Question

How do I re-use an expansion file when updating an APK in developer console?

When I upload a new apk with a higher versionCode, I can’t select a previously used main expansion file…

And if I upload the same expansion file again with the new apk, it get assigned a new expansion-version, which isn’t the expected behavior.

APK Expansion Files documentation:

…the Developer Console allows you to re-use an uploaded expansion
file with a new APK, the expansion file’s name does not change—it
retains the version applied to it when you first uploaded the file.

How can I achieve this on developer console?

Answer 1

I got an answer from Google Play Developer Support.

The behavior you are describing is intended. You can only reuse OBBs that
were associated with APKs that have been published. Neither APK has ever
been published, so we don’t give the option to reuse the OBBs he’s
uploaded so far.

So, it seems that i can’t test my app’s obb files behaviour when updating, without actually publishing a previous version of the app.