1 page.title=Publishing Overview 2 @jd:body 3 4 <div id="qv-wrapper"> 5 <div id="qv"> 6 <h2>Quickview</h2> 7 <ul> 8 <li>Learn how to publish Android apps.</li> 9 <li>Find out how to prepare apps for release.</li> 10 <li>Learn how to release apps to users.</li> 11 </ul> 12 <h2>In this document</h2> 13 <ol> 14 <li><a href="#publishing-prepare">Preparing Your Application for Release</a></li> 15 <li><a href="#publishing-release">Releasing Your Application to Users</a> 16 <ol> 17 <li><a href="#publishing-market">Releasing on Google Play</a></li> 18 <li><a href="#publishing-website">Releasing on your own website</a></li> 19 <li><a href="#publishing-email">Releasing through email</a></li> 20 </ol> 21 </ol> 22 <h2>See also</h2> 23 <ol> 24 <li><a href="{@docRoot}tools/publishing/preparing.html">Preparing for 25 Release</a></li> 26 <li><a href="{@docRoot}tools/publishing/publishing.html">Publishing on Google Play</a></li> 27 </ol> 28 </div> 29 </div> 30 31 <p>Publishing is the process that makes your Android applications available to users. When you 32 publish an Android application you perform two main tasks:</p> 33 34 <ul> 35 <li>You prepare the application for release. 36 <p>During the preparation step you build a release version of your application, which users can 37 download and install on their Android-powered devices.</p> 38 </li> 39 <li>You release the application to users. 40 <p>During the release step you publicize, sell, and distribute the release version of your 41 application to users.</p> 42 </li> 43 </ul> 44 45 <p>Usually, you release your application through an application marketplace, such as Google Play. 46 However, you can also release applications by sending them directly to users or by letting users 47 download them from your own website.</p> 48 49 <p>Figure 1 shows how the publishing process fits into the overall Android <a 50 href="{@docRoot}tools/workflow/index.html">application development process</a>. 51 The publishing process is typically performed after you finish testing your application in a debug 52 environment. Also, as a best practice, your application should meet all of your release criteria for 53 functionality, performance, and stability before you begin the publishing process.</p> 54 55 <img src="{@docRoot}images/publishing/publishing_overview.png" alt="Shows where the publishing 56 process fits into the overall development process" height="86" id="figure1" /> 57 <p class="img-caption"> 58 <strong>Figure 1.</strong> Publishing is the last phase of the Android <a 59 href="{@docRoot}tools/workflow/index.html">application development process</a>. 60 </p> 61 62 <h2 id="publishing-prepare">Preparing Your Application for Release</h2> 63 64 <p>Preparing your application for release is a multi-step process that involves the following 65 tasks:</p> 66 67 <ul> 68 69 <li>Configuring your application for release. 70 <p>At a minimum you need to remove {@link android.util.Log} calls and remove the 71 <a href="{@docRoot}guide/topics/manifest/application-element.html#debug">android:debuggable</a> 72 attribute from your manifest file. You should also provide values for the 73 <code>android:versionCode</code> and <code>android:versionName</code> attributes, which are 74 located in the 75 <a href="{@docRoot}guide/topics/manifest/manifest-element.html"><manifest></a> 76 element. You may also have to configure several other settings to meet Google Play 77 requirements or accomodate whatever method you're using to release your application.</p> 78 </li> 79 <li>Building and signing a release version of your application. 80 <p>The Android Development Tools (ADT) plugin and the Ant build script that are provided 81 with the Android SDK tools provide everything you need to build and sign a release version of 82 your application.</p> 83 </li> 84 <li>Testing the release version of your application. 85 <p>Before you distribute your application, you should thoroughly test the release version on at 86 least one target handset device and one target tablet device.</p> 87 </li> 88 <li>Updating application resources for release. 89 <p>You need to be sure that all application resources such as multimedia files and graphics 90 are updated and included with your application or staged on the proper production servers.</p> 91 </li> 92 <li>Preparing remote servers and services that your application depends on. 93 <p>If your application depends on external servers or services, you need to be sure they 94 are secure and production ready.</p> 95 </li> 96 </ul> 97 98 <p>You may have to perform several other tasks as part of the preparation process. For example, you 99 will need to get a private key for signing your application, and you may need to get a Maps API 100 release key if you are using the <a 101 href="http://code.google.com/android/add-ons/google-apis/maps-overview.html">Google Maps external 102 library</a>. You will also need to create an icon for your application, and you may want to prepare 103 an End User License Agreement (EULA) to protect your person, organization, and intellectual 104 property.</p> 105 106 <p>When you are finished preparing your application for release you will have a signed 107 <code>.apk</code> file that you can distribute to users.</p> 108 109 <p>To learn how to prepare your application for release, see <a 110 href="{@docRoot}tools/publishing/preparing.html">Preparing for Release</a> in the Dev Guide. This 111 topic provides step-by-step instructions for configuring and building a release version of your 112 application.</p> 113 114 <h2 id="publishing-release">Releasing Your Application to Users</h2> 115 116 <p>You can release your Android applications several ways. Usually, you release applications 117 through an application marketplace, such as Google Play, but you can also release applications 118 on your own website or by sending an application directly to a user. Google Play is the 119 recommended marketplace for Android applications and is particularly useful if you want to 120 distribute your applications to a large global audience. The other two release methods—server 121 distribution and email distribution—are useful if you are releasing an application to a small 122 group of users (for example, a work group in an enterprise environment), or if you do not want to 123 make your application available to the general public.