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
bashgplay release \ --package com.example.app \ --track production \ --bundle app-release.aab \ --rollout 0.1
This releases to 10% of users.
Promote with rollout
bashgplay promote \ --package com.example.app \ --from beta \ --to production \ --rollout 0.25
Increase Rollout Percentage
bash# 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:
bashgplay 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:
bashgplay rollout resume \ --package com.example.app \ --track production
Complete Rollout
Release to 100% of users:
bashgplay rollout complete \ --package com.example.app \ --track production
Check Rollout Status
bashgplay tracks get \ --package com.example.app \ --track production \ | jq '.releases[0].userFraction'
Recommended Rollout Strategy
Conservative (7-day rollout)
bash# 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)
bash# 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)
bash# 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
bash# 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
bashgplay 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
bash# 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:
bashgplay promote \ --package com.example.app \ --from beta \ --to production
Best Practices
- Always start with <20% - Catch issues early
- Monitor for 24 hours between increases
- Have a hotfix plan - Be ready to fix critical bugs quickly
- Set up alerts - Monitor crash rates automatically
- Test thoroughly in beta - Reduce production issues
- Communicate with users - Update release notes
- 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
yaml# .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.
