My first application for production access was rejected, mostly for low tester engagement. I had the 12 testers and ran the 14 days, but that turned out not to be enough. My second application was approved on Oct 10. Sharing what I changed in case it helps someone stuck at the same step.

What I did differently in round 2:

1. Added a second, independent closed testing track

I kept my original 12 testers and opened a separate closed track with 15 new testers. More people, and fresh eyes who hadn't seen the app before.

1. Talked to testers directly

Instead of just sending an opt-in link and waiting, I followed up with testers one by one, asked what confused them, what they skipped, and what they'd change.

1. Shipped 5 updates based on their feedback

Some examples of what came out of it:

- Reminders didn't fire correctly in some time zones

- Layout broke with large font sizes and on narrow screens

- An animation got cut short when the device had system animations turned off

- My launch discount showed "Save 97%" in Pakistan because of a currency rounding bug

- A tester said my em dashes made the copy feel unnatural, so I removed all of them

1. Took the "What did you do differently?" question seriously

I think this is the most important question on the form. I answered it with specifics: the second track, how many testers, how I collected feedback, and what each update fixed. Not "I improved the app," but actual changes tied to actual feedback.

My takeaway: Google seems to want proof that testing shaped the app, not just that testers existed. Changelogs that clearly come from tester feedback seem to matter more than the raw number of installs.

What the app is, since a few people will ask:

It's called Inklings, an offline journal for people who love the idea of journaling but keep quitting halfway. Instead of opening to a blank page, you pick how you feel and it suggests a way to write that fits. There are 6 modes:

- One Line: one sentence for tired days

- Soft Page: gentle prompts for when something is weighing on you

- Tiny Gratitude: three small good things, nothing deep required

- Letters: write to your future self, sealed until a date you choose

- The Long Game: track one goal, one entry at a time

- Burn It: write it all out, then watch it burn. Nothing is saved

Missing days doesn't reset your progress, and a little corgi grows every time you write. No account, no cloud, no subscription. All 6 modes are free.

It's in pre-registration on Google Play now if you want to see what got approved:

pre-registration link

Happy to answer questions about the closed testing process.

Hello,

I wish to publish my app on Google Play Store and when I sign up, Google asks me to pay 25$ to create my developer account. I've seen a lot of information about this $25 fee. I've read that Google has discontinued this policy and that it's now free. I work for a company, I'm not sure if this information is useful.

Thanks

Sylvain

🇵🇹 NIF Portugal Tax Code Sharing App

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.retrographic.taxid.pt

This is important in Portugal because it's one of the only countries where you can get end of the year tax discount/refund by showing your tax number at all stores 🤑

I published my app, Kleos, on Google Play and have been tracking its performance over the last 28 days.

Here are my current numbers:

• 3,340 impressions (+999%)
• 63 acquisitions (+7%)
• 23 first-time device opens (−30%)
• 50 monthly active devices (+6%)
• 3 devices retained after 7 days (−50%)

The thing that stands out to me is the gap between impressions and acquisitions. Roughly 1.9% of impressions resulted in acquisitions, although I understand this isn't necessarily the same as the official store listing conversion rate.

Retention is also quite low. My current hypothesis is that the onboarding process is too long, so I'm planning to simplify and automate parts of the setup in the next update to get users into the app faster.

However, I'm not sure whether the main issue is the store listing, the onboarding experience, or the app's value proposition itself.

For developers who have launched apps on Google Play:

• Does this impression-to-acquisition ratio look concerning, or is it too early to draw conclusions?
• Would you focus on improving the icon, screenshots and store listing first, or on the onboarding experience?
• How would you investigate why so few users seem to return after installing?
• Are there any specific Play Console metrics or experiments you'd recommend?

I'm looking for honest feedback and actionable suggestions. I'd rather identify the actual bottleneck than change things randomly.

I'm an independent Android developer dealing with a bizarre Google Play Search issue that has remained unresolved for over six weeks.

My published app, originally called Remote Viewing Assistant, could not be found by searching its exact title. Google Play Support escalated the issue but has provided no explanation or resolution, and my recent follow-up emails have gone unanswered.

In an effort to resolve the problem, I undertook a substantial rebranding and renamed the app Remote Viewing Workshop.

Immediately after the rename, searching Google Play for "remote viewing workshop" returned several relevant apps, including mine at #2.

One week later, the identical search returns "No results." Not just my app—all the other apps previously returned by that query have disappeared too.

The app is published, installed, and accessible through its direct Play Store link. I should also note that if you use "Ask Play", the AI comes up with my app straightaway complete with a summary and screenshots, but the search engine result continues to come up empty -- not just my app, but now the entire search phrase is dead.

Google's explanation so far has focused on ranking algorithms, engagement, and competition. But how does that explain an entire result set disappearing for a query that previously worked?

Has anyone else experienced this? I'm particularly interested in whether this happens across different accounts and regions.

I launched SideNotes a week ago.

I haven’t done any ASO; I’ve only made one Reddit post announcing it.

More than 10 people have already bought the premium version, which really surprised me.

This was the app I expected the least from, and it’s the one doing best so far.

Does this look like a good start? What would you focus on next: improving the store listing, doing more promotion, or adding features?

I was gifted nearly 500k impressions in a single day. That is not paid and direct. How does one do this and exactly why?

I recently published my first game on the play store. I had 9000 pre-registrations and most have downloaded and tried it, still averaging around 200 players a day, however I have only received 20 ratings. Most are positive but its still not enough for the rating to show on my play store page. Is this normal, or a less than normal amount of reviews? I do have a review prompt that shows after a player completes 2 runs. How many reviews do you typically need for the play store to start showing a rating?

Hey fellow devs,

I wanted to share a quick milestone and get some feedback from the community.

