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Deploying an Android app in Google Play

Twixl Support Team Updated : May 12, 2017 13:33 - Created : January 23, 2017 11:19

Requirements for single-issue apps

Android Developer Account and/or Amazon Appstore account
Artwork

Additional requirements for multi-issue apps

Android License Key - navigate to Services and APIs for your app to copy the license key for your app
Google Cloud Messaging (GCM) key - only required for sending push notifications

Uploading to Google Play

Uploading to Google Play is very straightforward. There's the application file (.apk) and for single-issue apps, there's also an expansion file (.obb).

1. Creating a new application

When you login to your Android Developer Account, select ‘Create Application‘. This will bring up a screen where you can upload your .apk file.

2. Uploading your first APK file

When you upload the APK file for the first time, you will be presented with the screen that allows you to select the APK file.

3. Uploading the OBB (expansion file) for a single-issue application

When uploading a single issue app, you need to upload a second file which is called an "OBB" or "expansion" file.

This is necessary because the maximum size for an APK file on Google Play is 50 MB. Because of that Twixl Publisher splits the app in two parts:

APK: containing just the Twixl Reader app itself
OBB: the embedded publication for the single-issue app

When you just uploaded your APK for the first time, Google Play doesn't allow you to specify the expansion file immediately. Before you move the application to production, click the "Upload new APK to production" option again.

You will now be presented with the following screen that allows you to select the expansion file:

Select "Upload a new file" in the "Use expansion file" option to upload the OBB file.

TIP:

For more info about the OBB file and how to upload, see this article (Google Play Console Help, external link).

Add artwork

When both files are uploaded, you should also upload your artwork. A couple of things are required:

2 application screenshots:

These should be any of the following sizes:

320 x 480, 480 x 800, 480 x 854, 1280 x 720, 1280 x 800
24-bit PNG or JPEG (no alpha)

High Resolution Application Icon:

512 x 512 pixels
32-bit PNG or JPEG
Maximum: 1024 Kb

The final steps to deploy your application to Google Play are: click ‘Publish‘ and ‘Activate‘ your application. It can take a couple of hours before your app will become available in the Google Play store.

Android Keystore

When you publish an app in the Google Play store, Google expects that app to be signed with a certificate. When you create an Android app with Twixl Publisher, we take care of creating this "keystore" for you automatically in the background. Every update of your app will have to be signed using the same keystore information (the app's "fingerprint" so to speak), otherwise it will not be accepted.

Important note: The keystore information will be saved as part of the build setting for that app. This means that, if you migrate to a different machine, you will have to make sure to also migrate the build setting, and also to never delete a build setting for an app that has been placed in the Play store.