On paid tester groups, and why we stopped using one

Google Play requires a small developer to run a genuine closed test before an app can go to production. There is an industry of services that will sell you the required number of testers, and we tried one.

It did not work, for the reason it should not work: a person paid to open an app for fourteen days does not tell you that your third level is boring. The feedback was worthless and Google were unimpressed, which is fair on both counts.

The replacement is the playtest programme on this site. Nobody is paid in either direction, everybody volunteered, and the feedback is single long-answer boxes from people who chose to be there. It is slower to build and it is the only version of this that is worth having.