Just like with the Native iOS app, you will have full control over your Branded Android app and manage it anytime, anywhere.
By following the steps below, you will be able to set up your Branded Android app and have it available for your users on the Playstore.
In order to successfully submit your app to be reviewed by Google, we need to make sure that we cover the below points first:
- Set up your own Google Developer Account, click here to know how.
- Cover each step in the Product Setup Checklist.
Important Reminders:
1. Google review process could take up to 7 days or longer depending on their review/revision requests.
2. It sometimes may take up to 10 days for Google to list the app once published. This period of time should be considered in case your app may not show up right away after being published.
IN THIS ARTICLE
1. Setup your Google Developer Account
Access your Passion.io AppBuilder and go to your Sales Channels. Click on Setup under Google Play Store.
Review the Product Setup Checklist and click "Create my native app".
You will be asked to create your Google Developer account.
If you already have a Google Developer Account, please proceed to Step 2.
Once your developer account is set up, you can continue on to the next step
2. Connect your Google Developer Account to Passion.io
In this step, we will create a link between your Google Developer Account and Passion.io to initiate the app submission process.
Configure Passion.io Access to your Developer Account.
In order to connect your Google Developer Account with Passion.io, Passion.io's Gmail account needs to be added as an admin user on your account.
- From your Google Play Console Click on Users and permissions.
- Click on Invite New Users.
- Use this Passion E-mail in the invitation box passion.appdeveloper@gmail.com
- From Account Permissions, provide Admin Access (all permissions) to this new user.
- Once done click on Invite user from the bottom right corner.
- Your Invitation will take 24 hours to get accepted however, this won't stop you from proceeding with the upcoming steps.
- Once the invitation is accepted it would look like the below example.
It is very important to fill out the below Typeform once you are done with the user invitation.
3. Configure your Developer Account
In this step we activate the API access for your Google Developer Account and we create a new Service Account for Passion.io
Please make sure you are on your Google Play Console Developer Account when doing this.
- To create a New Service Account User click on Setup then API Access.
- Once you click on Choose a project to link Google will ask you to agree to the terms of service, once the pop up appears please click on I agree.
- The next step it would ask you if you would like to Link to an existing Google Cloud project or Create a new Google Cloud project. Please select to create a new google cloud project then click Save from the bottom right corner of your screen.
- Once the page reloads, scroll down to the Service Accounts section and click on Learn how to create service accounts.
- From the pop up, click on the hyperlink that says go to Google Cloud Platform.
- Once the new tab loads, Google Platform would ask you to agree to the terms of service, please select the first option and click on AGREE AND CONTINUE.
- From Service Accounts click on Create Service Account.
- In the Service Account Name type the word passion all lower case the click on CREATE AND CONTINUE.
- Grant the service account access to project by assigning The Role to be Owner. Click Continue then Done from the end of the page.
- Once the service account is successfully created, you would be directed to the service account listing screen where you would see the new service account as below.
- Under Actions click on the 3-dotted menu, choose Manage Keys from the drop-down menu.
- Click on ADD KEY then choose Create New Key
- Once the pop up appears, Leave the key type as JSON then click CREATE. A download will start automatically.
- VERY IMPORTANT: Make sure to remember where the downloaded file is stored as you will need to upload it to your Passion.io Account.
- Go back to the open tab for Google Play Console, make sure you are on the API access Screen from the left side panel.
- You will find the Service Account you created listed under Service Accounts.
- Click on Manage Play Console Permissions to grant access to this new service account.
- Just like step 2.1 when granting access to Passion.io email, you will need to grant the access level of Admin (all permissions) to the Service Account User.
- Click on Invite User the Send Invite.
- Once you are done with the invitation, go to Users & permissions to confirm that the account's status is Active.
4. Set Up Your App Details
In this step we will create the first draft of your app on Google Play Store, we will need to take some actions on your developer account as well as your Passion.io App Builder.
- From your Google Play Console go to All apps and click on Create app.
- Enter the App Name you desire.
