Manage release groups

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You can use release groups to stagger rollouts, pilot features to a subset of approved merchants, and A/B test a feature across two or more groups of merchants.

First create and upload your APK, then submit the APK for approval. After the APK is approved, create and manage your release group.

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IMPORTANT

Be aware that when you publish your APK, you are making it available to ALL merchants even if the APK is part of a Release Group.

For your approved Android apps, you can release new app versions to a release group of merchants. Their existing subscription tiers continue to be used for billing unless they select a different tier after upgrading their APK.

Any merchants in the release group are upgraded to the APK in the group that has the highest version code. As long as this beta override APK has a higher version code than the APK they currently have installed, the Clover app updater installs the beta APK on their system.

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TIPS

  1. As with any release, allow time for your merchants' devices to sync and download new versions.
  2. If you're asking merchants to test an older version of your APK, have them first uninstall the app, and then install the version of the app you want them to test.

Create release groups

You can create and manage release groups from the Release Groups page on your Developer Dashboard. On the Release Groups page, you can view the list of created release groups along with the list of APKs associated with each group.

To create a release group:

  1. On the Developer Dashboard, click Release Groups from the side-nav.
  2. On the Release Groups page, click NEW RELEASE GROUP.
  3. On the New Release Group modal that appears, enter a release group name and select APKs for apps that you want to associate with this group. The list of APKs is auto-generated based on the approved and published APKs you have for each app.
  4. Click Save. The release group details page appears.

On the release group details page, you can add and manage APKs. An APK installs on merchant devices that already have a lower version of that APK.

Add APKs to release groups

To add APKs to a release group:

  1. On the Developer Dashboard, click Release Groups from the side-nav.
  2. On the Release Groups page, select the release group for which you want to add merchants.
  3. On the release group details page, click ADD APKS.
  4. On the Add APKs modal that appears, select APKs for apps that you want to associate with this group.
  5. Click Save. The added APKs appear in the list of APKs on the release group details page.

Remove APKs from a release group

To remove an APK from a release group, click the delete icon for that APK on the release group details page.

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NOTE

Removing an APK from a release group prevents the APK from installing for any merchants you subsequently add to the release group. However, this does not remove the APK from merchant devices that already have that version installed.

Add merchants to release groups

On the release group details page, you can add and manage merchants either by percentage or by specific merchant IDs.

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NOTE

Merchants must have your app installed to be eligible to be part of a release group. The merchant list is available on the Installs page on the Developer Dashboard.

To add merchants to a release group:

  1. On the Developer Dashboard, click Release Groups from the side-nav.
  2. On the Release Groups page, select the release group for which you want to add merchants.
  3. On the release group details page, click ADD MERCHANTS.
  4. On the Add Merchants modal that appears, you can add merchants by random segments or by specific merchant IDs.

Add random segments for staged rollouts

You can add merchants to your release group randomly based on the APK version either for a number or a percentage of merchants. This feature is useful when you want to perform staged rollouts.

  1. On the Add Merchants modal, under Add Random Segment, select A number of merchants or A percentage of merchants from the list.
  2. Enter a number or percentage in the field below.
  3. Select the APK version from the Select Version list. This list is generated from the list of APKs associated with this release group.
  4. Select the Billable Merchants Only option to limits the list of merchants to only those that are billable.
  5. To add more conditions based on the Clover devices that merchants have, click ADD CONDITION and then select a condition from the Select Condition list. To add more conditions, simply click ADD CONDITION again and then repeat step 5.
  6. Click Save. The list of selected merchants appears on the release group details page.

For example, create a release group containing 10% of your app's subscribers. After confirming that no issues are detected within the group, add 50% of your subscribers to the group. Once you feel confident about the new version, publish the app and delete the release group.

Add specific merchants

You can add merchants to your release group based on the APK version either for a number or a percentage of merchants. This feature is useful when you want to push a version of your APK to a specific list of merchants.

  1. On the Add Merchants modal, under Add Specific Merchants, search for merchants by Clover UUID, MID, or name. To add merchants in bulk, click UPLOAD CSV and then upload a .csv file of Clover UUIDs MIDs. The added merchants are listed on the Add Merchants modal.
  2. Click Save. The list of selected merchants appears on the release group details page.

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NOTE

The Clover UUID of a merchant is an alphanumeric ID associated with the merchant. On the Installs page on the Developer Dashboard, the UUID is listed under the merchant's name.

Delete a release group

To delete a release group, you must first disassociate all of the APKs associated with that group.

  1. If you have associated APKs with the release group, click DISASSOCIATE ALL APKS on the release group details page.
  2. Once you disassociate all the APKs in the group, click the delete icon at the top of the release group details page. Confirm whether you want to delete the release group.