play app
2. Open the Settings app
3. Go to Applications > Application Manager > Google Play Store > Storage
4. 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.

Answer 4

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.

Answer 5

This might work for you:

1. On your Android phone or tablet, open your Settings (possibly represented by a cog icon), then click on Apps.

2. At the top of the screen, click the 3 dots in the top right corner to open more options and click show system apps.

3. Scroll down and tap Download Manager.

4. Tap Storage Clear Cache and clear data.

5. Open the Google Play Store and the updated version will be there to download.

Answer 6

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.

Answer 7

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

Answer 8

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.

Answer 9

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.

Answer 10

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.

Answer 11

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.

Answer 12

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