Publishing an App on the Play Store Publishing an App on the Play Store

I recently published my first Android App on Google’s Play store, which you can find for free here. Below I’ve listed the steps I took to publish the app. Keep in mind that these steps are for publishing a free app on the Play store. You can find out information on monetizing your app here.

Steps to Publishing an Android App

Progard Tool Make runProguard ‘true’

proguard-rules.pro file proguard-rules.pro file

  1. In Android Studio deactivate logging and disable the debugging option before you build your application for release (more information: http://developer.android.com/tools/publishing/preparing.html)
    • Use Proguard tool -> go to build.gradle -> make runProguard ‘true’ -> rename getDefaultProguardFile to ‘proguard-android-optimize.txt’
    • In the proguard-rules.pro file, copy and paste the following:-assumenosideeffects class android.util.Log { public static boolean isLoggable(java.lang.String, int); public static int v(...); public static int i(...); public static int w(...); public static int d(...); public static int e(...); }
  2. Building a Release Ready APK
    • In Android Studio, go to Build -> Generate Signed APK -> ‘Create new…’ Key store path (keep in mind that this will be the same to publish all subsequent apps under the same account, so make sure to store the key) -> choose ‘release’ type apk
    • This will create a release ready apk to upload to the Play store
  3. Google Play Developer Console (https://play.google.com/apps/publish)
    • Create account – it is $25 to create a publisher account (I believe this is a one time fee)
    • Complete your account information
    • Click on ‘+ Add new application’ button
    • Click on ‘Upload APK to production’ button
    • Complete the Store Listing (Icons)
    • Click on the ‘Ready to Publish’ button
    • Wait for about an hour, and your app should be on the Play store!
  4. Useful Resources