Introduction

At this point you’ve probably already created a build of your app and configured it for the Play Store, so now let’s get ready to send it across the line! In this reading you will cover all the necessary steps in order to upload your Android application to the Google Play Store.

Preparation

Before you continue, make sure that your application runs successfully and that you have tested it for any possible bugs or unexpected behaviors that could create a problematic experience for your users.

To refresh your memory on all the details about app testing, sharing your application to have as many testers as possible, and other prerequisites for this step, refer to the previous videos in this lesson:

• Play Store Submission Process

• Building and Testing your App

• Preparing your App for Submission

Once all the prerequisite steps are done and successfully performed, you will be able to continue with the process of submitting your application to the Google Play Store.

The Submission Process

Step 1 – Set up Google Developer account

As previously mentioned, to submit your application you will need to login to Google Play Store with a valid Google Developer account .

To create a Google Play Console application, first go to the Google Play Console website. Then in the menu, go to the All applications tab. You will see an option Create Application – click it.

Step 2 – Set application information

When listing a brand-new application to the Google Play Store you will need to choose a name for your application, and a category to which it will belong.

Currently, Google Play Store is home to close to 3 million applications with hundreds of categories, so try to be as precise as possible when choosing a category for your application.

Also, it is very important to choose a default language for your application. If you were to set a price for your application, this is where you would specify the cost in US dollars or one of the other currencies that are supported by Google.

Step 3 – Upload application

Now, the next step in the submission process is to upload your Android app to the Google Play Store using the Expo EAS submit tool. For that, run the eas submit --platform android command on your terminal and follow the instructions on the screen.

The command will perform the following actions:

• Log in to your Expo account and verify that your application project exists on the EAS servers.

• Ask you for an Android package name, unless android.package is already set in the app config.

• Ask for which binary to submit, among different options presented to you. The recommended format is an .aab file (Android App Bundle).

• A summary of the provided configuration is then displayed and the submission process starts. The submission progress is shown on the screen.

• Finally, your build should be visible on the Google Play Console. If something goes wrong, a detailed message is displayed on the screen.

Finally, within Google Play Console, navigate to the Production tab and click Create new release . Upload the generated .aab file and click save . Click on Review release and then click on Start rollout to Production .

Step 4 – Wait for response from Google

You’re almost done! After you submit your application for review, Google staff will review your application and check for any potential issues. If any problems are found, they will report back to you so the issues can be fixed and improved. After approval, your application will be live on the Google Play Store and ready for download by users.

Conclusion

In this reading you explored the steps required to submit your Expo applications to the Google Play Console portal, as well as the most important fields you need to fill out in the portal to prepare your application for review.