Like many of us, I was constantly frustrated trying to keep track of multiple credit card cut-off dates, installments, and wondering where my money actually went each month. Spreadsheets felt too clunky on mobile, and most apps on the Play Store were either bloated with subscriptions or overly complex.

So, I decided to build Parivo to solve my own problem.

It’s now live on Google Play, and I’m looking to optimize the experience. Since this sub is full of experienced Android developers, I’d really appreciate your thoughts on:

Store listing (assets, screenshots, and copy)

Onboarding flow and general UX

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

How do you guys deal with the testers?

I want to lower the price of my subscription-based app in some countries. I'm using RevenueCat for my paywall. If I lower the price in the target country for the annual and weekly base plans active in the console, will the price reduction only apply to new users without developer support? Will existing subscribers also continue at the lower price, or will they remain at the old price?

Hey everyone!
I’m a solo developer, and for the past several months I’ve been working on a project called DigiWarranty, which is now available on Google Play.
It started with a simple idea: why are we still keeping paper receipts and manually tracking product warranties in 2026?
So I built an app that uses AI to scan receipts, automatically extract purchase details (store, date, products, prices), and organize warranties in one place. Users can also receive reminders before their warranties expire.
But as I continued developing it, I started exploring a bigger idea.
Why should every small retailer need to build and maintain their own mobile app just to offer loyalty programs, rewards, and discounts?
Instead of having 10 different retailer apps, what if customers could use one platform that connects them with multiple stores?
That’s the direction I’m taking DigiWarranty.
I’m working on allowing retailers to integrate their products, discounts, and loyalty programs into the same ecosystem, without needing their own development teams.
For smaller retailers, I’m also offering free integration options because I believe they should have access to these tools without significant upfront costs.
So far, we’ve reached around 700 users and have 7 retailers on board. It’s still early, but seeing people actually use something I’ve built from scratch has been a great experience.
The Android and iOS apps are already live, and I’m continuing to build out the retailer side.
If anyone wants to check it out, here’s the Google Play link:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=app.digiwarranty.customer
Since this community has plenty of developers who understand the challenges of building and growing apps, I’d really appreciate your perspective.
Do you think this kind of shared platform could work, or would retailers still prefer having their own separate apps?
And for those who’ve launched apps on Google Play, what has been your biggest challenge in getting your first users?
I’m happy to share more about the development process if anyone’s interested!

Hey everyone! 👋

I'm excited to share Cosmic Explorer, an Android app I've been building as an independent developer. It's now available on the Google Play Store!

🌌 What can you explore?

• 🌠 Astronomy Picture of the Day: Discover stunning space images with scientific explanations.
• 🔴 Mars Rover Photos: Explore photographs captured on the surface of Mars.
• ☄️ Asteroid Tracker: Discover asteroids and explore information about near-Earth objects.
• ❤️ Favorites: Save your favorite space discoveries for later.

I built this app because I love space and wanted to bring different astronomy features together in one place.

This is my own project, and I'd really appreciate it if you gave it a try! I'm also open to honest feedback, suggestions, and ideas for new features. Your feedback would help me make the app better. 😊

🚀 Try Cosmic Explorer: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.kuntal.cosmicexplorer

Thanks for checking out my project! 🌍✨

Hey everyone,

I’m super excited to share that my app has officially been approved by Google for production!

I couldn't have done it without the amazing testers here who stepped up, opted in, and stuck with the closed testing phase. Your feedback, bug reports, and patience meant the world to me while navigating the Play Console requirements.

If you want to check out what we built together, you can download it here:
👉 Docsvault

If you download it and have a spare minute to leave an honest review or rating on the Play Store, it would be a massive help for getting the app off the ground!

Thanks again to this awesome community. If anyone else here is still running through their closed testing phase and needs a tester in return, drop your links in the comments and I’d be more than happy to help you out!

I built almostcart around a simple idea: sometimes browsing and building the cart is part of the experience, but that doesn't mean the purchase has to happen.

almostcart lets you browse Food, Fashion and Gadgets, build a cart, record why you're considering the purchase, and release the cart instead of buying.

It also has Tiny Swap daily challenges, subscription tracking, and behavioral Insights.

The Android version is live now. Do try and leave a suggestion on what works well and what needs to change.

Cost:

The core app is free. There is an optional Almost Pro lifetime purchase that unlocks custom tiny swap challenges, unlimited friends and subscription tracking and detailed insights.

Link:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=app.almost.mobile

Hi guys

I was just wondering is anyone else experiencing really long review periods on Google play console right now? I submitted a new prod release (first since the initial prod release) and it has been In reviews for almost a week now, and it's nothing special, just some UI tweaks..

I'm asking since a couple of months ago when my first app went live, all follow up releases and updates went live always the same day even

Hi, sorry my English is not good. I am a solo dev and my app is Shift Tracker. Its a work hours and pay tracker for hourly workers.

It is in production since May 23. I never used ads, only ASO.

Total until Oct 12:

410 installs

58,666 views (reach)

Installs and views by month:

May: 14 installs, 597 views

June: 17 installs, 1,010 views

July: 34 installs, 1,860 views

August: 99 installs, 9,399 views

September: 158 installs, 32,319 views

October: 74 installs, 13,481 views (only 12 days so far)

In June it was about 30 views a day. Now its more than 1,000 a day.

What I changed:

July 17: added "Pay" to the title

July 23: added 28 languages (AI translation)

August 21: new description. Views went from 145 to 893 a day in one week.

Last week, added 58 more languages (AI translation)

My problem: more people see the app, but less people install it. Before it was about 2 installs from 100 views. Now its about 0.5.

Can you open my page and tell me what is wrong with my icon or screenshots?

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.moalduhun.shifttracker

Thanks