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Android App Bundles solve both of these problems by providing a way for the developer to create a single package from within Android Studio and have custom APK files automatically generated by Google Play for each individual supported configuration (a concept referred to as Dynamic Delivery).
An Android App Bundle is essentially a ZIP file containing all of the files necessary to build APK files for the devices and locales for which support has been provided within the app project. The project might, for example, include resources and images for different screen sizes as outlined in (TBD LINK HERE). When a user installs the app, Google Play receives information about the user’s device including the display, processor architecture and locale. Using this information, the appropriate pre-generated APK files are transferred onto the user’s device.
Although it is still possible to generate APK files from Android Studio, app bundles are now the recommended way to upload apps to Google Play.
Once the account has been created, the next step is to gather together information about the application. In order to bring your application to market, the following information will be required:
* '''Title ''' – The title of the application.
* '''Short Description ''' - Up to 80 words describing the application.
* '''Full Description ''' – Up to 4000 words describing the application.
* '''Screenshots ''' – Up to 8 screenshots of your application running (a minimum of two is required). Google recommends submitting screenshots of the application running on a 7” or 10” tablet.
* '''Language ''' – The language of the application (the default is US English).
* '''Promotional Text ''' – The text that will be used when your application appears in special promotional features within the Google Play environment.
* '''Application Type ''' – Whether your application is considered to be a game or an application.
* '''Category ''' – The category that best describes your application (for example finance, health and fitness, education, sports, etc.).
* '''Locations ''' – The geographical locations into which you wish your application to be made available for purchase.
* '''Contact Details ''' – Methods by which users may contact you for support relating to the application. Options include web, email and phone.
* '''Pricing & Distribution ''' – Information about the price of the application and the geographical locations where it is to be marketed and sold.
Having collected the above information, click on the Create Application button within the Google Play Console to begin the creation process.
The steps to enable ProGuard are as follows:
1. Display the Project Structure dialog (File -> Project Structure).
2. Select the “app” module in the far left panel.
3. Select the “Build Types” tab in the main panel and the “release” entry from the middle panel.
4. Change the “Minify Enabled” option from “false” to “true” and click on OK.
5. Follow the steps to create a keystore file and build the app bundle file.
With the project configured for release building, the next step is to create a keystore file containing the upload key.
Within the Certificate section of the New Key Store dialog, enter the following details:
* An alias by which the key will be referenced. This can be any sequence of characters, though only the first 8 are used by the system.
* A suitably strong password to protect the key.
* The number of years for which the key is to be valid (Google recommends a duration in excess of 25 years).
In addition, information must be provided for at least one of the remaining fields (for example, your first and last name, or organization name).
The following options are available for app testing:
* '''Internal Testing ''' – The app is made available to up to 100 designated internal testers. This is the fastest way to get the app to a small group of known testers.
* '''Closed Testing ''' – Testing is only available for designated users identified by email address or membership in Google Groups and Google+ communities.
* '''Open Testing ''' – The app is made available to all users within the Google Play Store. Users are provided with a mechanism to provide feedback to you during testing. The total number of testers may also be specified (though the number cannot be less than 1000 users).
To configure testing, use the Choose testing method menu to select the type of testing to be performed, click on the Create List button and specify the email addresses for the test users either manually or by uploading a CSV file.
