You can see your app's latest publishing status under your app's name and package name when you select your app in Play Console.
Note: For certain developer accounts, we’ll take more time to thoroughly review your app to help better protect users. This may result in review times of up to seven days or longer in exceptional cases.
Publishing status
There are three types of publishing status:
- App status: Helps you understand your app’s availability on Google Play and who it’s available to (such as testers, all Google Play users, and so on).
- Update status: Helps you understand the availability of your latest update. An update is a set of one or more changes that you've made to your app.
- Item status: Helps you understand the availability of a specific part of an update, such as a particular release, a content rating, or a store listing experiment.
Every possible status for apps, updates, and items is described below.
App status| Status | Description |
|---|---|
| Draft | Your app has no presence on Google Play because either you haven’t published it yet or it was rejected during the review process. |
|
Internal testing |
Your app is available to internal testers via URL only–it’s not discoverable on Google Play. |
| Closed testing | Your app is discoverable on Google Play but only selected testers can install and use it. |
| Open testing |
Your app is discoverable on Google Play and any user can become a tester. You can set a limit on the number of testers. |
| Pre-registration | Your app is available for users to pre-register on Google Play. When you launch, customers who are pre-registered will receive a notification to download the app. |
| Production | Your app is available for download to Google Play users in your chosen country or region. |
| No active releases | This means that either you did not roll out updates on any tracks or the updates were rejected. |
| Unpublished | You’ve chosen to unpublish your app from Google Play. It’s discoverable on Google Play for existing users only. Updates are only available for existing users. |
| Removed by Google | Google has removed your app indefinitely–it’s not discoverable on Google Play and you need to submit a policy-compliant update to reinstate it. |
| Suspended by Google | Google has removed your app indefinitely–it’s not discoverable on Google Play and you need to successfully submit an appeal to reinstate it. |
| Type | Description |
|---|---|
| No pending changes | Your app has no changes available to submit. |
| In review | We’re reviewing your update. |
| Update rejected | One or more of the changes in your update are not compliant with the Google Play policy or the Developer Distribution Agreement. You can fix the issue and resubmit, or you can submit an appeal. |
| App rejected |
One or more of the changes in your update are not compliant with Google Play policy or the Developer Distribution Agreement. You can fix the issue and resubmit, or you can submit an appeal. Note: The difference between this state and Update rejected is that App rejected only applies to apps in Draft that you’re attempting to publish for the first time. |
|
Changes not yet sent for review |
You've made one or more changes to your app that has not yet been reviewed. Note: Every time you make a change to your app that needs to be reviewed, the change is added to this "Changes not yet sent for review section on the Publishing overview page. Your changes are not automatically sent for review. Learn more about managing when changes go live. |
| Previous | This is a valid update that you made in the past. This helps you to understand and keep a record of what you submitted in the past, which can be helpful if you’re using managed publishing. |
| Status | Description |
|---|---|
| Draft | This item has never been submitted for review. |
| In review | This item is part of an update that we’re reviewing. |
|
Update rejected App rejected (in case of going from Draft to Published) |
This item is a part of an update that is not compliant with the Google Play policy or the Developer Distribution Agreement. You can fix the issue and resubmit, or you can submit an appeal. Note: The difference between Update rejected and this state is that App rejected only applies to apps in Draft that you’re attempting to publish. |
| App rejected |
This item is part of an update that is not compliant with the Google Play policy or the Developer Distribution Agreement. You can fix the issue and resubmit, or you can submit an appeal. Note: The difference between this state and Update rejected is that App rejected only applies to apps in Draft that you’re attempting to publish. |
| Available | The most recent version of this item is available on your app and on Google Play. |
| Previous | This is a valid item that you submitted in the past but was superseded by a newer version or made obsolete in a subsequent submission. |
Publish a draft app
When you're ready to publish a draft app, you'll need to roll out a release. At the end of the release process, clicking Release will also publish your app.
Problems publishing a draft app?
If you see the heading "Errors summary" at the top of your app release’s review summary page, click Show more to view the details. When available, you can also view the recommended or required resolution. You can’t publish your app until errors have been resolved. If you only have warnings, minor issues, or a combination of the two, then you can still publish your app, but we recommend addressing them before publishing.
Publish an app update
You can use standard publishing or managed publishing to publish an update to an existing app.
- Standard publishing: Updates to existing apps are processed and published as soon as possible. By default, your app will use standard publishing. Certain apps may be subject to extended reviews, which may result in review times of up to 7 days or longer in exceptional cases. Go to Update or unpublish your app to learn more about Standard publishing.
- Managed publishing: Updates to existing apps are processed as usual. After it's approved, you control exactly when the changes are published. Go to this Help Center article to learn more about managed publishing and managing when changes are reviewed and published.
Important: To publish updates, work with your account owner to decide which of the following permissions you need:
- Release to production, exclude devices, and use Play App Signing
- Release apps to testing tracks
- Manage testing tracks and edit tester lists
- Publish Google Play games services projects
- Create and publish private apps to your organization
Related content
- Learn more about launching your app or game in the Academy for App Success.
- Discover how to control when app changes are published with managed publishing.
- Get more information on how to make your app unavailable to new users in Update or unpublish an app.