In Google Play Store, what happens if the production version is higher than the beta version?

Question

So let's say my current versions are following:
Production versionCode=1
Beta versionCode=2

Everything OK as long as the beta is the latest code.

What happens if I update new build (version 3) on Production?
Production versionCode=3
Beta versionCode=2

My questions is what happens to the beta testers who have installed versionCode=2? Will they get version 3 update? Or do they have to opt-out of beta test to see the version 3 update?

Answer 1

The beta will be superseded by production. To be available to testers, alpha and beta APKs need to have a higher version code than production APKs.

Answer 2

More information can be found here: Look under Step 5 at "Version codes and testing track statuses"

Play Console Help

Fallback terms and statuses

Shadowed: One app bundle shadows another app bundle when it serves part or all of the same device configuration and it has a higher version code.

Promoted: All of the track's active app bundles are contained in the fallback track's active app bundles (for example, all of the active beta app bundles are also active in production). You may see this if you first release to a testing track and then release the tested app bundles to a more stable release.

Superseded: All of the active app bundles in a track is completely shadowed by active app bundles with higher version codes in its fallback track. None of the app bundles in the track are being used to serve users, as they all will be served by and app bundle from the fallback track. This means the testing program represented by the superseded track was abandoned.

Partially shadowed: At least one of the active app bundles in a track is shadowed by an app bundle with a higher version code in its fallback track. This means that some of the beta users will be served an app bundle from the beta track, while others may be served by an app bundle from production. This is most likely an error in assigning version codes.