If you work on multiple Android projects, mixing up your upload key passwords in a single user-wide file can be messy, and the alternative of storing them in the checked-in file android/gradle.properties is a no-no since the passwords are stored in plaintext. The official docs ask you to add your key passwords to either the user-wide ~/.gradle/gradle.properties or your app's android/gradle.properties. This is where the official docs aren't that great. Step 2 - Configure your build to use the upload key Click Cancel (we will generate the signed APK later).Remember to note down your key passwords somewhere handy - we'll need them in the next step. Note to name your keystore upload.keystore and store it in android/app to be consistent with your app's debug keystore. Fill out the fields as shown in the screenshot.Select Android Bundle or APK depending on the type of artifact you need (Android Bundle is usually the way to go) and click Next.Click Build > Generate Signed Bundle/APK.To generate your key using a simple GUI within Android Studio, follow the latest instructions from the Android Developer docs. Here's a short tutorial on how you can give our setup a try in your next app! Step 1 - Generate your upload keyįirst, you'll need to generate an upload key that you'll use to sign your app when you upload it to the Play store. After some trial and error, we found a solution that works pretty well, cleanly separating the upload key information from the rest of our app. Although this process isn't complicated, it's a little annoying since you have to deal with key passwords without exposing them.Īt Mirai Labs, we deal with native Android and React Native apps so often that managing app signing has become a very common task for our team. You've toiled away on your React Native app for months and it's finally time to deploy your baby to the world.īut first, you'll need to set up Play App Signing.

React native with android studio