- It is very important to leave the Default Language as English (United States) – en-US. Please do not change it.
- App or Game should be selected as App.
- The App should be created as Free as it is free to download it from Play Store.
- Confirm the 3 Declarations as below then click on Create App.
- Once the App Shell is created the page will redirect you automatically to its dashboard.
- From the left side panel, scroll down to Monetize then click on Monetization Setup.
- Scroll down to Licensing to get the Google Play license key. Use the copy option on the right of the box and paste in a document as we will need to use in your Passion.io App Builder.
- Now go to Passion.io App Builder, go to Sales Channels and choose Google Play Store ⇒ Continue Setup
- Paste the Google Play license key in the GPLK Field.
- Upload the Key JSON file you created in step 2.2.
- Once you upload the Key JSON, two buttons will activate Download AAB and Download PEPK.
- Make sure to download the 2 files and secure their location on your computer as you will need them in the next steps.
- Please download the files one at a time. Start the first file, wait for it to finish downloading then download the second file.
Note: The files will be available for download immediately but may take a few minutes to appear.
5. Submit your Google App for Review
Setup your Google Application:
- You will need to download some Passion Resources from here. You will need our logo, Dummy Screenshot 1, Dummy Screenshot 2 and our Feature Graphic.
- Based on what your App is about download only one of the below files:
- Once you open any of the resources above, click on the 3-dotted menu and choose Download.
- Secure the files on your computer as you will need to upload them later on Google Play.
- From your Google Play Console go to All Apps then choose your app.
- From the Dashboard, scroll down to Set up your app and expand View tasks to get the list we will work on.
- This is a set of 11 Mandatory Tasks required by Google to be able to publish your app.
- Starting with Set privacy policy, copy this link https://passion.io/privacy-policy
- Paste it like the below screenshot, click Save after you are done. Go back to Dashboard after saving.
- For App Access, choose All or some functionality in my app is restricted
- Once this choice is selected, you will need to Add Instructions.
- When you click on Add Instructions, a pop up will appear that you will require to fill the below data in.
Instruction name: All users
Username: appledemo@passion.io
Password: appledemo
- The Any other information required to access your app section is to be left blank, make sure to check the box for No other information is required to access my app
- Click on Add to save the instructions.
- Below is how the instructions would look like, you can Manage your answers if you made any mistake in this step.
- Click on Save then click on Dashboard to continue with the tasks.
- For Ads, select No, my app does not contain ads then click Save and go back to the Dashboard.
- From Content Rating, click on Start questionnaire.
- In the Email Address, use the email you would like to receive notifications on regarding ratings of your content.
- In the Category, Select the option for All Other App Types.
- Click Next from the bottom right corner of the screen.
- Answer the questionnaire according to the below screenshots exactly.
- Once done, it is important to click on Save first then click Next.
- Once you reach the Summary click on Submit.
- Click on Dashboard after you are done to continue with the remaining tasks.
- from Target Audience, select 18 and over then click on Next.
- Under the question for Appeal to children click No. Click Next after your selection.
- Click Save when you get to the summary page titled Here's what you've told us.
- Go back to the Dashboard to continue with the remaining tasks.
- From the News Apps, select No then click Save.
- Click on Dashboard to continue with the remaining tasks.
- For COVID-19 contact tracing, choose My app is not a publicly available COVID-19 contact tracing or status app then click Save.
- Click on Dashboard to continue with the remaining tasks.
- Once you get to Data Safety and click on it, a pop up will appear explaining how your app collects and stores data. Keep clicking next until you are done with the tutorial.
- Use the Import from CSV option to upload the Data Safety File you downloaded from Passion drive.
- Click on Upload or drag the file and drop it in the box.
- Once the file is uploaded successfully, click on Import.
- A pop up would appear with a disclaimer that previously answered questions will be overridden, continue by clicking Import.
- Once you are redirected to Data Safety click on Next.
- Click Next when you reach Data Types without selecting anything.
- Click Next when you reach Data usage and handling.
