Disable Managed Google Play - Make app public again

user_3460794 0
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I have an app listed in the play console, which access has been limited to an internal play store for years - everything worked fine.

Play console - advanced settings

Now the customer decided, the app should not be limited to internal users any more, but to be available publicly in the play store. I would like to avoid to package the app with new package name and signature as a new app.

https://support.google.com/a/answer/2494992?hl=en#zippy=%2Cmanaging-private-apps-in-admin-console-versus-google-play-console%2Cimportant-information-about-app-publishing indicates it should be possible to remove that access limitation.

You might want to use Google Play Console if any of the following are true:

You might want to make the app public someday. If you publish a private app through Play Console, you can later change its settings to make it a public app.

But I do not find the option to deactivate that limitation. The tab for "Managed Google Play" allows only to add/remove Organisations for access, but not make it freely public again.

Is this possible and when, how is it done?

google-play-console google-play android
4 Answers

It seems that Google may have changed the rules on Managed Google Play. I definitely used to be able to turn it off but I don't think you can any more. Either that, or the act of publishing a release under Managed Google Play removes the ability to turn it off and publish widely. Source

enter image description here

user_18663730

If you navigate to Setup -> Advanced Settings, click the Managed Google Play Tab, make sure to unselect all the organisations associated with it.

the "Turn Off" Radio button some become enabled, then save!

user_166061220

I have the same issue as you do.

I contacted Google Support and a Google Support agent told me to publish a new app with a different package name, which is very disappointing. Perhaps this person is wrong, but that is the answer I received from them.

Google Support Screenshot

user_46787450

I had a similar issue where the application was published with Managed by Google Play option turned on. Later we didn't had any option to turn it off even after creating the new app as shown in the below screenshot

enter image description here

Since we were not able to figure out what was the issue. Later reached out to google play support. Playstore support guys escalated the request to their technical team and they deleted the existing application and made some config changes I believe. After that when we created the new app, option to managed by google was turned off

enter image description here

I think the best option in this type of scenario is to reach out the google play support.

user_50431970
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