> You can't even release an app without first doing a beta test with at least a dozen people.

Perhaps I'm misunderstanding what you are saying here but less than a month ago I released a brand new app with no beta period, direct to production (white labeled app, which is why I didn't need a beta)

▲ basisword 33 minutes ago | parent | next [-]

I think it only applies to newer accounts and individual rather than company accounts. To make things worse, Google doesn't allow you to switch an account from individual > company. You need to create a whole new account.

▲ sync 7 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

As an individual that 'dozen people beta test' is required. It's not required if you're a business. Also depends on when your account was created.

https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answ...

▲ bpx51 8 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Same happened to me yesterday, I published a new app and it was reviewed and published within a few hours without any beta testing. but I think this is why I see people ready to buy old playstore accounts for real money, maybe this only affects new accounts

▲ brewtide 7 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

I'm just working on my first app (thanks to AI...) and if you have a new dev account created sometime after 2023 they are making you do a 12 person, 14 day beta run before anything else occurs, apparently.

	▲	joshcartme 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		It gets worse! If Google decides the people in your test don't engage enough and/or you didn't respond to their feedback, they may not give you production access. I've got a game that's available on iOS, I released there first and did lots of testing to deal with the low-hanging bugs. After doing the 14 day test Google emailed me: Possible reasons why your production access could not be granted include: `- Testers were not engaged with your app during your closed test - You didn't follow testing best practices, which may include gathering and acting on user feedback through updates to your app`