In a blog post, Google announced some changes to the way that mobile development firms publish apps on Google Play. The app store has added a new Manage Releases page in its Developer Console. It details a new four-step process for pushing out a release that will soon completely replace the previous method.
According to the post, the new process has two important new features. “First, we’ve added a validation step that highlights potential issues before you publish,” wrote product manager Kobi Glick. “The new ‘review and rollout’ page will appear before you confirm the roll out of a new app and flag if there are validation errors or warnings. . . . Second, it’s now simpler to perform and track staged roll-outs during the publishing flow. With staged rollouts, you can release your update to a growing percent of users, giving you a chance to catch and address any issues before affecting your whole audience.”