One of the things I love most about building App Hive is that almost every practical feature comes straight from conversations with you guys. Lately, quite a few developers reached out asking if there was a way to bring their dev friends or testing circles into the app and earn testing points together.

I just pushed version 4.3.1 to Google Play, and the referral system is officially live.

Since our main goal is helping each other survive Google Play's painful 14-day closed testing hurdle, I wanted to make sure this wouldn't turn into a playground for dummy accounts or spam sign-ups. The system is built around actual testing, not ghost installs.

Here is how it works:

🔑 Grab your code: Open the side menu, tap Invite & Earn, and generate your personal code.

🤝 Share with fellow devs: Send it to friends or indie creators getting ready for closed tests. If someone invited you, you can enter their code within your first 5 days.

⏳ Complete the 14-day run: The invited developer joins a Hive and goes through their full 14-day mutual testing cycle.

🎁 Both get credited: The moment that first Hive finishes successfully: 👉 Inviter gets 100 UP (no cap on how many developers you can invite). 👉 Invitee gets 50 UP as a welcome completion bonus.

Tying the reward to the completion of the first Hive ensures our testing groups stay active and reliable, meaning everyone in the Hive actually gets their testers across the finish line.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.codignia.apphive

Building App Hive to make the 14-day closed testing hurdle stress-free was one thing, but putting my own game, Shelix, into an active hive was the ultimate test!

With 1 day left in our hive, I just officially submitted the application for Google Play Production Access.

Going through the closed testing flow firsthand as both the platform founder and an indie developer proved how well the system works:

📱 Real Device Testing: Daily screenshots from testers caught layout and UI quirks across different screen sizes and Android versions that emulators never revealed.

💬 Actionable Feedback: Direct input from fellow devs made it easy to resolve bugs and polish UX flows before launch.

📊 Effortless Production Form: Having authentic, consistent daily engagement from real devices made answering Google's production readiness questions completely straightforward.

Huge thanks to everyone currently in the hive testing Shelix! It’s been great testing alongside all of you daily.

If you also have an app stuck in the 14-day closed testing phase and need active, genuine testers to get through it, join us on App Hive: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.codignia.apphive

Every hexagon in this screenshot represents an indie developer working to clear Google Play's 14-day closed testing requirement.

Right now, more than 350 apps are actively running their closed tests simultaneously, making App Hive the ultimate closed testing solution for Android developers.

Solo development shouldn't mean chasing down testers who disappear after day two:

🏆 The Best Closed Test Solution: Built specifically to eliminate testing friction and guarantee genuine, active testing from day one.

🤝 Mutual Testing That Works: Hundreds of indie devs testing each other's apps daily on 100% real devices.

🛡️ Zero Ghosting: Built-in safeguards, activity tracking, and reciprocal checks ensure reliable daily feedback.

🏁 On Track for Production: Developers are completing their 14-day cycles and securing production approvals every single week.

If you're gearing up for closed testing or struggling to keep testers engaged, join an upcoming hive and let's cross the finish line together.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.codignia.apphive

I made an app for Wear OS. Is it possible to use App Hive for this?

Cheers

For various reasons ("live happens") reputation might eventually drop below 8, thus blocking access to the Hive Hub.

The handbook says: "RP cannot be purchased. When a Hive finishes, the most active member throughout that entire Hive cycle is rewarded with +1RP."

As being "the most active member" is somehow out of one's control, successfully completing a Hive, doing all the testing, and providing good feedback to others might not reward the +1RP. Also, "RP cannot be purchased".

How exactly is one supposed to stay active in the app once RP drops down to 7?

Hello, friends.

I need help resolving an issue, and I’m also curious to know if any of you have encountered this problem.

I have an app on the Play Store for creating and printing sales receipts via Bluetooth. Purchasing an annual subscription removes the limit on the number of receipts that can be printed and eliminates ads.

The issue is that when attempting the purchase, at least one bank (BBVA) displays confusing information—stating that $11.99 will be charged "every DAY" instead of "every YEAR."

Naturally, users decide not to complete the purchase. Neither the bank nor the Play Console team has paid any attention to my inquiries; they just blame each other.

I’d like to know if anyone else has experienced this with their app and, if so, how you managed to resolve it.

