
tunelabguy
Beta testing without giving away licenses
I have an expensive app ($160) in the Play Store that I would like to update. I would like to do a beta test of the update with potential customers of this specialty product. But it seems that after the beta test, the testers will have a permanent license to the app. This is unlike the Apple TestFlight beta test which lasts for 90 days and then expires. Testers do not get to keep their license forever. Since my app is so expensive and the pool of potential customers is very small, I really don’t want to give away 10 or 20 licenses at $160 each just to have them test my app and probably not even giving me any feedback. Is there any way to offer my app for testing in such a way that the testers are not granted permanent licenses in the Play Store?
First Post!

AstonJ
I’m not sure how the play store works but if it’s just for testing, i.e not for reviews, then you could create a version of the app that stops working when you release the final product.
However you may just want to let those users have a copy - even if you release a beta version you may want to give them a full version for their time. I wouldn’t look at it as losing customers, but more as gaining loyal fans who may be more likely to talk positively about your app (assuming it’s good) - and that is probably going to worth a lot more than you may realise.
When I released an app on the Mac app store I gave away a few copies and some of the users left a review (I didn’t ask them to) but they were very glowing reviews, and I am certain at least 50% of the reason why people were buying my app (it was just 99p, but still sold quite a few).
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