title: Quickly switch between beta and release
body: <p>I am developing an android app in a situation where I would like:</p>
  <ul>
  <li>Testers (not developers, not necessarily good with computers, but I do know their play store emails) to be able to quickly switch between a beta version and a stable version of the same app</li>
  <li>To provide updates to both the stable version and the beta version through the play store</li>
  <li>Restricted access to the beta version. The release version is already publicly available on the play store.</li>
  </ul>
  <p>So far I have mostly focused on ways to get two versions of essentially the same app on an android device. I've already considered a few options, but I'd like advice as to how to proceed. I could:</p>
  <ul>
  <li>Create a &quot;new&quot; app with <code>beta</code> appended to it's name, with a different icon to distinguish it to the testers, but mostly the same internals. It could be distributed as a closed alpha/internal test through the play store. I would like to avoid this, as it will make it more difficult for me to manage versions - when I want to promote beta to release, I would have to manually change the icon and the name of the app</li>
  <li>Create a build flavor. I'm not entirely sure how capable build flavors are or how well-supported they are.</li>
  <li>Use the google play store's closed alpha/internal test program. This is less than ideal because it takes considerable effort to opt-in/opt-out of testing programs. You have to go to a url, click a button, uninstall the app and reinstall the app.</li>
  <li>Use an app like <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.applisto.appcloner" rel="nofollow noreferrer">app cloner</a> to clone the stable version and rename it, then distribute the beta through the play store. This is not ideal because it makes updating the release version require developer intervention.</li>
  </ul>
  <p>note: When I say closed alpha and internal test, I mean google play closed alpha and internal test (accessible through the google developer console), not their more general definitions. When I say Beta, I mean the more general definition - a pre-release version.</p>
  <p>Edit: upon following the advice on <a href="https://stackoverflow.com/questions/24785270/how-to-change-app-name-per-gradle-build-type/32562324#32562324">this</a> post, I successfully installed two apps, but whenever trying to open one, I would get a picker dialog, like this <a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/15N4x.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/15N4x.png" alt="information redacted to protect the identity of the app" /></a></p>