Week 12 (Sept 15 - 22): Issues with Publishing
Trouble From Testing
Last week I had finished gathering one of the requirement before I was able to publish my app for review before being allowed to upload it to Google Play: gathering 12 users to test my app during closed testing. Now, I’ve met the second and final criteria: keeping my closed testing period open for 2 weeks. Now, I’m able to submit my app for review where hopefully the Google Play Console team will verify my application for publication!
meeting the requirements for applying for production access
however, after a night, I got rejected, and they said I didn’t meet the requirements [image]
I applied for production. However, the next day, I received an email from Google Play Console team that they required more testing before I could apply for production. Specifically, they listed a couple general reasons:
My testers weren’t engaged with my app during testing
I didn’t gather enough user feedback
email I received from Google Play team explaining my rejection
I continued by checking the link that they provided, which offered guidance for new creators on how to successfully complete the testing process.
details on Google Play Console’s help page for new creators for how to successfully complete closed testing
I learned that I needed to collect feedback based on my app that I could act on to improve my application. I needed to collect this feedback through Google Play Console so Google could verify that testers were engaged while testing my application. I checked the feedback page for my application to see how many comments of feedback I received after 2 weeks:
the feedback page for my app. I only received 2 pieces of feedback
I realized the problem after looking at my feedback. There wasn’t any useful feedback, and there wasn’t much comments either. I only had 2 comments from testers from testing after uploading my application to Testing Community. I understood now that Google couldn’t verify whether or not testers were engaged during the application process.
Now I faced a problem, because there was no way for me to make sure that users testing my app through Testing Community would for sure be engaged while testing, and then leave comments after. I also assumed most testers using Testing Community naturally wouldn’t be as engaged as most are testing apps simply to get credits to upload their own apps on the platform.
This means that I need to restart the closed testing phase, gather at least 12 users who will give feedback and then wait 2 weeks before applying for production again. I also can’t use Testing Community this time because I doubt the next batch of testers will leave feedback.
I’m unsure of how to proceed for production on Google Play Store, as I don’t know 12 people who have Android phones that could be able to test my app on Google Play Console for me.
For now, I’m deciding to focus on publishing my app on the App Store and seeing if I have any luck there.
Apple Store
Developing and publishing to the Apple Store followed a similar process as Google Play, with a few differences. Unlike Google Play, I’m not allowed to use any Integrated Development Environment (IDE), I have to use Apple’s own Xcode. I have to ensure that my app has all-screen support, meaning its visually correct on all Iphone screens. Finally, before publishing, I need to test my application using TestFlight, in a similar way as how I have to go through closed testing in Google Developer Console.
Apple Developer’s website description of utilizing Xcode
Apple’s testing process, which is similar to Google Developer Studios
I assume that development would be similar and I could copy and paste my code, and everything should work. So I’m looking into how Apple handles their testing process.
On Apple Developer’s help page they provide a doc that describes the entire testing process:
First, provide test information about my application, such as an email to send feedback to, explanation of how to test, etc.
Upload my app build to App Store Connect.
Before testing, I need to submit my app to App Review, to ensure it meets App Review Guidelines. Some of these guidelines include no bugs or glitches, no unsafe content, safe content filter for user-generated content, and etc.
Then, I can invite internal and external testers to my application through email invitation links, or public invitation links.
Testers submit feedback through email or through TestFlight directly. I can also track tester engagement and more stats through TestFlight.
Once testing is finished and feedback is collected, I can stop testing on TestFlight, and submit my app, which will then go through another App Review.
Apple Developer help documentation that showed the TestFlight testing process
Now that I was familiar with the testing process using Apple Developer, I downloaded Xcode to move my code for my application to Apple’s IDE.
After downloading Xcode and running my code, I immediately get the error no such module as 'firebase’ when I run the line ‘import Firebase’. I tried reinstalling Xcode and building my code again, but nothing changes. I suspect that the current Xcode version, version 15, doesn’t support the current Firebase version. I learned on Apple Developer that after April 2024, apps submitted to App Store must be built with Xcode 15.
To meet requirements, I must use Xcode version 15 according to Apple Developer’s website
I haven’t been able to find any users with similar problems online with the current Xcode version 15. While I search for a solution, let me share a full demo of my app, including all functionalities I have currently developed:
Next Steps
Next, I need to continue to do research and also try refactoring my code to fix the Firebase bug.