Publishing Android Application on Google Play

(In this post, a senior Android app developers outlines the process of publishing a brand new application in Google Play Store)

I was wondering how small to medium enterprises are making lots of money with a single app. Yes, it is 100% true. These days, people spend almost 2-3 hours in a day on mobile applications rather than websites. The reason is straight and simple: apps are fast processing, user-friendly in nature, offer enhanced visibility and customer experience etc. Believe me, even I started my app journey a few years ago and till now I’ve collected a great (and varied!) deal of experience. So what are you waiting for? Take a step forward towards your dream and mark your valuable presence in digital world by building your app.

If you are planning to learn the basic to advanced phases of application development journey, then you can participate in the Android Development Course accessible over the web from anywhere anytime.

Publishing an Android application is a method for making your products visible to users so that they can use, download or suggest improvement and submit feedback without any interruption. Publishing is the last step involved in the Android development process.

Once you have finished and done with final testing of your Android app, you can sell or distribute it freely to the users with Google Play (android marketplace). There’s one more way to release your application which includes sending it directly to the users so that they can download it from your website or other available sources.

In this blog, I’m explaining step by step guide to publish your Android application on Google Play which is the world’s largest app marketplace. Check it out:

Step 1: I prefer performing Regression Tests before entering the marketplace.

Regression testing is an essential step to check whether your application is compatible on the all the devices you are targeting. So you need to test all the basic features of the app by running it on various devices and tablets.

Step 2: Application Rating- Well.. Is your app mature enough?

Google Play will show the maturity level of your application to the users. So you need to specify the rating of content in your app from available options as:

a). Low Maturity

b). High Maturity

c). Everyone

d). Medium Maturity

Step 3: Targeted Region- Most of my consumers are from London.

On Google Play, you can control your region or country to sell your application. So it’s your responsibility to precisely select the time zone, localisation or other specific demands according to the selected region.

Step 4: Size of the Application- Are you qualifying the minimum criteria?

Google has limited the maximum size for an APK to 50 MB for publishing it on Google Play. If the size of your application is more than 50 MB, or you want to avail a secondary download to your users, then you can leverage the APK expansion files. Google Play will freely host it on its infrastructure. And, it will automatically handle the download on devices.

Step 5: Screen Compatibility and Software Development Kit (SDK)- My app is not running smoothly on Tablets. What to do?

It is your responsibility to ensure that your application is designed to execute properly without any bug on the pre-specified Android platform versions. Also, it must support the screen size of the devices you are targeting.

Step 6: Pricing of the Application- Should I pay?

The price of the application must be decided prior because there are applications available on Google Play which are free and do not get affected by your application (your application should not get affected either). For this, you can do one thing i.e. to specify the price to a specific target country.

Step 7: Promotional Content- I’m the one you were looking for?

It is one of the broadly used market strategies to boost your product popularity among users. You can say a good practice to showcase the assets of product is a high-quality graphic. After publishing, the promotional content can be used for the store’s product detail page and is also shown in the search results of the brand.

Step 8: Upload release-ready APK file- Countdown begins..!!

In further steps, you will upload this APK file on the developer console. It is distributed to the audience. While preparing for the release of a product in the market, always try to configure, to build and a trial before the actual release of the application. To optimise your application, the configuration has to be done carefully. It includes basic codes, cleanup and code modification tasks etc. Build or debug process is done using Android SDK and JDK tools. The final step is all about testing, which includes the final check of the application, or you can say an assurance check before the application is launched in the market. When you have finished all these steps, then your application is ready for release and distribution in the marketplace.

Step 9: Wrap up the Application Detail- Who am I?

Google Play presents various options and tactics to promote your application. It encourages user-engagement on your main product page which shows details, colourful graphics, screenshots from your application and video content for introducing descriptions, backlinks to other apps and release summary. So, you can show an attractive and well-maintained application page with useful detailed descriptions.

Export Your Application:

There are few tools you must have access to export your application:

Dalvik Executables tools: Dx tool helps in converting .class file extension to .dex file.
Android assistance packaging tools: AAPT is helpful for converting a .dex file to .apk file extension.
Android Packaging Kit: APK is used for final stage deployment.

All you need is to export APK file before marking your presence in Google Play marketplace. For export, open your project in the Android Studio and click on ‘Build’. It will generate a signed APK. Now click on the generate signed APK displayed in the above screen and choose to create a new key store, it will store your application.

Write your key store path, key store password, alias and key password in the window. Click next. Once you are finished with filling all the information such as build type, flavours and destination of the app, click finish as it will generate an APK file for your application.

Google Play:

You need to register on the Google Play where you have to create a Google ID and accept terms and conditions. It will ask for a payment of $25 to proceed. Hooray..!! Once you are registered on Google play, you can finally upload your application.

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Hussain Fakhruddin

CEO at Teknowledge Software

Hussain Fakhruddin is the founder/CEO of Teknowledge mobile apps company. He heads a large team of app developers, and has overseen the creation of nearly 600 applications. Apart from app development, his interests include reading, traveling and online blogging.