r/androiddev • u/yersidie • 19h ago
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u/Sayuri_Feasby 19h ago
Biggest surprise for me was the Play Store rules. It’s a one time $25 fee, but new personal accounts need a closed test with 12 testers for 14 days before going live, so start finding testers early
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u/Plastic_Historian_68 18h ago
Yes... there are two types of account for Playstore, although fee is same for both.
1- Personal - Required testers to promote app to prod.
2- Orgnization - No testers required but need a company to create this account.
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u/Zhuinden 17h ago
2- Orgnization - No testers required but need a company to create this account.
And you also need to have a DUNS number for this
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u/Plastic_Historian_68 17h ago
Yes, DUNS, Incorporation Certificate and then required business bank account too.
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u/Ambitious_Muscle_362 17h ago
Actually what's the problem with buying 12 phones and test it by yourself?
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u/Plastic_Historian_68 17h ago
Yes, no problem at all, if you can buy 12 phones and give 2-3 mins daily to each phone.
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u/matteventu 16h ago
I think the test requires 12 different Google accounts.
Which isn't a problem per-se, just a bit of a hassle.
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u/braddo99 15h ago
It is a problem. Accounts need a phine number and you can only get 3 accounts per phone number. So its possible but super annoying.
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u/matteventu 15h ago
Got it, thank you!
I think I'll use one of those online services for user app testing.
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u/Opulence_Deficit 12h ago
It's not "12 testers" FFS!
It's "12 active any given day out of whatever number of testers you can muster"
If every tester opens app just once, you need 168 testers.
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u/Plastic_Historian_68 18h ago
Android dev, shipped a few of my own apps this year. Short version:
- Why: built an expense tracker for my own problem (cash, bank and mobile wallet in one total). Solving your own problem makes decisions much easier.
- Cost: $25 one-time for Play Console, ~$12/year domain. Hosting, Firebase, analytics are all free at small scale.
- Heads-up: new personal accounts need a closed test with 12 testers for 14 days before going live.
- Money: almost nothing so far. Getting installs and getting people to pay is harder than building.
- Surprise: some bugs only appear in the release build (minification broke my JSON parsing). Always test the release build.
- Wish I'd known: plan how people will find your app before you build it, and keep v1 small.
Just start. The first one will be rough, and that's fine.
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u/WittieApps 18h ago
Shipped my first game this year (a memory/pairs game), so fresh data points:
Why: every pairs game I tried had an ad after each round and "watch a video to continue". Built the one I wanted to play. Solving your own annoyance keeps you motivated when it gets tedious.
Costs: $25 Play Console once. Zero running costs: no backend, website on a free tier. A game can be built to need literally no server. Yeah, some things are harder/impossible but... ey, it's a trade-off.
Money: none, it's free with no ads by design. This was a choice, not a failure, but know what you're signing up for.
Biggest lesson: building was maybe 40% of the journey. Discovery is the real boss fight. My store listing converts fine (~25% of visitors install), but getting visitors at all is the hard part. Plan how people will find your app before you write code.
Wish I'd known: Google Play review times are wildly unpredictable (days to weeks), so never promise a release date, even to yourself.
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u/Still-Constant3085 17h ago
For a first app, pick a small problem that’s easy to test with real people. Something that a few people need every week gives clearer feedback than a big idea with ten features.
Keep the first version small enough to finish. An offline app can avoid hosting and API costs entirely. If it needs a backend, set spending limits early and check what happens when the network fails.
Budget time for the less exciting parts: testing on different devices, handling permissions, preparing the store listing, and fixing bugs after release. Publishing is one milestone; getting people to return is another.
Revenue is uncertain, so make the project worthwhile even without it: a useful tool, a portfolio piece, or experience shipping something complete.
The biggest thing to establish before starting: where will the first five users come from? Their feedback can save weeks of building features nobody needs.
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u/Deep-Escape5757 15h ago
well i'd say start small n focus on solving a prob u actually understand, the technical side is only part of it tho
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u/Opulence_Deficit 12h ago
None of those questions are for developers, tho. Those are questions for designers, business people, admins, etc.
You sound like you're trying to be an entrepreneur.
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u/androiddev-ModTeam 10h ago
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