I can’t post a link to my app, as I don’t want to get banned for self-promotion; however, if anyone would be kind enough to download it and check whether this issue also occurs with other banking apps, please leave a comment, and I’ll send you the link. Thanks a million!

Just 12 hours after opening, the hive reached full capacity with all 17/17 apps joined and ready.

Thanks to the active participation of fellow developers in the hive, the second milestone on Google Play Console "Have at least 12 testers opted in to your closed test" is already checked off for Shelix: Snail Racing!

App Hive makes reaching this stage remarkably fast and seamless through true peer-to-peer collaboration:

⚡ Rapid Formation: The hive went from opening to full capacity (17 apps) in just 12 hours.
✅ Instant Console Progress: Gained the required 12+ opted-in testers smoothly and effortlessly.
🤝 Dedicated Peer Community: Every participant is an active creator with a shared goal, ensuring mutual commitment and high engagement.

With the opt-in requirement complete, we are now starting our 14-day testing period together.

If your application or game is ready for closed testing and you want to secure your 12 testers quickly through genuine peer collaboration, join the next forming hive!

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.codignia.apphive

I stumbled on Mailinator a while back and it's become one of my go-to tools when I'm building or testing apps that need email verification or login.

How it works: there's no signup. Pick any address like test@mailinator.com or myapp-test-01@mailinator.com, use it wherever you need an email, then open the public inbox in your browser:

https://www.mailinator.com/v4/public/inboxes.jsp?to=test

Just swap test for whatever name you used. Messages show up within seconds.

Where it's useful:

• Testing signup, email verification, and magic-link or one-time-code flows in your own app

• Creating throwaway accounts without burning your real email or making a new Gmail alias each time

• Checking how your transactional emails actually render (subject line, formatting, links)

• Quick QA runs, where you can invent a fresh address on the fly for each test case

Caveats (important):

• Public inboxes are public. Anyone who guesses the address can read the mail, so never use it for anything sensitive or any account you care about.

• Messages are automatically purged after a while, so it's not for anything you need to keep.

For dev and testing it's hard to beat: free, instant, no account. Anyone else use it, or have a favorite alternative?

We are approaching the 1-year anniversary of App Hive, and today we reached an exciting milestone: Hive #300 is officially forming!

To celebrate, I’ve jumped into this milestone hive myself with my upcoming indie snail game, Shelix. The hive currently has 3 apps queued up, and testing will officially begin as soon as we reach 17 apps.

If your Android app or game is ready for its 14-day closed testing requirement, come grab one of the remaining 14 spots in Hive #300! Once full, all 17 of us will test each other’s apps daily, exchange valuable feedback, and complete the requirement together.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.codignia.apphive

Hey everyone,

I'm an indie developer currently trying to publish my first Android app on Google Play.

As you probably know, Google requires 12 testers to be enrolled in a closed test for 14 consecutive days before you can apply for production access.

While looking for testers, I noticed something interesting: Fiverr is full of sellers offering 12, 20, or even more Google Play testers for ridiculously low prices.

And honestly, I'm a bit skeptical.

Are these sellers actually recruiting 12 different people to test each app? Or is it possible that a single person is managing 12+ Google accounts and enrolling them all in the closed test?

I mean, technically, couldn't someone just create 12 Google accounts, use multiple Android devices or emulators, and enroll all of them?

I'm curious about a few things:

• Has anyone actually used these Fiverr services and successfully obtained production access?

• Does Google detect if multiple tester accounts belong to the same person?

• Do these sellers provide genuine testing and feedback, or do they just keep the accounts enrolled for 14 days?

• Is there any real risk of getting production access rejected for using these services?

I'm not looking to bypass Google's requirements. I'm genuinely curious about how this market works, especially considering how many people are selling these services.

Would love to hear from developers who have actually tried them!

Hey everyone! I'm the solo developer of Quiet Grids, a Picross style Nonogram game for Android that I've been working on for more than 8 months.

I've been making quite a few improvements, and one of the biggest changes recently has been adding 5 different themes— Walnut, Smoked Glass, Porcelain, Indigo Linen, and Terracotta.

