Until a few days ago, there was a program of beta versions in Google Play Store, but that limited the participation of users because it was handled with Google+ groups. After an experiment that offered the possibility of offering an open beta to 29 developers, they
have chosen to offer beta versions open to everyone
.
It is no longer necessary to manage the beta versions through the Google+ groups
, now the applications are available on Google Play and anyone can install them. Yes, in the app's own information page, we are shown a message that says:
"This application has not yet been officially published.
It may not be stable
.
"
The open beta versions come to the Play Store officially and with access to all users.
With this change, developers are now benefited by being able to publish a more accessible beta, so that users can try it and report errors or suggest improvements. User feedback is crucial when an application is stable and works correctly on the largest number of devices.
Google has also shown some statistics, which show that the beta versions of the applications have generated more than a million installations so far, a figure not negligible.
All this will have positive and negative consequences for users and developers.
The main advantage for developers, will be that they will get
a more mature product at the time of the official launch
, with fewer errors and more stability. For users, open betas benefit them in being
able to enjoy the application before the official launch
.
As a disadvantage, there is that small probability that an application launched in beta phase is so unstable that it ends up causing some serious problem or loss of data in our device.
The developers have at their disposal this
official form
to request the publication of the beta version. Some of the applications with beta that we can find now in Google Play are:
Zyptonite P2P Chat
, BFree and Kicktrip.