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Submit to the Google Play Store

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Learn how to submit your app to the Google Play Store from your computer and CI.

This guide outlines how to submit your app to the Google Play Store from your own computer and from CI.

Prerequisites

  • A paid developer account is required — You can create a Google Play Developer account on the Google Play Console sign-up page.
  • You have to create a Google Service Account and download its JSON private key.
  • After that, you'll have to create an app on Google Play Console and upload your app manually at least once.
  • You will also need to have EAS CLI installed and authenticated with your Expo account:
    Terminal
    - npm install -g eas-cli && eas login

Creating a Google Service Account

For more information, see expo.fyi/creating-google-service-account.

Manually uploading your app for the first time

Before using eas submit -p android for uploading your builds, you have to upload your app manually at least once. This is a limitation of the Google Play Store API.

For more information, see expo.fyi/first-android-submission.

1

Build a standalone app

You'll need a native app binary signed for store submission. You can either use EAS Build or do it on your own.

2

Start the submission

To submit the binary to the Play Store, run eas submit -p android from inside your project directory. The command will lead you step by step through the process of submitting the app. See the Configuration with eas.json page to learn how to pre-configure your submission.

Although it's possible to upload any binary to the store, each submission is associated with an Expo project. That's why it's important to start a submission from inside your project's directory because app config is defined inside that directory.

To upload your Android app to the Google Play Store, run eas submit --platform android and follow the instructions on the screen.

The command will perform the following steps:

  • Log in to your Expo account and ensure that your app project exists on EAS servers.

  • Prompt for the Android package name unless android.package is set in the app config.

  • Ask for which binary to submit. You can select one of the following:

    • The latest finished Android build for the project on EAS servers.

    • Specific build ID. It can be found on the builds dashboard.

    • Path to an .apk or .aab archive on your local filesystem.

    • URL to the app archive.

    This step can be skipped if one of the following CLI parameters is provided: --latest, --id, --path, or --url.

  • Unless serviceAccountKeyPath is provided in eas.json, you will be prompted for the path to your Google Services JSON key.

  • The summary of provided configuration is displayed and the submission process begins. The submission progress is displayed on the screen.

  • Your build should now be visible on Google Play Console. If something goes wrong, an appropriate message is displayed on the screen.

Submitting your app using CI

The eas submit command can perform submissions from a CI environment. All you have to do is ensure that all required information is provided with eas.json and environment variables. Mainly, providing the archive source (--latest, --id, --path, or --url) is essential. Also, make sure that the Android package name is present in your app config file.

For Android submissions, you must provide the path to your Google Services JSON key using the serviceAccountKeyPath key in eas.json. You may also find the track and releaseStatus parameters useful.

Example usage:

Terminal
- eas submit -p android --profile foobar

Automating submissions

To learn how to automatically submit your app after a successful build, refer to the Automating submissions.