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Putting your app on Google Play

You have the file. Here is every click between it and the Play Store, for someone who has never done this.

The platform built your Android app and handed you a file ending in .aab (an Android App Bundle). Uploading it to Google Play is a form, not a technical job. It takes an afternoon the first time and ten minutes after that. This page is the whole of it.

If you would rather the platform did the upload for you, that is the release option, and it needs you to connect your Play account first — see Phone apps. Doing it yourself, as below, needs no connection at all.

Before you start — once, ever

  1. A Google Play developer account. Go to play.google.com/console, sign in with a Google account, and register. Google charges $25, once, and asks you to verify your identity (a photo ID) and, for a personal account, a phone number. This is yours; nobody can do it for you.
  2. The file from the platform: ask your AI "build the Android app" and download the .aab it hands back. The link works for 30 minutes; ask again if it has expired.
  3. A few things to write down: a one-line description, a longer description, an icon (512×512), at least two screenshots of the app on a phone, and a privacy policy web address. Your AI can write the descriptions and the privacy policy page and deploy the page for you.

Creating the app (first time only)

  1. In the Play Console, choose Create app.
  2. Give it a name, choose the language, choose App (not Game) and Free (this cannot be changed to Paid later).
  3. Tick the declarations and choose Create app.

You are now looking at the app's dashboard, with a list of tasks. They look like a lot; each is a form.

Uploading the file

  1. In the left menu, under Test and release, choose Testing → Internal testing, then Create new release.
  2. If Google asks about Play App Signing, accept it. It means Google keeps the key that signs what people install — which is exactly why the file the platform gave you is safe to upload: the platform only ever holds an upload key.
  3. Under App bundles, choose Upload and pick your .aab file.
  4. Give the release a name (Google suggests one) and choose Next, then Save.
  5. Under Testers, create a list with your own email address on it and save. Google shows a link; open it on your phone and you can install the app straight away, before anything is public.

That is the app on a real phone. Everything below is about making it public.

The forms Google needs (first time only)

Back on the app's dashboard, work down the Set up your app list. In plain terms:

  • Privacy policy — the web address of your policy page.
  • App access — whether a reviewer needs a login to see the app. If your app is private, say so and give a test login.
  • Ads — whether the app shows ads.
  • Content rating — a questionnaire; answer honestly and Google assigns a rating.
  • Target audience — who the app is for. If it is for children there are extra rules.
  • Data safety — what the app collects. Your AI can tell you exactly what the app stores; most personal apps collect an email address and whatever the person types in.
  • Store listing — the name, descriptions, icon and screenshots from earlier.

Each one saves and turns green. When they are all green, the app can be published.

Going public

If your developer account is new and personal, Google requires a closed test with at least 12 testers for 14 days before it lets you publish to everyone. This is Google's rule for every new personal account, and nothing the platform or your AI can do changes it. Create the closed test the same way as the internal one (Testing → Closed testing), invite twelve people, and come back after two weeks to apply for production access.

Then: Test and release → Production → Create new release, upload the same file (or a newer one), and Send for review. A person at Google reads the app, usually within a day or two, sometimes a week. Google emails you when it is approved, and the app appears on the Play Store.

Updating it later

Ask your AI to build the Android app again after a deploy, download the new file, and upload it as a new release on the production track. Google reviews updates too, usually quickly. Every update needs a higher version number; the platform takes care of that.

If something is refused

Google explains the reason in the console and by email, usually in a sentence. Paste the sentence to your AI; nearly all of them are a missing form, a screenshot of the wrong size, or a data-safety answer that does not match what the app does.