25

I am about to release an update for my companies android app. The previous guy who wrote the app has now left, and I was just wondering how I change what appears in the What's New section in google play.

I can't find any guides anywhere!? I read somewhere it's to do with a changelog?? But is that something I should've compiled within the apk? Is it something I should upload separately to the developer console?

Thanks

Improve this question
1
  • 4
    No, it's just a text box in the Google Play Developer console for your app, under the Store Listing.
    – kaderud
    Commented Nov 29, 2013 at 0:07

7 Answers 7

Reset to default
54

As of early May 2017, the release process has been in constant flux. The current way of modifying release notes of an app that you've already released, is to:

  • Choose your app
  • click the Release Management dropdown from the left menu
  • click App Releases
  • click Manage Production

On the resulting page, tap the small (i) (info) icon next to your APK, as also shown in this screenshot, and you'll find the notes at the bottom of the dialog that pops up, along with an Edit button.

If you don't see the circled "ℹ", it might be pushed off too far right and clipped by the browser. It changed a couple of days after I took this screenshot.

Modify APK "What's New" (release notes)

Improve this answer
12
  • 3
    What's strange is that the "What's new in this release" section above the APKs doesn't seem to have any bearing on the Store page.
    – NicJ
    Commented May 3, 2017 at 15:10
  • @NicJ I had a problem with this yesterday, though it worked a few days ago. The store retained the last release notes, but the blurred section in my image showed what I wanted. In the end I just copied-pasted to edit the APK details and then it showed up ok. Go figure...
    – mm2001
    Commented May 3, 2017 at 19:03
  • Thankyou!!! this happened to me today - it seems like there's two redundant copies of the what's new text and you need to update the one here (by clicking the info icon as shown above) for it to show up on the play store. The what's new text update showed up immediately for me, even though the message said it may take hours to show up.
    – dodgy_coder
    Commented May 5, 2017 at 4:07
  • Thanks for this. On my equivalent page, the page formatting was incorrect so that the "i" symbol was pushed off the screen, to the right, so I couldn't even see it at first. Is anyone else finding this new release management process really cumbersome? What used to take 3 clicks now takes about 20. And even then, I somehow ended up with an incorrect "What's New" description, and I am pretty darn sure I entered a correct description at the time of release.
    – drmrbrewer
    Commented May 9, 2017 at 7:20
  • 1
    obsolete again in 2020 with the new Dashboard. Now you can manage Production and Tests separatley and the changes in Release notes get updated in a few minutes
    – afe
    Commented Nov 18, 2020 at 8:27
17

In what's new section you must have to write text in between

What's New:

<en-US>
Write text here
</en-US>
Improve this answer
15

In your application store listing there's a section "Recent Changes". This is just a text box where you can put your text (up to 500 characters). You don't need to have anything built into your app.

If your listing is translated into different languages, you should update that section for each language separately.

Improve this answer
3
  • 8
    This info is now obsolete - you need to input your changes when you upload a new version. I'm still looking for a way to edit it afterwards!
    – Marc
    Commented Jun 14, 2015 at 10:47
  • 8
    @Marc You can update it by clicking on the APK tab and select the latest one in production - Which would show a popup with APK details, including the what's new and an option to edit it.
    – Archie.bpgc
    Commented Jan 13, 2016 at 8:48
  • 1
    Thanks @Archie.bpgc, this has been tweaked again in Google Play, but your notes helped me find it. I took a screengrab for the current situation (May 2017) and added it as an answer below. (I fear this will eventually disappear... 😞)
    – mm2001
    Commented May 3, 2017 at 2:56
13

Steps for Google Play Console in 2021:

  • Go to App
  • In menu, there is Releases section, click on Production
  • There will be tab bar, click on (2nd) tab Releases
  • Find that latest Release (it will be on top) and click on on View release details button
  • This will open new screen with title is your APK version - e.g. "11 (1.1.0)" and sections Release summary, Release performance and Release notes
  • Scroll down, there is button Edit release details.
Improve this answer
12

You now need to go to the APK section and click on the relevant build. From there you can edit the "What's New in this version" text.

Improve this answer
2
  • 1
    Hey warwick, is it possible to embolden, italicize or underline font while editing this section?
    – SoulRayder
    Commented Jan 9, 2016 at 5:42
  • I guess we'll never know
    – Denny
    Commented Nov 18, 2018 at 2:16
4

The current way of modifying release notes of an app that you've already released, is to:

Choose your app

Click the Release Management dropdown from the left menu

Click App Releases

Click Manage Production

Click 'Edit release notes'

Now you can modify your "WHAT'S NEW"

Improve this answer
1

Just follow the steps as follows:

-> Dashboard

-> Release management

-> App releases

-> click on Manage for the channel(production,alpha,beta,internal)

-> in new page look for what's new in this release section click Add release notes it to add details.

Here are some assets added for the same:

enter image description here

enter image description here

Improve this answer

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.