Play Store Deployment

Guide for deploying to Google Play Store.

Prerequisites

Google Play Console access
Service account JSON key
Fastlane installed

Setup

1. Service Account

Create service account in Google Cloud Console
Grant access in Play Console
Download JSON key file

2. Environment Variables

GOOGLE_PLAY_JSON_KEY_PATH=/path/to/key.json

Deployment Commands

Internal Testing

fastlane android internal

Beta (Open Testing)

fastlane android beta

Production

fastlane android release

Fastlane Configuration

android/fastlane/Fastfile:

platform :android do
  desc "Deploy to internal testing track"
  lane :internal do
    gradle(task: "clean bundleRelease")
    upload_to_play_store(
      track: "internal",
      aab: "../build/app/outputs/bundle/release/app-release.aab"
    )
  end

  desc "Deploy to beta track"
  lane :beta do
    gradle(task: "clean bundleRelease")
    upload_to_play_store(
      track: "beta",
      aab: "../build/app/outputs/bundle/release/app-release.aab"
    )
  end

  desc "Deploy to production"
  lane :release do
    gradle(task: "clean bundleRelease")
    upload_to_play_store(
      track: "production",
      rollout: "0.1",  # 10% staged rollout
      aab: "../build/app/outputs/bundle/release/app-release.aab"
    )
  end
end

Play Store Metadata

Located in android/fastlane/metadata/android/:

metadata/android/
├── en-US/
│   ├── title.txt
│   ├── short_description.txt
│   ├── full_description.txt
│   └── changelogs/
│       └── default.txt
└── images/
    ├── phoneScreenshots/
    └── featureGraphic.png

Staged Rollout

Increase rollout percentage:

fastlane android promote rollout:0.5  # 50%
fastlane android promote rollout:1.0  # 100%

Common Issues

Version Code Conflicts

Version code must always increase. Check current:

fastlane run google_play_track_version_codes track:production

AAB vs APK

Play Store requires AAB (Android App Bundle). Ensure you’re building:

flutter build appbundle --release