Frequently asked questions

Personal (individual) Play Console developer accounts created after November 13, 2023 must run a closed test before they can publish to production. Google's stated requirement is at least 12 testers opted in to the closed test, continuously, for the last 14 days before you apply for production access. Testers must be opted in — merely being invited doesn't count. Organization accounts are not subject to this requirement.

No, and be suspicious of anyone who says otherwise. After the closed test, you apply for production access and answer questions about your testing; Google evaluates the quality of your test — including whether testers were engaged and whether you iterated on the app. TestersWiz ensures the testing genuinely happened with real humans and gives you evidence of it. The decision remains Google's.

Opted-in testers appear in your Play Console (or your Google Group). Each TestersWiz tester registers the exact Google account they'll opt in with; you check those emails off against your own console before the 14-day clock starts. This closes the classic fraud loop where a 'tester' claims participation you can't verify.

Their missing evidence is visible to you in real time on the campaign's day rail. Every tester owes a screenshot on day 3 and a short written report from day 12; anyone missing either is automatically flagged at confirmation and held for admin review — trade partners included, on exactly the same terms as solo testers. Trades carry extra teeth on top: if one side drops out, ghosts a verification, or cancels their app mid-trade, the trade fails, the other side is released, and the flaky trader takes a strike. 3 strikes in 30 days pauses their trading.

Testing never needs money. The catch, such as it is, isn't financial: listing your app costs a Wizbit, which you earn with effort rather than cash — you install another developer's app and upload a screenshot of it. (If you'd rather not, you can buy a Wizbit instead.) Tester seats are earned by testing back — you propose a trade with another developer, you test their app and they test yours, or you volunteer to test an app with nothing expected in return. Seats are never for sale. Separately, there are two optional extras paid in Wizbits: the Database Security Audit (6 Wizbits) and an automated stress test of your app (12 Wizbits). They have nothing to do with testing, and neither gets you a seat or priority. There are also free developer tools around the work (today the Security Briefing, Security & policy prompts and Readiness export), free to every account, with no payment taken for them. None of it grants a seat, priority, faster matching or a badge. You never need any of it, and ignoring it entirely changes nothing about how your app gets tested.

Not quite — you join another developer's test first. Installing their app and uploading a screenshot of it running earns 1 Wizbit the moment it uploads, and listing your app spends it; if you'd rather not, you can buy a Wizbit instead. It takes minutes, and you do not have to finish the 14-day test first. On an empty marketplace, with nothing else to test, listing is free. The rule exists because every tester here is a developer who volunteered first; a marketplace where taking is free and giving is optional accumulates takers, and the people who leave are the ones doing the testing.

They're TestersWiz credits. You earn them free by testing, or buy them in packs. Testing another developer's app earns two: one for your install proof when you join the test, and one when the test completes. You spend them on three things: listing an app, a Database Security Audit (6 Wizbits), and an automated stress test of your app (12 Wizbits). They never buy testers: admitting a tester to your campaign costs nothing, and seats are filled by trades and volunteers. Wizbits can't be cashed out, sold to other members or transferred, and bought ones can't be refunded. A developer with no Wizbits can still fill all 12 seats through trades and volunteers; listing is the one testing step that costs a Wizbit.

Open a listing, enter the Google account you'll opt in with, and volunteer. On most listings that's the whole wait — you get the tester Google Group and the Play Store opt-in link on the very next screen, because the developer set their track up so testers can add themselves. On an internal testing track, or a closed track with no Google Group, Google requires the developer to enter each address by hand, so there's a short wait; the listing says which kind it is before you commit an email address.

You find another developer's app on the marketplace and propose a swap: you'll test theirs, they test yours. Swaps are opt-in, so you can only propose one on a listing whose developer asked for offers. The request lands in their mailbox; when they accept, both of you are enrolled as testers of each other's app at the same moment. Each of you then verifies the other's opt-in in your own Play Console. Because it's a barter, honesty is self-enforcing — there's nothing to gain by faking it, and bailing costs you a strike while releasing the other side.

Just test. Volunteering is the normal way seats fill here: you test an app with nothing expected in return, and completed tests build your public reputation. Swaps exist for when you'd rather have a tester guaranteed back, and they're opt-in on both ends — nobody is sent offers unless their listing asks for them, and you decide whether yours does.

They prove it. Before a tester can confirm their opt-in, they upload a screenshot of your app running on their device — that's the only evidence anyone can produce, because Google tells you how many testers opted in but never which ones, and there's no API that says otherwise. A TestersWiz admin reviews that image before you see it, since it's the first thing a stranger can send you. After that they check in on a schedule, and identical images reused across accounts are flagged automatically.

Yes — in fact that's the point. Roles are contextual, not exclusive: the same account lists apps and tests other people's. You can't test or trade with your own campaigns, and self-dealing patterns are surfaced on our fraud dashboard.

The clock starts as soon as the developer admits their first verified tester — it doesn't wait for all 12. Each new tester who joins restarts it, so everyone tests the full window together. There is no cap on how many testers a campaign may take: 12 is what Google asks the developer for, and accepting more is simply margin against a drop-out. A campaign stops taking testers when its 14-day window ends, not when it hits a number. A daily job advances the day counter; testers submit a screenshot check-in on day 3 and a short written report from day 12. On day 14 the campaign moves to confirmation. Note that Google's own 14-day window is measured by Google — keep your testers opted in until Google grants production access, not just until our clock ends.

Google requires real testing by real people — that is exactly what TestersWiz provides and verifies. What violates policy is fake engagement: bots, incentivized installs that misrepresent usage, or review manipulation. Our testers are fellow developers testing each other's closed tests; we never touch ratings or reviews, and we require testers to genuinely use the app. That said, compliance with Play policies is ultimately the developer's responsibility — read Google's current guidance before you apply for production access.

While your campaign is still recruiting you can cancel it yourself from the campaign page — applicants and trade partners are released. If a live trade was relying on your app, cancelling counts as backing out and costs you a strike. Once the 14-day clock starts, contact us. Individual tester disputes never auto-resolve — they go to human review.