DevLog #003 — Why Nobody Could See My Reddit Posts
By the time I had a build ready for closed testing, I still needed twelve testers. Google’s policy is simple: twelve real people, fourteen consecutive days, no critical crashes. Finding them was the part nobody warned me about.
Someone online mentioned r/androidclosedtesting — a subreddit where developers and testers find each other. Post your test link, get volunteers. I registered a new Reddit account and went there.
The post button was greyed out. Account too new. Karma too low.
I could not post, so I looked for another way in. There were threads from other developers already recruiting testers for their apps. I started commenting on those — offering to join their tests, and leaving my own closed test link in the reply. A reasonable exchange.
Reddit showed a system message immediately: posts from new accounts were subject to review before going public.
I could see my own comments. I had no way to tell if anyone else could. I commented on more than ten threads. One original poster replied. None of the others responded to say they had joined my app — I could not confirm the comments were getting through, and I could not rule out that they weren’t.
Both restrictions — karma and account age — have the same shape: they are timers. Karma builds through genuine participation, the kind that is not trying to build karma. Account age just passes. Each subreddit sets its own thresholds, and there is no number posted anywhere, just a system that says no until it doesn’t.
The solution wasn’t Reddit at all. It was an app on the Play Store called Testers Community, built specifically for this problem: developers list their apps, testers opt in, and the platform facilitates the exchange — you test someone else’s app, they test yours. Everyone there already wants to participate.
I posted Sudoku Fog. Within a few days I had enough testers.
The Reddit account is still there, aging. By then, it’ll finally be old enough to participate.