A typical software release cycle goes like this, although it does not necessarily have to go through each phase:

Alpha -> closed beta -> open beta -> release.

You could release your app directly on the Google Play Store, but having at least one beta round is a clever thing to do. Gathering feedback and applying further improvements can make your app even better.

We will have a look at how to set up multiple different flavors for your app and how to define different build types for it. For example, your release app will most likely use different API endpoints than those you used to debug and test, at least I hope so.

The minimum API level you choose, the required features, and the requested permissions will affect the number of devices that your app will be available for in the Play Store. Also, we will have a preview of how runtime permissions that come with Android Marshmallow require a different approach.

Finally, we will find out what we need to do to distribute a beta...