gplay-rollout-management

name	gplay-rollout-management
description	Staged rollout orchestration and monitoring for Google Play releases. Use when implementing gradual release strategies.

Staged Rollout Management

Use this skill when you need to manage gradual releases on Google Play.

What is Staged Rollout?

Staged rollout releases your app to a percentage of users, allowing you to:

• Monitor crash rates and reviews before full release
• Catch critical bugs with limited user impact
• Gradually increase distribution as confidence grows

Start a Staged Rollout

During initial release

gplay release \
  --package com.example.app \
  --track production \
  --bundle app-release.aab \
  --rollout 0.1

This releases to 10% of users.

Promote with rollout

gplay promote \
  --package com.example.app \
  --from beta \
  --to production \
  --rollout 0.25

Increase Rollout Percentage

# Increase to 25%
gplay rollout update \
  --package com.example.app \
  --track production \
  --rollout 0.25

# Increase to 50%
gplay rollout update \
  --package com.example.app \
  --track production \
  --rollout 0.5

# Increase to 100% (or use complete)
gplay rollout update \
  --package com.example.app \
  --track production \
  --rollout 1.0

Halt Rollout

Pause distribution if issues are detected:

gplay rollout halt \
  --package com.example.app \
  --track production

Effect:

• Stops further distribution
• Existing users keep the update
• New users don't receive the update

Resume Rollout

Resume after fixing issues:

gplay rollout resume \
  --package com.example.app \
  --track production

Complete Rollout

Release to 100% of users:

gplay rollout complete \
  --package com.example.app \
  --track production

Check Rollout Status

gplay tracks get \
  --package com.example.app \
  --track production \
  | jq '.releases[0].userFraction'

Recommended Rollout Strategy

Conservative (7-day rollout)

# Day 1: 10%
gplay release --package com.example.app --track production --bundle app.aab --rollout 0.1

# Day 2: 25% (monitor crash rate)
gplay rollout update --package com.example.app --track production --rollout 0.25

# Day 3: 50%
gplay rollout update --package com.example.app --track production --rollout 0.5

# Day 5: 75%
gplay rollout update --package com.example.app --track production --rollout 0.75

# Day 7: 100%
gplay rollout complete --package com.example.app --track production

Aggressive (3-day rollout)

# Day 1: 25%
gplay release --package com.example.app --track production --bundle app.aab --rollout 0.25

# Day 2: 50%
gplay rollout update --package com.example.app --track production --rollout 0.5

# Day 3: 100%
gplay rollout complete --package com.example.app --track production

Cautious (for critical apps)

# Day 1: 5%
gplay release --package com.example.app --track production --bundle app.aab --rollout 0.05

# Day 2: 10% (monitor carefully)
gplay rollout update --package com.example.app --track production --rollout 0.1

# Day 3: 25%
gplay rollout update --package com.example.app --track production --rollout 0.25

# Day 5: 50%
gplay rollout update --package com.example.app --track production --rollout 0.5

# Day 7: 75%
gplay rollout update --package com.example.app --track production --rollout 0.75

# Day 10: 100%
gplay rollout complete --package com.example.app --track production

Monitoring During Rollout

Check crash rate

Use Play Console → Quality → Android vitals

Monitor reviews

# Get recent reviews
gplay reviews list \
  --package com.example.app \
  --paginate \
  | jq '.reviews[] | select(.createdTime > "2025-02-05") | {rating, text: .comments[0].userComment.text}'

Filter 1-star reviews

gplay reviews list \
  --package com.example.app \
  | jq '.reviews[] | select(.rating == 1) | .comments[0].userComment.text'

Decision Matrix

Metric	Action
Crash rate < 1%	Continue rollout
Crash rate 1-2%	Halt, investigate
Crash rate > 2%	Halt, rollback if possible
1-star reviews spike	Halt, investigate
ANR rate spike	Halt, investigate
No issues after 24h	Increase rollout

Rollback Strategy

Google Play doesn't support automatic rollback, but you can:

Option 1: Upload hotfix

# Build hotfix with higher version code
./gradlew bundleRelease

# Release hotfix immediately to 100%
gplay release \
  --package com.example.app \
  --track production \
  --bundle app-hotfix.aab

Option 2: Promote previous version

This requires the previous version still be in beta track:

gplay promote \
  --package com.example.app \
  --from beta \
  --to production

Best Practices

1. Always start with <20% - Catch issues early
2. Monitor for 24 hours between increases
3. Have a hotfix plan - Be ready to fix critical bugs quickly
4. Set up alerts - Monitor crash rates automatically
5. Test thoroughly in beta - Reduce production issues
6. Communicate with users - Update release notes
7. Don't rush - Gradual rollout is for safety

Common Mistakes to Avoid

❌ Don't:

• Jump from 10% to 100% immediately
• Ignore crash rate increases
• Roll out during weekends/holidays (slower monitoring)
• Skip beta testing phase

✅ Do:

• Monitor crash rates constantly
• Have team available during rollout
• Prepare hotfix in advance
• Communicate expected timeline to stakeholders

Automation Example

CI/CD with automated rollout

# .github/workflows/rollout.yml
name: Automated Rollout

on:
  schedule:
    - cron: '0 9 * * *'  # Daily at 9 AM

jobs:
  increase-rollout:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - name: Get current rollout
        id: current
        run: |
          CURRENT=$(gplay tracks get --package $PACKAGE | jq -r '.releases[0].userFraction')
          echo "fraction=$CURRENT" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT

      - name: Increase rollout
        if: steps.current.outputs.fraction < 1.0
        run: |
          NEW_FRACTION=$(echo "${{ steps.current.outputs.fraction }} + 0.25" | bc)
          gplay rollout update --package $PACKAGE --track production --rollout $NEW_FRACTION

Support

For manual rollout control, always use the Google Play Console UI as a backup.