239 lines
12 KiB
Plaintext
Executable File
239 lines
12 KiB
Plaintext
Executable File
page.title=Publishing Overview
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@jd:body
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<div id="qv-wrapper">
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<div id="qv">
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<h2>Quickview</h2>
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<ul>
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<li>Learn how to publish Android apps.</li>
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<li>Find out how to prepare apps for release.</li>
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<li>Learn how to release apps to users.</li>
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</ul>
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<h2>In this document</h2>
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<ol>
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<li><a href="#publishing-prepare">Preparing Your Application for Release</a></li>
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<li><a href="#publishing-release">Releasing Your Application to Users</a>
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</ol>
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<h2>See also</h2>
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<ol>
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<li><a href="{@docRoot}distribute/googleplay/publish/preparing.html">Publishing on Google Play</a></li>
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</ol>
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</div>
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</div>
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<p>Publishing is the general process that makes your Android applications available to users. When you
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publish an Android application you perform two main tasks:</p>
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<ul>
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<li>You prepare the application for release.
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<p>During the preparation step you build a release version of your application, which users can
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download and install on their Android-powered devices.</p>
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</li>
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<li>You release the application to users.
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<p>During the release step you publicize, sell, and distribute the release version of your
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application to users.</p>
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</li>
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</ul>
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<p>Usually, you release your application through an application marketplace, such as <a href="{@docRoot}distribute/index.html">Google Play</a>.
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However, you can also release applications by sending them directly to users or by letting users
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download them from your own website.</p>
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<p>Figure 1 shows how the publishing process fits into the overall Android <a
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href="{@docRoot}tools/workflow/index.html">application development process</a>.
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The publishing process is typically performed after you finish testing your application in a debug
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environment. Also, as a best practice, your application should meet all of your release criteria for
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functionality, performance, and stability before you begin the publishing process.</p>
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<img src="{@docRoot}images/publishing/publishing_overview.png" alt="Shows where the publishing
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process fits into the overall development process" height="86" id="figure1" />
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<p class="img-caption">
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<strong>Figure 1.</strong> Publishing is the last phase of the Android <a
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href="{@docRoot}tools/workflow/index.html">application development process</a>.
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</p>
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<h2 id="publishing-prepare">Preparing Your Application for Release</h2>
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<p>Preparing your application for release is a multi-step process that involves the following
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tasks:</p>
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<ul>
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<li>Configuring your application for release.
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<p>At a minimum you need to remove {@link android.util.Log} calls and remove the
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<a href="{@docRoot}guide/topics/manifest/application-element.html#debug">android:debuggable</a>
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attribute from your manifest file. You should also provide values for the
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<code>android:versionCode</code> and <code>android:versionName</code> attributes, which are
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located in the
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<a href="{@docRoot}guide/topics/manifest/manifest-element.html"><manifest></a>
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element. You may also have to configure several other settings to meet Google Play
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requirements or accomodate whatever method you're using to release your application.</p>
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</li>
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<li>Building and signing a release version of your application.
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<p>The Android Development Tools (ADT) plugin and the Ant build script that are provided
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with the Android SDK tools provide everything you need to build and sign a release version of
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your application.</p>
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</li>
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<li>Testing the release version of your application.
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<p>Before you distribute your application, you should thoroughly test the release version on at
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least one target handset device and one target tablet device.</p>
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</li>
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<li>Updating application resources for release.
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<p>You need to be sure that all application resources such as multimedia files and graphics
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are updated and included with your application or staged on the proper production servers.</p>
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</li>
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<li>Preparing remote servers and services that your application depends on.
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<p>If your application depends on external servers or services, you need to be sure they
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are secure and production ready.</p>
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</li>
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</ul>
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<p>You may have to perform several other tasks as part of the preparation process. For example, you
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will need to get a private key for signing your application, and you may need to get a Maps API
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release key if you are using the <a
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href="http://code.google.com/android/add-ons/google-apis/maps-overview.html">Google Maps external
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library</a>. You will also need to create an icon for your application, and you may want to prepare
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an End User License Agreement (EULA) to protect your person, organization, and intellectual
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property.</p>
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<p>When you are finished preparing your application for release you will have a signed
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<code>.apk</code> file that you can distribute to users.</p>
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<p>To learn how to prepare your application for release, see <a
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href="{@docRoot}tools/publishing/preparing.html">Preparing for Release</a> in the Dev Guide. This
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topic provides step-by-step instructions for configuring and building a release version of your
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application.</p>
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<h2 id="publishing-release">Releasing Your Application to Users</h2>
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<p>You can release your Android applications several ways. Usually, you release applications
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through an application marketplace such as Google Play, but you can also release applications
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on your own website or by sending an application directly to a user.
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<h3 id="publishing-marketplace">Releasing through an App Marketplace</h3>
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<p>If you want to distribute your apps to the broadest possible audience, releasing through
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an app marketplace such as Google Play is ideal. </p>
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<p>Google Play is the premier marketplace for Android apps and is particularly
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useful if you want to distribute your applications to a large global audience.
