Here is a detailed walkthrough that explains steps 3-6 of the Life cycle of a mobile app from coding to release, for Android.

General Infos:

• For info, Nate is the owner of the account for both Android and iOS. On iOS whenever you need to update an agreement, only an owner can do that.
• For info, there are 4 tracks that are available to Android developers
  • We currently use: “Internal” for internal testing and “Alpha” for customer internal testing

Internal release

• Your Android developer is ready to do an APK handoff 
  • Mobile developer should upload the APK to the Handoff folder in Appsembler apps folder in Google drive, and included any additional resources, such as release notes info.
  • If the changes require an update of the screenshots for the App Store, make sure that mobile dev provides them in this folder.
  • Download the Apk
• Upload then as new versions of the CSET
  • Log in to play.google.com
  • For info, you’ll see an Error message at the top which concerns an app we don’t maintain anymore, so we ignore it.
  • Release notes docs
    • For info, the customer wants to know which past releases we release. The Single source of truth is internal release notes: 
      https://docs.google.com/document/d/1z7M9086PrU5oJiIEz2Rv3kIOenybYM53xjeVolweLVQ/edit and customer-facing release notes: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1WFn0hWbNWtTR0uqj8wK2kXeSScOq-NhR-jn51ALQLiw/edit#heading=h.jyz77w62d7wt
    • Update the internal and external release notes with the release information
  • Create a new “Internal” release
    • Upload the APK file
      • Case of errors (ex: Wrong package name – inspect the APK then update it.; Build number error) – send the mobile dev a screenshot of those errors and request updates and new APK.
      • For info, on android, you must always use the same signing key to generate the APK (Keybase)
      • Upload success
        • Warnings: for now we are fine, but from November 2019, app updates must target API level 29 which needs changes on the codebase. 
      • Update the “What’s new in this release?” section with the release notes info.
      • Click “Save”, then click “Review”.
      • Warnings – ignore them as they are not immediate.
      • Click “Release”
      • If needed, update the internal testers (on Google the testers groups are global, not on Apple)
  • Don’t forget to send out an email message announcing the release, including the release notes and asking what needs to be tested. In Google app store, there’s no automatic email announcement (like in the Apple app store)!

  External release

• Repeat pretty much the same steps as internal release except you’ll want to create an “Alpha” release.