After releasing our first app we created a checklist that could be useful for every developer that is preparing an application release on android market.

Follow the steps in the order described:

  1. Execute your units tests and verify if everything is ok
  2. Remove or Disable your application logging (In our applications we have a global instance of logging , this couldn’t be the best choice but for us works fine)
  3. Review your  AndroidManifest.xml
    • Remove android:debuggable in application element
    • Verify if android:versionCode is the correct (In every release this version code needs to be different for a successfully application upgrade )
    • Verify android:minSdkVersion and android:maxSdkVersion: this step is very important for defining device targets of your application
  4. Sign your APK  with your generated private key  ( I you need more info how to do this there is a link for android documentation )
  5. Prepare 2 or more screenshots with android market supported dimensions and specifications: 320 x 480, 480 x 800, 480 x 854, 1280 x 720, 1280 x 800 (dimensions in pixels) 24 bit PNG or JPEG (no transparency) 
  6. Prepare a great icon image,32 bit PNG or JPEG, in your preferred image editor with 512×512 px   32 bit PNG or JPEG
  7. Prepare a promotional graphic with 180 x 120 px 24 bit PNG or JPEG (no transparency)
  8. Prepare a feature graphic with 1024 x 500 px , 24 bit PNG or JPEG (no transparency)
  9. Prepare a description text for every native language supported by your app – max 500 characters
  10. Prepare a short promotion text for every native language suported by your app -max 80 characters
  11. After following the previous steps you are ready to login in Android Market with your developer account https://market.android.com/publish and publish the application

Note: If you think that we missed some important steps, please help us improving this list and post a comment describing it.

Bearstouch Team