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However, you can distribute your apps through any app marketplace you want or
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you can use multiple marketplaces.</p>
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<h4 id="publishing-market">Releasing Your Applications on Google Play</h4>
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<p>Google Play is a robust publishing platform that helps you publicize, sell, and distribute
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your Android applications to users around the world. When you release your applications through
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Google Play you have access to a suite of developer tools that let you analyze your sales,
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identify market trends, and control who your applications are being distributed to. You also have
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access to several revenue-enhancing features such as <a
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href="{@docRoot}google/play/billing/index.html">in-app billing</a> and <a
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href="{@docRoot}google/play/licensing/index.html">application licensing</a>. The rich array of tools
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and features, coupled with numerous end-user community features, makes Google Play the premier
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marketplace for selling and buying Android applications.</p>
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<p>Releasing your application on Google Play is a simple process that involves three basic
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steps:</p>
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<ul>
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<li>Preparing promotional materials.
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<p>To fully leverage the marketing and publicity capabilities of Google Play, you need to
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create promotional materials for your application, such as screenshots, videos, graphics, and
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promotional text.</p>
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</li>
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<li>Configuring options and uploading assets.
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<p>Google Play lets you target your application to a worldwide pool of users and devices.
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By configuring various Google Play settings, you can choose the countries you want to
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reach, the listing languages you want to use, and the price you want to charge in each
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country. You can also configure listing details such as the application type, category, and
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content rating. When you are done configuring options you can upload your promotional materials
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and your application as a draft (unpublished) application.</p>
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</li>
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<li>Publishing the release version of your application.
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<p>If you are satisfied that your publishing settings are correctly configured and your
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uploaded application is ready to be released to the public, you can simply click
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<strong>Publish</strong > in the developer console and within minutes your application will be
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live and available for download around the world.</p>
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</li>
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</ul>
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<p>For information complete information, see <a href="{@docRoot}distribute/index.html">Google Play</a>.</p>
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<h3 id="publishing-email">Releasing your application through email</h3>
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<div class="figure" style="width:246px">
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<img src="{@docRoot}images/publishing/publishing_via_email.png"
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alt="Screenshot showing the graphical user interface users see when you send them an app"
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style="width:240px;" />
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<p class="img-caption">
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<strong>Figure 1.</strong> Users can simply click <strong>Install</strong> when you send them
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an application via email.
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</p>
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</div>
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<p>The easiest and quickest way to release your application is to send it to a user through
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email. To do this, you prepare your application for release and then attach it to an email
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and send it to a user. When the user opens your email message on their Android-powered device
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the Android system will recognize the APK and display an <strong>Install Now</strong>
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button in the email message (see figure 1). Users can install your application by touching the
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button.</p>
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<p class="note"><strong>Note:</strong> The <strong>Install Now</strong> button
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shown in Figure 1 appears only if a user has configured their device to allow
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installation from <a href="#unknown-sources">unknown sources</a> and has opened your
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email with the native Gmail application.</p>
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<p>Distributing applications through email is convenient if you are sending your application to
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only a few trusted users, but it provides few protections from piracy and unauthorized
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distribution; that is, anyone you send your application to can simply forward it to someone else.</p>
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<h2 id="publishing-website">Releasing through a web site</h2>
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<p>If you do not want to release your app on a marketplace like Google Play, you
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can make the app available for download on your own website or server, including
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on a private or enterprise server. To do this, you must first prepare your
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application for release in the normal way. Then all you need to do is host the
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release-ready APK file on your website and provide a download link to users.
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</p>
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<p>When users browse to the download link from their Android-powered devices,
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the file is downloaded and Android system automatically starts installing it on
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the device. However, the installation process will start automatically only if
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the user has configured their Settings to allow the installation of apps from
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<a href="#unknown-sources">unknown sources</a>.</p>
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<p>Although it is relatively easy to release your application on your own
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website, it can be inefficient. For example, if you want to monetize your
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application you will have to process and track all financial transactions
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yourself and you will not be able to use Google Play's <a
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href="{@docRoot}google/play/billing/index.html">In-app Billing service</a>
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to sell in-app products. In addition, you will not be able to use the <a
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href="{@docRoot}google/play/licensing/index.html">Licensing service</a> to
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help prevent unauthorized installation and use of your application.</p>
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<h2 id="unknown-sources">User Opt-In for Apps from Unknown Sources</h2>
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<div class="figure" style="width:246px;margin-top:0;">
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<img src="{@docRoot}images/publishing/publishing_unknown_sources_sm.png"
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alt="Screenshot showing the setting for accepting download and install of
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apps from unknown sources." style="width:240px;" />
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<p class="img-caption">
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<strong>Figure 2.</strong> Users must enable the <strong>Unknown sources</strong>
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setting before they can install apps not downloaded from Google Play.
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</p>
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</div>
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<p>Android protects users from inadvertent download and install of apps from
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locations other than Google Play (which is trusted). It blocks such installs
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until the user opts-in <strong>Unknown sources</strong> in
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Settings <strong>></strong> Security, shown in Figure 2. To allow
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the installation of applications from other sources, users need to enable the
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Unknown sources setting on their devices, and they need to make this
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configuration change <em>before</em> they download your application to their
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devices.</p>
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<p class="note">Note that some network providers do not allow users to install
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applications from unknown sources.</p>
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