Publishing a NativeScript Android App in Google Play

Overview

You can publish a NativeScript app in Google Play the same way you would release a purely native Android app.

1. Make sure that you have a .keystore file to sign your app with. For more information, see How to create a .keystore file?

2. Build your project in release mode by running the following command:

   tns build android --release --key-store-path <path-to-your-keystore> --key-store-password <your-key-store-password> --key-store-alias <your-alias-name> --key-store-alias-password <your-alias-password>
   

   Note: At the end of <path-to-your-keystore> you should also add the exact name of your keystore.

Example(Windows): tns build android --release --key-store-path C:\keystore\Telerik.keystore --key-store-password sample_password --key-store-alias Telerik --key-store-alias-password sample_password .

Example(Mac): tns build android --release --key-store-path ~/Desktop/keystore/Telerik.keystore --key-store-password sample_password --key-store-alias Telerik --key-store-alias-password sample_password .

1. Obtain the release .apk located at <app_name>/platforms/android/app/build/outputs/apk/<app_name>-release.apk.
2. Publish your Android app by uploading the .apk file to the Google Developer Console. For more information, see How to publish an Android app?

Application Id and Package Name

Both Package Name, and Application Id, are unique identifiers, provided by you for your app.

• Package Name is used to identify resources such as the R.
• Application Id is used to identify your app on devices and at the Google Play.

In the NativeScript framework, both are set to the applicationId in app.gradle. The NativeScript CLI build system will set them as the package attribute in the generated project in platforms/android/src/main/AndroidManifest.xml. In the app/App_Resources/Android/AndroidManifest.xml it will use a placeholder: package="__PACKAGE__". Do not modify the package attribute there.

NOTE: To edit the Package Name and the Application Id, modify the package.json of your app and set the nativescript.id key. You may need to delete platforms/android and rebuild using the CLI command tns prepare android.

Read more about "ApplicationId versus PackageName".

App name

This is the display name for your app. It is purely cosmetic but highly important. For example, it appears under the app icon. The value can be set via the App_Resources/Android/src/main/res/values/strings.xml file. Creating your own strings.xml will require population of the app_name and title_activity_kimera attributes explictly, like so:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<resources>
    <string name="app_name">MyAppName</string>
    <string name="title_activity_kimera">MyAppName</string>
</resources>

By default (or if the project lacks the values above) your application name is generated with the create command (e.g. tns create testApp will have app name testApp)

You can check out more information about the elements you can define in the AndroidManifest.xml here.

App icons

App icons are defined similar to the app name. The icon name is defined in the app/App_Resources/Android/AndroidManifest.xml file, as an android:icon="@drawable/icon" attribute, on the <application> element.

The actual .PNG icons stay at the Android resources in app/App_Resource/Android/<DPI>/icon.png, DPIs:

Note: NativeScript supports adaptive icons on Android 8 and above (API 26+). No code changes are required - follow the Android guidelines for creating adaptive icons for your application.

Launch screen

Android has no built-in mechanism to provide launch screen image. Here is a documentation article that describes how to implement a launch screen in the NativeScript framework.

Certificates

Debug certificate

These are automatically generated by the Android SDK tools for you.

In debug mode, you sign your app with a debug certificate. This certificate has a private key with a known password. The process is handled by the Android tooling.

You can read more at "Signing in Debug Mode".

Release certificate

The release certificate for Android is created by you; it does not have to be signed by a certificate authority. It is easier to create a release certificate for Android than it is for iOS. You should, however, be more careful with your certificate.

A few pitfalls are:

• You create the certificate only once. If you lose it, you will not be able to publish any updates to your app, because you must always sign all versions of your app with the same key.
• If your certificate expires, you will not be able to renew it. Ensure long validity when creating a new certificate (for 20+ years).
• If a third party obtains your private key, that party could sign and distribute apps that maliciously replace your authentic apps or corrupt them.

You can generate a private key for a release certificate using the keytool.

keytool -genkey -v -keystore <my-release-key>.keystore -alias <alias_name> -keyalg RSA -keysize 2048 -validity 10000

This will run an interactive session collecting information about your name, organization and most importantly — keystore and alias passwords.

Google Play Developer Console

You will need a developer account and you will need to log into the Google Play Developer Console.

Go to the All applications section and click the + Add new application button.

• You will get prompted to provide the app title

• You can then proceed with the store listings.

• You can fill in app description, screenshots and so on.

• You can also submit an APK. Read about how to obtain an APK from a NativeScript app.

Builds

Build versioning

We have already explained how the Application Id is set in your project, how icons are added to your app and how you can set the display name.

Before the build, you need to set two important things: the versionCode and the android:versionName.

When a build is uploaded, its versionCode should be larger than previous builds. A new build with a higher versionCode is considered an upgrade to builds that have a lower versionCode. The versionCode is an integer so you should carefully consider a strategy for versioning.

Both values are stored in app/App_Resources/Android/AndroidManifest.xml.

NOTE: android:versionName is a string value, which is used to represent the application version to the user whereas android:versionCode, which is integer value showing version of the application code relative to the other versions. You can read more about "Versioning Your Applications".

In the app/App_Resources/Android/AndroidManifest.xml, the versionCode and versionName appear as:

<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
      package="org.nativescript.name"
      android:versionCode="2"
      android:versionName="1.1">
      ...

Build signed release APK

You can perform a full build and produce a signed APK using the NativeScript CLI:

tns build android --release --key-store-path <path-to-your-keystore> --key-store-password <your-key-store-password> --key-store-alias <your-alias-name> --key-store-alias-password <your-alias-password> --copy-to <apk-location>.apk

You can then use the produced <apk-location>.apk for upload to Google Play.

APKs with ABI splits

If you want to reduce the apk sizes you can check how to achieve this in Android App Bundle article.

Submit with the Google Play Developer Console

To submit your app to the Google Play Developer Console:

1. Log into the Google Play Developer Console.
2. Select your application and go to the APK section.
3. Choose Production, Beta or Alpha stage and click the Upload new APK.
4. Select the APK produced by the CLI.

You can read more about these stages at "Set up alpha/beta tests".

Once you upload your APK, it will go through a review. When approved, you can move it to production to make it available on Google Play.

Android App Bundle

If you want to reduce the size of the application download from Google Play Store you can check how to achieve this in Android App Bundle article.

You can perform a full build and produce a signed AAB using the NativeScript CLI:

tns build android --release --key-store-path <path-to-your-keystore> --key-store-password <your-key-store-password> --key-store-alias <your-alias-name> --key-store-alias-password <your-alias-password> --aab --copy-to <aab-location>.aab

Then you can use the produced file to upload it to Google Play Developer Console following the steps described in Google Android Developer Documentation.

Submission automation

Some tools allow the submission process to be automated - MIT Licensed one: fastlane. You can also hack your own scripts around the Google Play Developer API.

Publish

Once you successfully upload your APK, and it passes Google review, you will be able to move your APK to production, and it will go live on Google Play.