Android alpha testing "Item not found"

Question

I have published my app for alpha testing, but not able to download it from play store.

I have opened the url "https://play.google.com/apps/testing/com.*" and accepted to be a tester and now it shows me "you are a tester". But when I click on the link "download it from the Play Store", it shows me "Item not found" in my test device play store and "requested URL was not found" in desktop browser.

1. App is in published state for more than 48 hours.
2. App is published in all countries.
3. google groups for testers are added, I can see the group in manage testers tab. Tester account is added to the group ( triple checked it)
4. test device has only one tester account.
5. I can access the in-app purchases, which means the app is published properly. Google doesn't support draft mode anymore.

I went through some similar posts in stackoverflow, but there is no definite answer. Looks like for some people it resolved automatically and some people are not lucky enough.

Solution 1

If the app is "Published", but when you click in "View in play store" the site (example: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.companyname.appname) show the error:

"We're sorry, the requested URL was not found on this server",

try this:

• In "Google Play Console" (https://play.google.com/apps/publish), select your app
• goto menu: Release management / App releases
• In Aplha, click in the button "Manage Alpha"
• Click in "Manage testers" and copy the link "Opt-in URL" (example: https://play.google.com/apps/testing/com.companyname.appname)
• Send this link to your alpha users, you and the users need to click in "Became a tester" before access the app in PlayStore.

After this, open the link of app in play store again (View in play store) logged with a user from the testers list.

If the url still don't open, try close your browser, or clear the browser cache and try again. The browser store a cache of redirects.

Solution 2

If you are using Chrome, then it caches redirects. To fix it, clear browsing data. More details on this

Solution 3

In my case, the issue was that I wasn't logged to Google with the proper account in Chrome.

I cleared all browsing data, but un-logging from Gmail/Google and re-logging with the proper @gmail.com account would probably have done the trick.

Solution 4

Another thing to check is whether or not Pricing & Distribution -> Only make this application available to my organization is checked. It seems that this doesn't interact well with Alpha- or Beta-only tests, even if your test account is in the given domain. Once I turned this flag off, my beta-only app became visible via the Play Store link from the testing signup page.

Solution 5

For my part it was due to the fact that I sent the link through SMS. It worked when I sent it by email. This link has the form https://play.google.com/apps/testing/com.*. This is this link that you have to share by email.

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