In the previous chapter, you learned enough to test and debug your application. What do you need to do to prepare your application for its release? How can you do this using Android Studio?
This chapter describes the necessary steps to prepare your application for release using Android Studio. First of all, you will learn about application packages (APK) files—a variation of the JAR files in which Android applications are packed. You will then learn how you need to change your application after fully testing it. Finally, we will sign our APK file, leaving it ready to upload to Google Play.
These are the topics we'll be covering in this chapter:
APK files
Build types
Preparing for release
Generating a signed APK
Signing in release mode