Publish to Google Play
Publishing on Android runs across two accounts that are yours: the build runs on your Expo account, and the finished app bundle lands in your Google Play Console. Cadrant drives both and owns neither.
This flow applies to native Expo apps and to WebView apps, which are built and submitted exactly the same way. The iOS counterpart is Publish to App Store Connect.
Before you start
- A connected Expo account — the build runs on it, on your own free EAS quota of 15 Android builds a month. Connect it in Integrations → Expo; without it a publish cannot start.
- A Google Play developer account (one-off $25 registration fee, with identity verification). That is what gives you access to Play Console.
How it works
- Google has no API to create an app or to grant access, so two things happen once in Play Console: you create the app with the package name Cadrant gives you, and you invite Cadrant's service account. Cadrant then verifies that access.
- Cadrant generates and keeps the upload key that signs your Android builds. Play App Signing keeps the final signing key on Google's side.
- The Android build runs on your Expo cloud account, then Expo submits the app bundle to your Play Console as a draft release on the Internal testing track. You roll it out from there.
1. Create a Google Play developer account
Register at Play Console. Google charges a one-off fee and verifies your identity, which can take a few days. Once done, you manage your apps, testers and releases from Play Console.
2. Publish from Cadrant
From your mobile project preview, open the publish button and switch to the Google Play tab. A four-step flow guides you (the Expo account step is shared with iOS):
Step 1 — Google Play access
In Play Console, click Create app, fill in the app name and paste the package name shown by Cadrant into the Package name field — it cannot be changed later. Then open Users and permissions, invite the service account email shown by Cadrant, grant it the account permission "Release apps to testing tracks" and add your app to it. Back in Cadrant, click Verify access: Cadrant opens a draft edit on your app through the Play Developer API and discards it — nothing is uploaded.
Step 2 — App details
Enter the display name and upload the app icon (PNG, ideally 1024×1024). They are shared with iOS: the same name and icon are written into both builds.
Step 3 — Upload key
Cadrant generates the upload keystore that signs your Android builds and keeps it for the life of the app — nothing to download or protect on your side. Only regenerate it if you have never uploaded a build: after a first upload, Google rejects builds signed with a different key until you request an upload-key reset in Play Console.
Step 4 — Publish
Start publishing. The Android build launches on your Expo cloud account, Expo submits the app bundle to your Play Console, and the release appears as a draft on the Internal testing track. Track progress in the project activity log.
3. Roll out from Play Console
Once the bundle is received, continue in Play Console:
- Open Testing → Internal testing: the draft release created by Cadrant is there. Add testers (an email list), then review and roll out the release — internal testers get the app within minutes, without review.
- Complete the dashboard tasks required for a public release: store listing, screenshots, privacy policy, Data safety form, content rating and target audience.
- Promote the release to a closed test, an open test or production. Production releases go through Google's review, usually within a few days.
- Each new publish from Cadrant adds a new draft release on the Internal testing track, with a higher version code.
Related
- Publish to App Store Connect — the iOS counterpart of this guide.
- Native mobile apps — Expo / React Native for iOS and Android.
- WebView apps for the stores — the same web app, wrapped and submitted.