Google Play Policy – 12 Testers for 14 Days in Closed Testing
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Introduction
If you’ve recently created a personal Google Play developer account and are ready to publish your app, you might have encountered the term “12 testers for 14 days policy”. This requirement is introduced by Google Play in November 2023 and aims to improve the quality of apps in the Google Play Store. Here’s a detailed breakdown of what the policy entails and how to navigate it efficiently.
Tip : If possible create a Google Play Organisation account to avoid this hassle of finding 12 testers.
What is Google Play’s 12 Testers for 14 Days Policy
To publish an app on play store, developers must run a closed test with at least 12 testers continuously over 14 days. These testers must opt-in and actively engage with your app. You need to fulfill the below points.
- Have at least 12 testers install your app
- Keep these testers opted-in for 14 continuous days
- This policy will only apply to personal google play console accounts created after 13th November 2023.
How to get 12 Testers for 14 Days
You might have got this doubt on how to find 12 testers right ?
Don’t worry, we built a free community of 10000+ developers where anyone can post their app links and get 12 testers within 24 hours. More than 5000+ apps were posted and got production access through our community. Just download our app Testers Community and post your app links. You can read more about our community here.
FAQ’s on 12 Testers Policy
You might have got multiple doubts while reading through this article. You are not alone on those questions and you can find answers to most of those questions below.
What if any of the testers uninstall the app before 14 days ☹️?
Google mentioned that testers need to opt-in for 14 days. Once a user installs the app, the user will be considered as opted in, even if the user uninstalls the app. So it won’t cause any issues even if testers uninstall the app.
How to opt out of the app testing program ?
You can only opt out by using the app web links. If you visit the app web link you will find the option to opt out of the testing program. No, uninstalling the app wont make you opted out.
How many testers needed to get production access ?
You might be thinking 12 right ? No, we have seen apps with more than 95 testers get production access rejected. Once you get 12 testers the 14 days counter will start and you need to follow few steps to get access to production. You can check them here.
How to publish an app on the Play Store without 20 testers 😤?
If you’re having an organisational play console account or If your play console is personal and got created before Nov 13th 2023, then you wont need 20 testers. Else you cannot publish without 12 testers.
Do we need 12 testers every time we publish a new app ?
Some people have this confusion that if we get 12 testers for first app, then we don’t need for others. It is wrong, you need 12 testers for every new app.
How to get 20 testers for free
You can download the app Testers Community from play store and post your app links to get 20 testers for free.
Do we need to test our app for 14 days continuously ?
Its a combination of yes and no. If your question is do testers need to open the app everyday for 14 days continuously ? then no, not needed. In the 14 days, you need to take feedback from testers and improve the app as much as possible.
Google Play 12 Testers vs 20 Testers policy ?
Its the same policy buy you now need only 12 testers instead of 20 testers to get access to the production after closed testing
What is Google Play 12 testers for 14 days policy ?
According to this policy, at least 12 testers must test your app for a minimum of 14 days before you can apply for production access to publish your app on Google Play. It only applies to personal google play console accounts created after 13th Nov 2023.
What Are the Different Testing Tracks in Play Console?
Google Play offers the following testing tracks:
Internal Testing: Quick distribution to a small group of trusted testers.
- Optional but highly recommended for early feedback.
Closed Testing: Required for production access.
- Minimum of 12 testers opted-in for 14 continuous days.
Open Testing: Public testing before production access.
- Available after closed testing requirements are met
Production: Full app availability on Google Play.
- Requires successful completion of closed testing.
Tip: Dont stop after recruiting 12 testers, try to get as many as possible in the duration of 14 days to avoid rejection.
Conclusion
We really feel this is an very important and useful move for individual developers. But this doesn’t mean we will be getting production access very easily. During the previous policy of “20 testers for 14 days”, we have seen apps with more than 80+ testers got production access rejected. So for Google is not about “number of testers”, there are lot of factor google takes into account before giving access to production. You can read this blog to avoid production access rejection.
You can see more discussion about Google Play Console at r/TestersCommunity
