Google Play

Google Play is cheaper and faster to join than Apple — $25 once, no annual fee, usually approved within a day or two.

There's one rule that catches almost everyone out, and it can add two weeks. Read the testing section below before you create the account, because the choice you make at signup decides whether it applies to you.

Enrol as an organisation, not a person

At play.google.com/console/signup you'll be asked to choose an account type. This choice is difficult to change later, and it has a real consequence.

Personal accounts created after 13 November 2023 cannot publish their first app until they've run a closed test with at least 12 testers for 14 continuous days. That's Google's rule, it's enforced, and it means two extra weeks before you can go live.

Enrolling as an organisation normally avoids it. Google's own documentation only states the rule for personal accounts and doesn't spell out the exemption in writing, so check your Play Console dashboard once you're in — it tells you plainly whether the requirement applies to your account.

Organisation signup needs a D-U-N-S number, the same one Apple asks for. If you've already started your Apple enrolment, you have it.

If you read older guidance saying 20 testers, that's out of date — Google reduced it to 12 in December 2024.

If the testing rule does apply to you

It's survivable, just slow. Twelve people must install and keep the app for fourteen unbroken days.

• They must accept the invitation and actually install it. Invited-but-not-installed doesn't count.
• The fourteen days only start once your release is approved and twelve testers have opted in.
• If someone opts out partway, their clock resets — even if they rejoin later. Count on a couple of spares.

Staff, colleagues and friends all count. Collect twelve Gmail addresses early; we'll set up the test track and send you the invite link.

Choose the package name

Android's equivalent of Apple's bundle ID, and just as permanent. Use the same value on both stores — com.yourcompany.app.

It can never be changed once the app is uploaded. Agree it with us first.

About app signing

Google handles this in a way that's worth understanding, because it means one less thing you can lose irrecoverably.

There are two keys. Google generates and holds the app signing key — the one Android devices check on every update. You never see it, and it can't be lost. We hold an upload key, which we use to send builds to Google; Google verifies it, strips it, and re-signs with the real key.

The practical upshot: if our upload key were ever compromised, Google issues a new one and your users notice nothing. Nothing about your app is at risk.

We generate and hold the upload key. There's nothing for you to create or store here.

Give us access

Users and permissions → Invite new user → the email we give you → Admin (or Release manager if you'd prefer to keep it tighter).

Create the service account

This lets us upload automatically instead of by hand. It's fiddly and it's the one part of Play setup with no Apple equivalent, so if you'd rather we did it, just grant us Admin above and say so.

Steps 1 and 2 can only be done by the owner of the Play account. If Setup → API access bounces you to the home page, you aren't the owner and will need them.

1. Play Console → Setup → API access → link a Google Cloud project. Create one if prompted.
2. Google Cloud Console → APIs & Services → Library → enable Google Play Android Developer API
3. IAM & Admin → Service Accounts → Create service account. Give it a name; grant it no roles when asked — Play handles its own permissions.
4. Open it → Keys → Add key → Create new key → JSON → it downloads
5. Back in Play Console → Users and permissions → Invite new user → paste the service account's …@….iam.gserviceaccount.com address
6. Under App permissions, add your app with the Release manager role

The JSON file downloads once and cannot be downloaded again. Save it immediately.

Permissions usually take a few minutes to take effect, occasionally up to a day.

The first upload is manual

Google's tools can add a release to an app that already exists, but they can't create the app listing itself. So the very first upload for a new app is done by hand in the console — by us, if you've given us access, or by you with a file we send.

Every release after that is automatic.

Publishing stays your decision

We upload releases as drafts. They sit in your console until someone deliberately reviews and rolls them out. Uploading and publishing are separate actions, and the second one is yours.

What to send us

• Your package name — the same as your Apple bundle ID
• Confirmation you've invited us to the Play Console
• The service account JSON file — sensitive, see the checklist
• Whether the 12-tester requirement applies to your account (your dashboard will say)