Google Play - Internal Testing - Inactive

Question

One of the developers by mistake published the app on Google Play before release. Then it was unpublished for safety reasons.

Then internal testing release was created, countries selected, testers added... (with .oob bundle).

Everyone got invites, we shared app links to testers, but the app doesn't show. Then we noticed, track summary - inactive status for internal testing.

What might make status active for internal testing? (publishing back the app is not an option, as we don't want the app to be available for everybody)

Answer 1

hear me out

Option 1 (recommended)

• republish the app to production
• remove all countries / regions from production
• so now, the app will be on production but not available to anyone
• then you will see that the internal app is active again

Option 2 publish the app as a private app then make it public when you want