how to upload an android app bundle to google play

Question

I'm fairly new to the process of uploading the Android App Bundle to the Google Play store, thus, the ask for help is highly appreciated.

A bit of backstory, all the builds we've uploaded to the Google Play store have been .apk files. The way we did this was:

• Our developer (Third-party) would provide an unsigned .apk
• We would then run it through a script that would apply our keystore to sign it.
• After that, we would upload it to the store and distribute it accordingly (Testing or Production).

Now, with the .aab process is where i get lost. Our developer provided us with an unsigned .aab and when i upload it to the store, i get a "The Android App Bundle was not signed." error message.

The process is set with "Let Google manage and protect your app signing key (recommended)" option. I've also tried with "Use the same key as another app in this developer account" but with the same outcome. Finally, the options for "Export and upload a key from Java keystore" and "Export and upload a key (not using Java Keystore)" are out of my knowledge.

Would someone be able to suggest what the best options to use is? and if you can provide some step-by-step instructions of the upload process?

Everything i find here doesn't really cover my scenario unless i missed something.

Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

You still need to sign the AAB before you upload it. Except you need to use jarsigner instead of apksigner.

The rest should remain the same unless you rely on the certificate of the app to use some 3p APIs.