When developers roll out updates for their applications on the Google Play Store, depending on the scope of the update and how much it changes the experience of the user or requires more permissions than it previously needed, Google might hold back the change until it is reviewed by their team.
Now, this review period might take a few minutes to a few days, which causes unnecessary anxiety to the developer who might not be totally sure what the hold-up might be. To make this whole process smoother, Google has introduced a new update to the Google Play Console where app developers can track the progress of the review process as well as schedule when the update will go live.
In the Play Console, there is now a new section called “Changes ready to send for review”. This section will be populated with your change if it has been flagged and is subject for a review before it can be published. There are those changes, especially minor ones that will be published immediately without a review, how Google decides on what changes need a review is largely overseen by their algorithm and the scope of changes the developer is making.
Unlike in the past when the change would be automatically sent for review, the new addition makes it possible for developers to carry out a few more changes and then send all of them at once for review when they are ready. Once sent, you will be able to track the progress in the “Changes in review” section.
For those who have ‘managed publishing on’, the approved changes will be moved to the “Ready to publish” section where they can publish at whatever time they wish to, however, those who have turned the feature off will have their changes go live immediately the review team has approved them.
Google advises turning managed publishing on, as you would not want an update to roll out when you are asleep or during the weekend, when you can not tend to unforeseen hiccups should they arise.
Furthermore, once the changes have been approved and are in the ‘ready to publish section’, you can still make additional changes to them. However, they will still need to go back to the review section for Google to have another look before you can publish them.