</p> 124 125 <h3 id="publishing-market">Releasing Your Applications on Google Play</h3> 126 127 <p>Google Play is a robust publishing platform that helps you publicize, sell, and distribute 128 your Android applications to users around the world. When you release your applications through 129 Google Play you have access to a suite of developer tools that let you analyze your sales, 130 identify market trends, and control who your applications are being distributed to. You also have 131 access to several revenue-enhancing features that are not available anywhere else, such as <a 132 href="{@docRoot}guide/google/play/billing/index.html">in-app billing</a> and <a 133 href="{@docRoot}guide/google/play/licensing.html">application licensing</a>. This rich array of tools 134 and features, coupled with numerous end-user community features, makes Google Play the premier 135 marketplace for selling and buying Android applications.</p> 136 137 <p>Releasing your application on Google Play is a simple process that involves three basic 138 steps:</p> 139 140 <div class="figure" style="width:275px"> 141 <img src="{@docRoot}images/publishing/publishing_unknown_sources.png" 142 alt="Screenshot showing the graphical user interface element that allows unknown sources 143 to be installed" /> 144 <p class="img-caption"> 145 <strong>Figure 2.</strong> The <strong>Unknown sources</strong> setting lets you install 146 applications that are not published on Google Play . 147 </p> 148 </div> 149 150 <ul> 151 <li>Preparing promotional materials. 152 <p>To fully leverage the marketing and publicity capabilities of Google Play, you need to 153 create promotional materials for your application, such as screenshots, videos, graphics, and 154 promotional text.</p> 155 </li> 156 <li>Configuring options and uploading assets. 157 <p>Google Play lets you target your application to a worldwide pool of users and devices. 158 By configuring various Google Play settings, you can choose the countries you want to 159 reach, the listing languages you want to use, and the price you want to charge in each 160 country. You can also configure listing details such as the application type, category, and 161 content rating. When you are done configuring options you can upload your promotional materials 162 and your application as a draft (unpublished) application.</p> 163 </li> 164 <li>Publishing the release version of your application. 165 <p>If you are satisfied that your publishing settings are correctly configured and your 166 uploaded application is ready to be released to the public, you can simply click 167 <strong>Publish</strong > in the developer console and within minutes your application will be 168 live and available for download around the world.</p> 169 </li> 170 </ul> 171 172 <p>For information about Google Play, see <a 173 href="{@docRoot}tools/publishing/publishing.html#market">Publishing on Google Play</a>. This 174 topic provides an introduction to Google Play features and provides a step-by-step guide for 175 distributing your applications on Google Play.</p> 176 177 <h3 id="publishing-website">Releasing your application on your own website</h3> 178 179 <p>If you do not want to release your application on an application marketplace like Google Play, 180 you can release your application by making it available for download on your own website or server. 181 To do this, you must first prepare your application for release (that is, you must build it for 182 release and sign it). Then all you need to do is host the release-ready application on your website 183 and provide a download link for the application. When users browse to your website with their 184 Android-powered devices and download your application, the Android system will automatically start 185 installing the application on the device. However, the installation process will start automatically 186 only if the user has configured their device to allow the installation of non-Google Play 187 applications.</p> 188 189 <div class="figure" style="width:275px"> 190 <img src="{@docRoot}images/publishing/publishing_via_email.png" 191 alt="Screenshot showing the graphical user interface users see when you send them an app" 192 height="453" /> 193 <p class="img-caption"> 194 <strong>Figure 3.</strong> Users can simply click <strong>Install</strong> when you send them 195 an application via email. 196 </p> 197 </div> 198 199 <p>By default, Android-powered devices allow users to install applications only if the applications 200 have been downloaded from Google Play. To allow the installation of applications from other 201 sources, users need to enable the <strong>Unknown sources</strong> setting on their devices, and 202 they need to make this configuration change before they download your application to their 203 device (see figure 2).</p> 204 205 <p class="note"><strong>Note:</strong> Some network providers do not allow users to install 206 applications from unknown sources.</p> 207 208 <p>Although it is relatively easy to release your application on your own website, it can be 209 inefficient and cumbersome. For example, if you want to monetize your application you will 210 have to process and track all financial transactions yourself and you will not be able to use 211 Google Play's in-app billing feature to sell in-app products. In addition, you will not be 212 able to use the licensing feature to help prevent unauthorized installation and use of your 213 application.</p> 214 215 <h3 id="publishing-email">Releasing your application through email</h3> 216 217 <p>The easiest and quickest way to release your application is to send it to a user through 218 email. To do this, you prepare your application for release and then attach it to an email 219 and send it to a user. When the user opens your email message on their Android-powered device 220 the Android system will recognize the <code>.apk</code> and display an <strong>Install Now</strong> 221 button in the email message (see figure 3). Users can install your application by touching the 222 button.</p> 223 224 <p class="note"><strong>Note:</strong> The <strong>Install Now</strong> button appears only if a 225 user has configured their device to allow the installation of non-Google Play applications and 226 they open your email with the native Gmail application.</p> 227 228 <p>Releasing applications through email is convenient if you are sending your application to 229 only a few trusted users, but it provides few protections from piracy and unauthorized 230 distribution; that is, anyone you send your application to can simply forward it to someone else. 231 else. 232