- Click Submit when you reach the Preview Page.
- Click on Dashboard to continue with the remaining tasks.
- From Government Apps, Select No then click on Save.
- Click on Dashboard to continue with the remaining tasks.
Organize your application:
- Now its time to select an App Category and provide contact details, once selected from the Dashboard choose App from the dropdown menu.
- Select a Category based on what your app offers.
- Enter your google account email address, the phone number and website are optional.
- Click Save after you are done then go back to Dashboard.
- To Set up your store listing, scroll down to App details and type in the below text.
App name: enter the name you want for your app.
Short description: this is my app
Full description: this is my app
Note: This will automatically update with the information added from your end on your passion.io App Builder.
- For Graphics, we will use the images we downloaded from Passion Drive
App Icon goes to App Icon.
Feature Graphic goes to Feature Graphic.
Dummy Screenshot 1 & 2 goes to phone screenshots, 7 inch tablet screenshots and 10 inch tablet screenshots.
Note: Don't worry, all your content and photos will automatically sync from your passion.io account.
- Click on Save after you are done uploading the above images.
- From the main screen of your app, scroll down through the left side panel.
- Under Monetize, click on Monetization Setup.
- From Google Play Billing Section, update the Topic name with the below text.
projects/api-7764412731368975117-91059/topics/in_app_purchases
*** Please make sure that there are no spaces before or after this link when you paste it ***
- Click on Send test notification.
- Click on Save Changes.
Setup your Payments Profile or Google Merchant account:
- To setup your payment profile or your google merchant account, click on All Apps from the top of the left side panel.
- Under Setup, click on Payments profile.
- Click on Create payments profile.
- This info will differ from one creator to the other and has no standard, follow the instructions to set up your profile.
- Make sure to set up a bank account to get paid from Google.
Release your app for Google review:
We are finally in the last steps to submit your app for google review.
- Select your app from the main page.
- From the left side panel, scroll to find Testing and click on it to expand.
- Choose Closed testing from the menu that will appear.
- Click on Manage Track from the left side of the screen.
- Under Countries / regions click on Add countries / regions.
- Using the first checkbox Country / region, select all checkboxes.
- Click on Add countries / regions to save your selection.
- A pop up would appear notifying you that your app will be available on Google Play to eligible testers from 176 new countries / regions and Rest of World, click Add when you get this message.
- From Releases, click on Create new release.
- Click on Change app signing key.
- From the pop up, choose to Use a different key.
- Select Export and upload a key (not using Java Keystore)
- Upload the pepk.zip you downloaded from passion.io App Builder in step 2
- Click Save.
- From App bundles, upload the app.aab file you downloaded by clicking Upload or dragging the file to the box.
Note: please allow 5 minutes for the file to upload.
- Click Next after the file is uploaded successfully.
- If there are no errors with your identity/profile, you will be able to click on Start rolling to closed testing - Alpha to finalize the submission process from Google's side.
- Click on Start rolling to closed testing - Alpha.
- Now go to Passion.io App Builder, go to Sales Channels and choose Google Play Store ⇒ Continue Setup
- Check the box for Did you upload your AAB & PEPK files to Google Play? As we have definitely did!
- Click Connect.
- Checking the connection with Google might take up to an hour, but this won't stop you from completing the app details and submitting everything for review.
- Finalize your App Data:
- Finally, click on SUBMIT FOR REVIEW.
- A confirmation is required that once you confirm the app submission you won't be able to make any changes until the app goes live, so make sure you finalize everything in terms of content before you submit.
- After your confirmation, you will get to see the progress of your submission.
- Your app will be submitted for review once the connection between your Google Developer and Passion.io Accounts are successful. You will receive an email from us for any feedback regarding the connection.
- You will also be able to keep track of the progress of your app by logging in to your Passion.io AppBuilder, go to Sales Channels and choose Google Play Store ⇒ Continue Setup.
- Google app reviews usually will take 7 days or more depending on their review/revision requests.
You can refer to this article if something went wrong with your latest Google submission:
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