I was studying Android Developer doc today and found a new topic Multiple APK Support which says that:
Multiple APK support is a feature on Google Play that allows you to publish different APKs for your application that are each targeted to different device configurations.
I am unable to find this feature on Google Play Developer Console, can someone guide me over this feature?
Update :
In Google I/O 2018, a new publishing format has been introduced for Android applications called Android App Bundle. It is a new upload format that includes all your app’s compiled code and resources, but defers APK generation and signing to Google Play
Read More from below links :
https://medium.com/mindorks/android-app-bundle-6c65ce8105a1
https://developer.android.com/guide/app-bundle
#Paul
In new UI on play store developer console APK tab has been removed. And its being replaced by Apk Release So Advanced Mode is removed in new UI on google play store
You must know some rules before upload multiple APKS to play store :
All APKs you publish for the same application must have the same package name and be signed with the same certificate key.
Each APK must have a different version code, specified by the android:versionCode attribute.
Each APK must not exactly match the configuration support of another APK.
for more information please Read
You can also see How to create multiple apk files for android application
All you have to do is upload each version one at a time. Each next version will need to be higher than the previous and it will ask you if you would like to deactivate any of your previous versions or retain them, and you will want to retain them so that they stay available. Please note, users will always receive the highest version available to them though so if they are compatible with multiple versions then they will not be given the choice of which version they want, they will just automatically receive the highest version
Later in the documentation you link, it has a "how it works" section which explains you have to enable Advanced Mode to be able to use the feature:
To publish multiple APKs for the same application, you must enable Advanced mode in your application's APK files tab (as discussed in the previous section). Once in advanced mode, you can upload, activate, then publish multiple APKs for the same application. The following sections describe more about how it works
NOTE
The above answer is deprecated. Please refer to the Feb 1 2018 answer by Dhaval Jivani below.
Related
Google says here:
Important: In the second half of 2021, new apps will be required to
publish with the Android App Bundle on Google Play. New apps larger
than 150 MB must use either Play Feature Delivery or Play Asset
Delivery.
The most straightforward interpretation of this is:
Apps that are first uploaded on Google Play (and does not already exist there) requires AAB, but already existing apps, even if you release a new version of that app, does not require AAB format
But, it seems odd to me that Google would allow millions of apps to use APK instead of AAB, so I considered if this is what they actually mean:
All new releases, including already existing apps on Google Play, require AAB format
Can someone confirm this for me?
Also, if AAB is not required for existing apps, for how long do they allow APK releases?
All new releases, including already existing apps on Google Play, require AAB format
This is incorrect. As you initially said, the change as stated today only applies to apps that upload an artifact for the first time.
Google has not communicated what the plan is for existing apps.
I have an android app on Google Play, it requires a low API level.
I wish to provide versions for TV, auto and wear 2.0. This requires a higher API level.
The first question is should I release a different APK for each or two APKs is enough? (One for phone+tablet and one for wear+tv+auto)
Second question is how do I enable multiple APKs? According to
https://developer.android.com/google/play/publishing/multiple-apks.html :
"The Google Play Console provides two modes for managing the APKs associated with your application: simple mode and advanced mode. You can switch between these by clicking the link at the top-right corner of the APK files tab."
I've been searching the Google Play console for an hour already. Can't find where this switch button is or what the "APK Files tab" is ?
1) I highly suggest releasing separate APKs for wear, TV and auto. Otherwise, if you e.g. include assets for TV, these will take up space in the APK for wearable devices, but never be used. It's important to minimize the size of the APK especially for wearable devices since they have very limited battery (bigger APK equals longer time to download and install) and storage. Also, if you need to do target platform specific bug fixes you can update the APK for that target platform without impacting other users. You might also want to add platform specific features in the future. Separate APKs will make all of the above easier. It's a bit more overhead to set up in the first place, but everything can be automated, and I'm sure you'll benefit from it in the long run.
2) Like Vyacheslav mentioned in his comment you no longer need to enable multi APK support in the Play Store developer console. Just add all the APKs when you create a new release (Release management -> App releases). For this to work they need to have filters to make all of the APKs unique, and also different version codes.
Auto and Wear are not distributed in Android platforms through apks, they are features that you should enable in your app.
Android TV is more easily to publish through specific apk, that you can configure in your project using gradle variants.
It is possible to upload new apk to Google Play automatically? I mean not for already published apps (that have at least one APK uploaded), but for creating absolutely new application and upload its first apk. There is tools like Publisher API, Fastlane etc, but they are uploading apk's for update already published apps.
This is not possible with current android-publisher API version (all the other tools, including fastlane, are built on top of that).
From documentation:
You can only use this API to make changes to an existing app (that has
at least one APK uploaded); thus, you will have to upload at least one
APK through the Play Console before you can use this API.
I developed an app that works on most phones starting API 16, the problem is that in LG G2 it only works on API 20 and higher..
Is there any way I can do this separation in the google play store?
Thanks,
Dani
This is possible using multiple APK support.
Multiple APK support is a feature on Google Play that allows you to
publish different APKs for your application that are each targeted to
different device configurations. Each APK is a complete and
independent version of your application, but they share the same
application listing on Google Play and must share the same package
name and be signed with the same release key. This feature is useful
for cases in which your application cannot reach all desired devices
with a single APK.
You can support different platform versions with each APK, which will allow you to use API 20 and API 16 as you request.
However, keep in mind this recommendation from Google:
Using a single APK to support different configurations is always the
best practice, because it makes the path for application updates
simple and clear for users (and also makes your life simpler by
avoiding development and publishing complexity).
You will need to configure your APK's platform API levels in your AndroidManifest.xml and upload the published APK in Advanced Mode in the Google Play Developer Console. This means setting up multiple AndroidManifests, configuring them to included different 'uses-sdk' elements and uploading multiple APK.
All of the filters that are valid for Multiple APK publishing are listed in this Google-provided guide:
http://developer.android.com/google/play/filters.html
While this is possible, I would advise you to avoid it if you can because maintaining it is not fun or easy.
I just uploaded my android app for beta testing for the first time and my friends are able to download it without issue. However I found that in the app page, 'Size' and 'Current Version' shows 'Varies with device' instead of the actual apk size and version..
I've only uploaded only one APK, what gives?
Screenshot below:
If you wish to access my beta testing app page, send me a message with your gmail address in, so I can add you into the beta testing list.
Have you found out the answer yet? Since you have not elected an answer as a correct one, here we go...
Google Play allows you to publish different APKs for your application. Each one targeted to different device configuration. Thus, each APK is an independent version of your application, but they share the same application listing on Google Play and must share the same package name and be signed with the same release key.
Usually Android applications run on most compatible devices with a single APK, by supplying alternative resources for different configurations (e.g., different layouts for different screen sizes) and the Android system selects the appropriate resources for the device at runtime. But in a few cases, however, a single APK is unable to support all device configurations, because alternative resources make the APK file too big (greater than 50MB) or other technical challenges prevent a single APK from working on all devices.
And even though Google doesn't encourage developers to use this "multiple APK" feature, most Google apps use it: Google+, Google Chrome, Gmail, Google Maps, Google Search, Google Play Books, Google Play Movies & TV, Google Translate.
I hope I was helpful.
Check the Artifacts library section of Release Management in Google Play developer console, you should have just one active artifact for the your app release.
My app was on closed track and the latest release wasn't showing until I removed the draft APKs in "Artifact library" and uninstalled the app from all closed test devices.