Why am I being offered the "(beta)" of every app that has one now? (post - Oreo)

[PaulQ]

I don't know if this is actually related to the Oreo update, maybe the timing was just coincidental for no reason.

For any app that has a beta, I am being offered the beta when I look it up on my computer. In the Play store on my computer, the name of the app will say:

Pocket (beta)
Piktures (beta)
etc.

There is no option on the page to join or leave a beta program. The weird part is that on my phone, it will not show "beta" and I have the option to JOIN the beta. I have never joined any of these betas to begin with.

I tried chatting with Google and that was a mess of misunderstandings (language barrier). I tried calling Google and they checked everything on my account, then told me it's not their problem and I should call Microsoft (????). I tried using Firefox instead of Chrome. I tried logging out... then I didn't see the beta tag. Log in, it's back.

I know this may have nothing to do with the Note 8 but I noticed it after the Oreo update because I reset my phone and needed to reinstall apps.

Any thoughts?

 

[Ry]

I don't know if this is actually related to the Oreo update, maybe the timing was just coincidental for no reason.

For any app that has a beta, I am being offered the beta when I look it up on my computer. In the Play store on my computer, the name of the app will say:

Pocket (beta)
Piktures (beta)
etc.

There is no option on the page to join or leave a beta program. The weird part is that on my phone, it will not show "beta" and I have the option to JOIN the beta. I have never joined any of these betas to begin with.

I tried chatting with Google and that was a mess of misunderstandings (language barrier). I tried calling Google and they checked everything on my account, then told me it's not their problem and I should call Microsoft (????). I tried using Firefox instead of Chrome. I tried logging out... then I didn't see the beta tag. Log in, it's back.

I know this may have nothing to do with the Note 8 but I noticed it after the Oreo update because I reset my phone and needed to reinstall apps.

Any thoughts?

Etc.? What are the other apps?

To me, it seems like just part of the app store name of those apps.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ideashower.readitlater.pro
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.diune.pictures

 

[PaulQ]

Etc.? What are the other apps?

To me, it seems like just part of the app store name of those apps.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ideashower.readitlater.pro
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.diune.pictures

Nine
Hermit
Feedly
Wunderlist
Aquamail

I could probably keep going... those are just the ones I have installed lately. Not every app has it though. For example: Simple Pro, AAA, iRobot... don't have it.

It doesn't make sense that those are just part of the name because when I log out and search for these apps, the "(beta)" is gone.

Are you seeing "(beta)" when you look up these apps? When I click on those links, I see "(beta)". That would help me determine if it's just me. Or do you have any of those apps installed and can tell me what version it shows on your phone?

This is just weird.

 

[Rukbat]

Nine Work is beta. Hermit is beta. Feedly is beta. Wunderlist is beta. Aquamail is beta. (Look at the dates - they're all recent.)

As a developer of 45 years, I'd probably also leave the (Beta) on my app for a while, until users found any bugs I'd missed and I fixed them. (Commercially you don't do that. Alpha test versions stay in house. Beta test versions go to your beta testers. The released version is no longer a version being tested. But that takes time and a large team, and a lot of phone apps are written by a single developer, or a small team, and they want to get their money now.)

It's not a coincidence. Oreo broke a lot of apps, and they had to be rewritten. (Even really good developers sometimes fail to follow all the rules.)

 

[PaulQ]

It's not a coincidence. Oreo broke a lot of apps, and they had to be rewritten. (Even really good developers sometimes fail to follow all the rules.)

That's good to know. Just out of curiosity - why do they not show the "(beta)" when I am not logged in or when I look at the same app on my phone? Is that a setting that a developer can manipulate?

 

[Ry]

Nine
Hermit
Feedly
Wunderlist
Aquamail

I could probably keep going... those are just the ones I have installed lately. Not every app has it though. For example: Simple Pro, AAA, iRobot... don't have it.

It doesn't make sense that those are just part of the name because when I log out and search for these apps, the "(beta)" is gone.

Are you seeing "(beta)" when you look up these apps? When I click on those links, I see "(beta)". That would help me determine if it's just me. Or do you have any of those apps installed and can tell me what version it shows on your phone?

This is just weird.

I'm not a Beta tester for those apps.

When I'm logged out, I don't see the Beta tag.

But I still think it's just in the app name that the developer put for the title.

 

[PaulQ]

But I still think it's just in the app name that the developer put for the title.

It looks like I am getting something different. I just went to install "Our Groceries" - the date on the one that is marked "(beta)" in the Play store on my computer is dated almost 2 weeks newer than the one I see without the "(beta)" tag on my phone. Pocket has matching dates but that may be because they don't have a newer beta right now.

I definitely never signed up for a beta of Our Groceries. I have no idea what happened to cause this. Google thinks I'm a master beta tester. (hmm... that doesn't sound right when you say it).

It's probably not a Note 8 Oreo update issue. I'll try not to drag this out in this forum. I did post it in the Google Play forum but also got directed to Google's own instructions which don't apply.

Any of you have any other suggestion of where I could post this? All your feedback is appreciated.