This might be of interest to Xojo developers who are developing Android apps and plan to distribute them via the Google Play store. It’s from a few days ago, but I don’t think it’s been mentioned here.
There’s also a lengthy thread on Hacker News about this.
20 is quite a lot for indie devs. I’m sure the Xojo community can help each other out here though.
I’m running into that problem right now.
In theory I have 12 people signed up including family, but struggling to get any more.
I have posted here asking for people to help but had no replies yet.
I’ve had a few people sign up in response to a LinkedIn article - that’s out of nearly 1600 contacts, who should have some interest in my App.
Maybe it’s easier if you’re making a game, but for serious business apps, very difficult.
I think it would be a good idea to have a group of xojo Android developers who would agree to test each others apps.
This will undoubtedly lead to the rise of third-party grey services that automate this for a fee.
Edit: Just realized this thread is from last year and there are not only such third-party solutions for this now, but there is also considerable discussion about it online. /r/AndroidClosedTesting/ is a subreddit dedicated to communal testing.
Also worth pointing out that this restriction is only for new personal accounts and does not affect business accounts or accounts that have a history.
If this restriction had been in from day 1, I doubt the store would have grown at the rate it has.
I’m all for app quality improvement, and I can see why they’ve taken this step, but it’s open to abuse.
I’m sure many people do take the easy way out and use these 3rd-party solutions, but I’d be reluctant to let just anyone test it, particularly if there were any incentives.
The reason I suggested using a group of xojo users was that you can be reasonably sure people here are themselves developers with similar interests, and not just people looking to make a fast buck, or help push through anything.
That’s great.