DevLog #002 — The wall I did not see coming
The app was nearly done. The plan was simple: finish it, register as an Android developer, upload to the Play Store.
The plan fell apart on the first page.
Google requires new developer accounts — registered after 2023 — to complete a closed testing phase before any public release. At the time, that meant twelve testers for fourteen consecutive days, no critical crashes. The testers have to opt in through the Play Store itself, which means real Android devices, real Google accounts, real people willing to install an unknown app from an unknown developer and use it for two weeks. Only after that window closes can you even apply for production access.
The policy makes sense. Google wants to slow down spam and low-quality apps. I just hadn’t realized it applied to every new developer.
I had been treating developer registration as a one-day errand. Pay the fee, set up the account, upload the build, go live. It was not that. It was a prerequisite with a two-week minimum that could not even start until I had a testable build and a group of willing testers already lined up.
Then I found the part that really hurt.
Developers who had registered before 2023 were exempt.
One policy change and the path to launch grew by two weeks. If I had registered the account the day I started the project — paid the $25 and held the slot — I would have avoided this entirely.
So I registered immediately, worked through the internal test setup, pushed a build into the system, and started thinking about where to find twelve testers who would actually show up for fourteen days.
That search went sideways almost immediately. Not because people refused to help. Because I underestimated how Reddit works.