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This is the only way in which you can retain the key and have Google Play use it for signing. Next, select the Export and upload a key from Java Keystore option. Under the App integrity section, click the Change app signing key button: Select the Create new release button as seen below (it doesn’t matter which release type, since you don’t have to actually go through with creating a new release right now): In order to enable app signing, you’ll need to navigate to the new release screen, on one of the Production, Open testing, closed testing, or internal testing pages. New Appsįirst, create a new app in the Google Play Console. If you haven’t made the switch to Android app bundles yet, you will need to opt into Play App Signing in the Google Play Console to be able to publish them. To find the AAB binary, navigate to a successful Android build then find the AAB to download under the Artifacts section: The Native Builds feature automatically creates an APK and an AAB binary for you, and with Deploy to App Stores, an AAB binary can be automatically sent to Google Play as well. Using Appflow, Ionic’s mobile CI/CD service? You’re already covered. Generating an AAB in the Cloud with Appflow For complete details, view the Android documentation.
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To create an AAB binary locally using Android Studio, open the Build menu, then choose “Generate Signed Bundle / APK.” Follow the prompts to sign the AAB with your keystore file. There are two steps: generating an AAB binary and configuring Play signing in Google Play. Fortunately, migrating from the APK format to AAB is not too difficult. This makes your app smaller and faster to download, which can lead to more installs.ĪABs supersede the Android application package (APK) format and as of August 2021, Google Play requires all new apps to be published as AABs. Introduced in 2018, Google Play uses the app bundle to generate and optimize APKs for distribution for different device configurations and languages. The Android App Bundle (AAB) publishing format includes an app’s compiled code and resources as well as defers APK generation and signing to Google Play.
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