Soft launching, dark launching, and canary releases are strategies used to test apps or features before full-scale release, each serving distinct purposes and best applied under specific circumstances. Soft launches quietly introduce a new app or update to a limited audience, often in a market similar to the target one, to validate the app's functionality and gather user feedback, while also testing marketing strategies. Dark launches involve releasing a significant feature to a subset of users, which helps test performance and adoption without explicitly notifying users, thus requiring a substantial existing user base for effective feedback. Canary releases, used for all app updates, aim to minimize the impact of potential production issues by gradually rolling out changes and halting distribution if problems arise. Unlike beta testing, which involves apps in late-stage development and is more tolerant of bugs, soft launches and dark launches require apps to be more polished and stable. Each method provides unique advantages, with soft launching focusing on stress testing and market reaction, dark launching on feature testing within an established user base, and canary releases on preventing widespread issues in production environments.