Google Play setup

Your Android app is submitted under your own Google Play Console account. You own the listing, the reviews, and the user relationship. This is a one-time setup that takes about 20 minutes.

What you need

A Google Play Console developer account costs $25 as a one-time registration fee. Unlike Apple, there is no annual renewal. Create your account at play.google.com/console. You will need a Google account and a credit card for the one-time payment.

Appolar submits your app to Google Play by authenticating as a service account you create and grant release access. This is a standard Google Cloud pattern for automation; it does not give Appolar access to your Google account or any other Play Console apps.

Create your app in Play Console

Once your Play Console account is active, create the app listing that your Android app will live under.

1. In Play Console, click Create app in the top right.
2. Set the default language and enter your app name exactly as you want it to appear on Google Play.
3. Choose whether the app is free or paid. Free apps can still offer in-app purchases.
4. Accept the developer program policies and click Create app.

The app listing is now created. You do not need to fill in the full store listing before connecting Appolar; that metadata can be completed before your first submission. What matters at this stage is that the app entry exists so the service account can be granted access to it.

Create a service account

A service account is a non-personal Google identity that Appolar uses to push builds and releases to your app programmatically. You create it in Google Cloud Console, then link it to Play Console.

1. In Play Console, go to Setup → API access. If prompted, link to an existing Google Cloud project or let Play Console create one automatically.
2. Click Go to Google Cloud Console. This opens the IAM & Admin section of your linked project.
3. In the left sidebar, navigate to IAM & Admin → Service accounts, then click Create Service Account.
4. Give it a descriptive name such as appolar-releases. The ID field will auto-fill. Add a description if you like, then click Create and Continue.
5. On the "Grant this service account access" step, assign the role Service Account Token Creator. Click Continue, then Done.
6. Find your new service account in the list. Click the three-dot menu next to it and select Manage keys.
7. Click Add key → Create new key, choose JSON, and click Create. The JSON key file downloads automatically. Store it somewhere safe.

Grant release manager access

Creating the service account in Google Cloud is only half of the setup. You also need to grant it access to your specific app in Play Console.

1. Return to Play Console and go to Users and permissions (under the account-level menu, not the app-level menu).
2. Click Invite new users. In the email field, enter the service account's email address. You can find it in Google Cloud Console on the Service accounts page; it looks like appolar-releases@your-project.iam.gserviceaccount.com.
3. Under App permissions, add your app and set the access level to Release manager. This allows the service account to upload builds and promote them through testing and production tracks.
4. Click Invite user to save.

Connect to Appolar

With the service account created, permissioned, and the JSON key downloaded, connect your Android account in Appolar:

1. In your Shopify admin, open the Appolar sidebar and go to Settings.
2. Select App Accounts, then the Android tab.
3. Upload the JSON key file you downloaded from Google Cloud Console.
4. Enter your app's package name. This is the unique identifier for your Android app (e.g., com.yourstore.app). It should match the bundle ID pattern you chose for iOS to keep things consistent.
5. Click Save. Appolar verifies the credentials and shows a confirmation.

Once connected, Appolar can compile your Android app and submit it to the internal testing, closed testing, or production track on your behalf. The release track is selected when you trigger a build.