Ask for a place

Closed beta ยท Google Play

Twelve testers.
Fourteen days.

Before a new developer's app can open to everyone, Google asks at least twelve people to test it for fourteen days in a row. Be one of them.

Ask for a place

  • Android 7 or newer
  • Free to use
  • No account with us
The real app, playing an amaryllis.

Before it opens

One email from you. One link from us.

Write from the Google account your phone uses for Google Play, and just press send.

Ask for a place

  1. 1You email us from your Google Play account.
  2. 2We add you and write once, with the link, when Google Play opens the test.
  3. 3You tap Become a tester and install Becoming.

Know someone with an Android phone? Send them becoming.pics/beta.

The deal

What you get, what we ask.

You get

  • The real app, first: import, the lined-up video, the camera, backups, pacts.
  • A direct line to the person who builds it.
  • Your work carries over: Google Play updates the beta into the public app.

We ask

  • Stay opted in fourteen days in a row. Leaving and rejoining starts the count again.
  • Use it on a few different days: import some photos, make a video, take one. Five minutes is plenty.
  • Tell us what broke, by email or Google Play's private feedback.
  • Expect something to break, and keep a backup folder.

Before you join

The small questions.

Every question about the app

Why does Google need my Google account?

A closed test on Google Play is open only to the Google accounts on its list, so yours has to be on it. It's Google's step, not an account with us: Becoming still has nothing to sign up for, and the address is used for the test and nothing else.

Is the beta free?

Yes. Becoming is free to use, beta or not. If Plus goes on sale during the test, buying it is a real Google Play purchase on your account.

Will my projects survive the beta?

Yes. When the beta becomes the public app, Google Play updates it in place. Only uninstalling deletes what Becoming holds, so keep a backup folder.

Which app is it on Google Play?

Becoming: Progress Pics. Its address on Google Play ends in id=pics.becoming. If an app with a similar name asks you to make an account, it isn't this one.

Is it on iPhone?

Not yet. Becoming is Android only, for now.

Do I need an account? Are my photos uploaded?

No account, and no photo is uploaded. Becoming copies the photos you pick into its own storage on your phone, and photos you take in the app stay there, out of your gallery. Finding your face, lining up and making the video all happen on the phone.

Two companies receive a little technical information from the app, and neither receives a photo. The app asks RevenueCat, a service that checks purchases with Google Play, whether this phone has Plus, under an anonymous ID. And Google says ML Kit, the part that finds faces and bodies, sends Google the phone's model, the app's version, how fast it ran and any errors, under an ID made for this install.