Embarking on the journey to publish your app on Google Play involves navigating through key terms and meeting specific requirements. This guide provides insights into the essential steps and terminology, ensuring a smooth process for bringing your app to the vast Android user base :
- Set privacy policy: This is where you provide a URL to your app's privacy policy, which explains how your app collects, uses, and shares user data. A privacy policy is required for apps that request or handle sensitive user or device information .
- App access: This is where you specify how Google can access your app for review and testing purposes. You can provide test credentials, instructions, or a video demonstration of your app.
- Ads: This is where you declare whether your app contains ads, such as banner ads, interstitial ads, rewarded ads, or native ads. You also need to comply with the Google Play Developer Program Policies and the Google Play Developer Distribution Agreement regarding ads.
- Content rating: This is where you fill out a questionnaire about your app's content and receive a rating from multiple rating authorities. A content rating helps users understand the nature and maturity level of your app.
- Target audience: This is where you select the age groups that your app is designed for and provide information about how your app interacts with children. You also need to comply with the Google Play Families Policy Requirements and the Designed for Families program requirements.
- News apps: This is where you apply to have your app labeled as a news app on Google Play. News apps must meet the Google News content policies and technical guidelines.
- Covid 19 content tracing and status apps: These are apps that provide information or services related to the COVID-19 pandemic, such as contact tracing, testing, vaccination, or health status verification. These apps must meet the Google Play COVID-19 App Policies and the Exposure Notification API Terms of Service.
- Government apps: These are apps that are published by or on behalf of government entities, such as ministries, agencies, or public institutions. These apps must meet the Google Play Government App Requirements and provide verification documents.
- Data safety: This is where you provide information about your app's data collection, usage, and sharing practices, such as the types of data you collect, how you use and share it, and whether users can control or delete it. This information will be displayed on your app's detail page on Google Play.
- Set an app category and provide contact details: This is where you choose the category and subcategory of your app, such as Education, Games, or Health & Fitness. You also need to provide an email address, phone number and a website where users can contact you for support or feedback.
- Setup your store listing: This is where you create the description, graphics, and other information that users will see on your app's detail page on Google Play. You can also add features such as promo videos, translations, and store listing experiments.
- App Store Listing Language: Select language you want your store listing to your users on playstore.
- App Title: Choose a compelling and concise title for your app.
- Description: Craft a clear and engaging description that highlights key features and benefits.
- Long Description: its provides a more detailed overview, allowing for a comprehensive presentation of your app's features and benefits.
- Short Description: is a concise summary (80 characters) of your app displayed prominently on the app's page.
- Screenshots and YouTube Video Link: Upload screenshots and promotional videos showcasing your app's functionality on YouTube and get that video link into your store listing.
- Upload 2-8 phone screenshots. Screenshots must be PNG or JPEG, up to 8 MB each, 16:9 or 9:16 aspect ratio, with each side between 320 px and 3,840 px.
- Add a video by entering a YouTube URL. This video must be public or unlisted, ads must be turned off, it must not be age restricted, and it should be landscape.
- Icon: Design an eye-catching app icon that represents your brand or app purpose with size 512 x 512 pixels.
- Feature Graphic: is a large banner image at the top of your app's store listing, used to visually showcase your app's key features and attract users on the Play Store. Your feature graphic must be a PNG or JPEG, up to 15 MB, and 1,024 px by 500 px.
- Create and publish a release: This is where you upload the APK or app bundle file of your app, add release notes, and select the countries or regions where you want to distribute your app. You can also choose the release track, such as internal testing, closed testing, open testing, or production . After you submit your release for review, you can use Managed publishing to decide when to publish it on Google Play.
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