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Get Android builds working

The Android path is shorter than the iOS one — no certificates to mint, no provisioning profiles to reason about — but it has two prerequisites that catch people out: the Play Console app has to exist before automation can touch it, and the version code is yours to manage.

About 20 minutes

1. Toolchain

  1. Install Android Studio

    Open it once and let it install the SDK, platform tools and a JDK. Bridge calls Gradle through Fastlane; it does not bundle a toolchain of its own.

  2. Make sure Fastlane is installed

    Same Fastlane as the iOS side — one install covers both platforms.

    brew install fastlane

2. Play Console service account

  1. Create the app in Play Console first

    Automation can upload releases to an app that exists; it cannot create the app or accept the developer agreement for you.

  2. Upload one release by hand

    Google requires the first APK or AAB for a new app to be uploaded through the Play Console UI. Automated uploads work from the second release onward.

  3. Create the service account

    Play Console → Setup → API access → create a service account in Google Cloud, then grant it release permissions back in Play Console. Download its JSON key.

  4. Paste the JSON into Bridge

    Credentials → Google → Service account JSON. Bridge checks it is present before starting an Android build and passes it to Fastlane as PLAY_STORE_JSON_KEY_DATA.

3. Upload keystore

Release builds have to be signed with your upload key. Store the keystore somewhere stable on your Mac and give Bridge its path, not its contents — the Keystore path field is a file path on this machine, and the file itself never leaves it.

4. The lane

Bridge runs fastlane android beta — same convention as iOS. Use Set Up Fastlane in Check Setup to generate a starter Fastfile, then fill in the Gradle task and track for your project.

The generated lane calls upload_to_play_store(json_key_data: …), reading the service account JSON out of the environment Bridge provides. Point it at the internal testing track first — it is the fastest round-trip while you are getting the pipeline working.