Overview

At this point you’ve probably already created a build of your app and configured it for the Google Play Store, so now let’s get ready to send it across the line! In this reading, you will cover the necessary steps to upload your Android application to the Google Play Store.

Preparation

Before following the steps for submission, you need to make sure that your application builds and runs successfully. You should also test your application for possible bugs that could affect users while they use your application. To refresh your memory on all the details about app testing, sharing your application to have as many testers as possible and other prerequisites for this step, refer to the previous videos in this lesson:

• Play Store submission process

• Preparing your app for submission

• Building and testing your app

Once all the preceding development processes have successfully been completed, you will be able to start the process of submitting your application to the Google Play Store.

Submission instructions

As previously mentioned, to submit your application, you will need to log in to the Google Play Store console with a valid Google Developer account .

• To create a Google Play Console application, open the Google Play Console website .

• Once you are logged in, go to the All applications tab and choose the Create Application option.

• Because you are uploading a new application to the Google Play Store, you will need to give it a name and assign it to an app category. Note: Google Play Store is home to over a million applications with hundreds of categories, so take care to choose the most appropriate category for your application.

• Then indicate what the default language of your application is.

• Next, if you are uploading a paid-for app, you need to set its price either in US dollars or another currency that is supported by Google.

• Before the Play Store can make your application available to the public, a build version of your application needs to be reviewed by Google staff. Therefore, you need to create a signed app bundle from your Android Studio project first.

  • To create the signed bundle, go to the Android Studio.

  • Open the Build menu and select Generate Signed Bundle / APK. Then select Android App Bundle , click Next and select New keystore .

  • Next select Release and then Finish .

  • The file with the aab extension will be generated in the app/release folder.After the bundle generation process has successfully been completed, you will be able to upload it to the newly created app in the Google Play Console.

• Go back to Google Play Store and Navigate to the Production link in the menu . Click Create new release .

• Upload the generated aab file and click Save .

Then click on Review release and click on Start rollout to Production .

After submission

At this stage, you are very close to having your application live on the Google Play Store. During the review process, Google staff will check for any potential issues. They will report any problems to you so that you can fix and improve your application. Finally, after all issues have been resolved, your application will be approved and go live on the Google Play Store.

Conclusion

In this reading, you explored how to submit your application to the Google Play store. You have learned the necessary steps related to preparing the application, filling out the correct settings and submitting it for approval.