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Joining the Android test

Android is still in testing, so there are three steps before you can install — about two minutes, and none of this will exist once we launch.

First, the one thing worth getting right

Every step below has to use the same Google account that’s signed into the Play Store on your phone — usually your main Gmail. If you join with a different one, everything will look like it worked and the app still won’t appear.

Not sure which it is? Open the Play Store and tap your picture in the top corner. The address shown there is the one to use.

1. Join the testers group

   Google requires testers to be on a list before they can install. The group is open — you can add yourself, and you won’t get any email from it.

   You’ll land on a Google Groups page. The Join group button at the top is the only thing you need there — nothing gets posted to that group, and there’s nothing to read. Press it and come back here.

   Join the group →

   Opened. Come back here when you’ve joined.

2. Accept the test invite

   This tells Google Play you’re a tester. Look for Become a tester, then give it a minute — Play can be slow to catch up.

   Accept the invite →

   Opened. Come back here once you’ve accepted.

3. Install Plai Date

   Then sign in with your phone number — and if someone invited you, the number they sent it to. That’s how the two halves of a space find each other.

   This one only works after step 2 has gone through. If Play says the item wasn’t found, or shows you a 404, that is Play saying “you’re not on the list yet” in the least helpful way it can — go back to step 2 and give it a minute rather than assuming the app is gone.

   Install the app →

   Opened. If it wouldn’t install, read on.

If it didn’t work

The group page says you don’t have permission. It shouldn’t, but if it does: look at the top of the page anyway. If there’s a Join group button, you can still join, and that is all step 1 needs. That message is about reading the group’s messages, not about joining it. Worth telling us, though — that one’s on our side.

There’s no Join group button at all. You can join by email instead: from the Google account you use for the Play Store, send an empty message to plai-date-testers+subscribe@googlegroups.com, then reply to the confirmation Google sends back. Same result, no web page involved.

Play says the app isn’t available for your account. This is almost always the account mismatch above — the group and the Play Store need to be the same Google account. Worth checking both before anything else.

Play says the item isn’t found, or you get a 404. Step 2 hasn’t registered yet. It can take a few minutes after you accept; leaving Play and coming back tends to shake it loose.

You were invited, but your space isn’t there. Sign in with the phone number the invite was sent to, not a different one. The invitation is waiting on that number.

Still stuck. Write to hello@plaidate.com and tell us which step stopped you — we’d rather fix this than have you fight it.

All of this is temporary. Once Plai Date is fully released on Android, installing it will be a single tap from the Play Store like anything else, and this page will go away. Thank you for putting up with the scaffolding.