Help us test badmintho for Android
badmintho has been an iPhone and Apple Watch app so far. The Android and Wear OS version is built and running — but before Google will let us publish it, a group of people has to test it first. That is what this page is asking for.
Opens a short form on cortex.red8.io, our own system. Your email address is the only part we need — it is how we send you the opt-in link when the test opens. The other fields are optional; leave them blank if you would rather.
This is a closed test, not a release
badmintho for Android is not on the Play Store and you cannot download it yet. A closed test is a private track on Google Play: only people on the tester list can install the app, and only through a link we send them. Registering here puts your name down for that list — it does not install anything, and it does not commit you to staying.
Why we need twelve people
This is Google’s rule rather than ours. A developer account opened after 13 November 2023 has to run a closed test with at least twelve testers opted in continuously for fourteen days before it may apply to publish publicly. Ours is such an account, so there is no way round it.
The word doing the work there is continuously. The fourteen days only start once the twelfth tester has opted in, and anyone who opts out and rejoins starts their own count again. That is why we ask you to leave it installed for the fortnight even if you only open it once or twice — one tester dropping out in week two costs everyone else the wait.
What you would be testing
The Android phone app and the Wear OS watch app. Scoring a match on the phone, and scoring from the watch while it records the workout itself, are the two paths worth the most attention — they are where a bug would be most annoying and least obvious.
One difference from the iPhone app is worth stating plainly, because it is easy to assume otherwise: a shared match between two devices works Android to Android, not yet Android to iPhone. If you were hoping to score against a friend on an iPhone, that is not something this test can check yet.
What you need
- An Android phone running Android 11 or newer.
- A Google account — Play uses it to recognise you as a tester, and it has to be the one you use on that phone.
- A Wear OS watch, if you have one. It is not required, and testers without one are just as useful.
- About fourteen days of leaving the app installed.
What is most useful to tell us
Anything that surprised you. A score that came out wrong, a watch that lost the match, a screen that did not fit your phone, a word that reads oddly in your language. Small annoyances are worth reporting — they are the ones that never get found, because everyone assumes somebody else has already mentioned them.
You can write to [email protected] at any point during the test, and Google Play offers its own private feedback channel on the app’s listing.
What happens to your email address
The registration form is hosted on cortex.red8.io, which is our own system rather than a third party’s. This website does not collect it: the button above is an ordinary link, and badmintho.com itself carries no form and stores nothing about you.
You will be asked to confirm the address by opening a link we email you — until you do, nothing is stored against it. Once confirmed we keep it to send you the Play opt-in link and occasional notes about the test, and for nothing else. It is not used for marketing, not shared and not sold. Ask us at [email protected] and we will delete it.
When it opens
The test track is not open yet. Register now and you will hear from us with the opt-in link as soon as it is — that is the whole reason for asking first, rather than pointing you at a link that does not exist.