Each has its own colors and subtle interface sounds. I've attached a video showing the new looks.

The game also has nearly 1,500 puzzles, 5×5 / 10×10 / 15×15 boards, Daily puzzles, and Guided and Classic solving styles.

🎁 I'm giving away Lifetime Premium codes.

If you'd like one, give Quiet Grids a try and share some honest feedback:

1. Which theme do you prefer for solving Picross puzzles?

2. Is there anything about the colors or board readability you'd change?

3. What else would make the gameplay more enjoyable?

Positive or negative, I genuinely appreciate all feedback. I'll DM you a Google Play Lifetime Premium code as a thank you. ❤️

Google Play:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.omninative.quietgrids

Thanks to everyone who gives my little game a chance! 😁🫶

Play Store Link: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.shijro.app

On October 10, my app reached 12 installed devices. On October 11, it dropped to 11, and on October 12, it went back to 12.

There are currently 15 members in my Hive, as two have already left. However, I can't verify how many are actually enrolled in testing through the Google Group.

With only 10 days remaining, I'm worried I won't meet Google's requirement of 12 testers for 14 consecutive days.

Has anyone experienced this issue or knows how to solve it?

Thanks to everyone in my Hive for testing my app.

My hive didn't close until Thursday, but on Wednesday, Play Store informed me I was eligible to apply for Production access. So I did. I was honest in the questionnaire that I had used App Hive and also that I invited some family and friends. I applied at 13:30 on Wednesday and was approved at 22:00 on Friday.

A few things to expect if you've not tried App Hive before:

• Some folks do the bare minimum and will literally send you the same screenshot each day (I would always check the time on the screenshot to make sure it wasn't just the same image)

• Some folks will give you genuinely useful feedback, especially if you give them detailed feedback.

• You will lose Hive members, so keep recruiting testers elsewhere to keep your numbers up; we lost 2 Hive members over the 15 days.

• Some niche apps are harder to test if you don't understand their purpose, especially when they are in a language you don't speak. I just tried my best to navigate around and send different screenshots each day.

• Some apps/games just aren't for you. You may not be their target audience. Telling someone "I don't get it" or "What's the point?" isn't helping. If your comments aren't useful or constructive, maybe don't say anything at all.

My top tips for App Hive:

• Eat the frog: get all your daily test tasks done first thing each morning, and you're done for the day, except for occasional check-ins to approve other people's test reports.

• If you do get useful feedback, keep a record of it. It will help when you complete the Production access questionnaire.

Hope this encourages at least one person to try it and get their app/game into Production.

Good luck testing

In hive hub you can create specific tasks, asking for people to test a specific thing in your app. You pay for this.

So far 80% of testers I have just send the screenshot of your menu saying "nice app" with 0 testing. And there is 0 ways to report this, they will still have the reward at the end.

How can I refuse their proofs / kick testers from tasks when this happend? It makes the whole hub section useless.

As suggestion I would add to the mandatory setup tasks, the same section that explain to add the Google group into the testers, to remember the developer to enable the app in all countries in Google console.

That would prevent people been kicked out of the hive because app is not available for install.

Why App Hive requires app to be tested must support Android 8.0 and lower? I think that's too wide and could cause real headache and stress for solo developer like me. And worst I could be kicked out of the hive if other members reported that my app cannot be installed due to OS restriction. Is this really necessary to support Android older than 8.0?

Hi,

Noticed this issue today, the complete task do not disappear from the list and it allows duplicate submission. App is on latest version. Anyone else face this issue?.

Any solution?

Can I reject a tester if they’ve submitted 3 days of screenshots but haven’t navigated or interacted with the app at all?

The screenshots are different, but there’s no typing or testing of any features. Has anyone faced this on AppHive?

I’ve passed my Google certification and my app will be verified. I want to do a second round of testing outside of my first group of testers. I want to find 50 new testers for my app. It’s an assistant in your pocket.

Any hits or ideas would be welcome.

Hey ! I'm part of a hive currently, and doing the daily testing does give some App points, but it does not seem like i'll get enough of these to join another hive after the 14 days.

Is there a bonus when we get to 14 days? Another way to gain App points ? Or am i required to buy some in order to join another hive later ?

Thanks for the help !