Shipping the Android build to Google Play

1. Sign in at play.google.com/console with the Google account that will own the listing.
2. Pick the account type. A personal account publishes as an individual. An organization account publishes as a legal entity and requires its D-U-N-S number from Dun & Bradstreet; request it in advance, since issuance is not instant.
3. Pay the one-time $25 fee and complete verification. Expect identity documents and contact checks, and allow a few days.

Ownership: Google does support transferring an app between developer accounts, but registering under the long-term owner from the start avoids the transfer entirely.

Personal accounts created after 13 November 2023 cannot release to production until a closed test has run with 12 or more testers opted in for 14 consecutive days. Organization accounts are exempt.

1. Recruit testers before the build is ready: staff, presenters and regular listeners with Android phones.
2. Record the Google account address each tester uses on their device; the tester list is keyed on it.
3. Keep the opted-in count at 12 or above for the full window. A dip below the threshold can restart the 14-day count.

1. Select Create app.
2. Enter the app name (30-character limit; use the station name listeners search for) and the default listing language.
3. Set the type to App and pricing to Free. The free setting is one-way on Google Play, which suits an app with no paywall.
4. Confirm the policy and export declarations, then create the record.

The listing lives at Main store listing, inside the Store presence section.

1. Short description, 80 characters at most; full description, up to 4,000.
2. Upload google-play/icon-512.png as the 512 × 512 app icon and google-play/feature-graphic-1024x500.jpg as the feature graphic.
3. Phone screenshots: a minimum of two. The Store images archive has none, so sideload the .apk onto a handset and capture the player, the schedule and a podcast episode.
4. Under Store settings, set the category to Music & Audio and enter a support email and website.

The Dashboard's setup checklist links each declaration Google requires before the first release.

1. Privacy policy: the generated URL from the panel.
2. Ads: the app contains none.
3. App access: no restricted areas and no credentials needed.
4. Content rating: the IARC questionnaire. Describe the programming accurately; the rating is computed from your answers.
5. Target audience: the age bands the station serves. Including under-13s brings Google's Families policy into scope.
6. Data safety: no analytics, no account system and no advertising identifiers are in the build, and it collects no personal data. The stream server necessarily receives each listener's IP address to deliver audio; Google's definition generally excludes data processed ephemerally to serve a request. The declaration is yours to make; see Google's Data safety documentation for how collection is defined.
7. Further declarations (advertising ID, news apps, government, health or financial features): answer for your station. The build does not read the advertising ID.

1. Go to Testing → Closed testing and create a track, or reuse the default one.
2. Add testers as an email list or a Google Group.
3. Create a release on the track with the .aab; the signing prompt on the first upload is covered in step 7.
4. Distribute the opt-in URL. A tester counts only after accepting it and installing from Play.
5. After 14 consecutive days at 12 or more testers, use Apply for production on the Dashboard and answer Google's questions about the test; Google reviews the application.

1. On the Production track (or a test track), select Create new release.
2. Accept Play App Signing. Google holds the app signing key that devices verify; your upload key only authenticates what you send to Google.
3. Upload the .aab. The panel signed it with your project's upload key, generated on the first Android build.
4. Add release notes and save the release.

Back up the upload key. Use Download upload key on the panel's Android upload key card; the .p12 downloads and its password is shown once. Builds keep being signed with that key, and every update you upload is verified against it.

The build already exposes its library through Media3, which is what Android Auto browses. Distribution to cars is a separate opt-in.

1. Open Advanced settings: under Test and release in the current console, or Release in older layouts.
2. On the Form factors tab, add Android Auto.
3. Accept the Android for Cars terms.

Google may run a separate review of the in-car experience against its driving-safety quality guidelines.

1. Clear every item on the Dashboard checklist.
2. Start the production rollout, and send the changes for review from Publishing overview if managed publishing holds them there.
3. Review of a new app commonly takes a few days, longer on a new developer account.
4. After approval the listing goes live; the store URL ends in your package name from Store identifiers.

Updates: rebuild in the panel (each build carries a higher version code) and create a release with the new .aab. Feed-driven content, from streams and schedule to podcasts and links, never needs a release.