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After verifying our app on Google Play, it's already time for an update! We'll see how to make two key changes to our version code and name to allow us to update a new APK version.
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Further Reading
- What Employers Are Looking for in a Junior Android Dev - Some advice on getting a job as a junior Android developer
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So here we are back at the Developer
Console after a little while.
0:00
Our app is now available and
0:03
we have a link here at the top that says,
View in the Google Play store.
0:05
So let's click it.
0:08
Check it out.
0:09
Our app is live on Google Play.
0:10
Now, it's time to spread the word and get
it on users' phones.
0:12
Let's go back to the Developer Console for
a moment.
0:14
If we decide to take our app down for
0:17
some reason, maybe we realized we made a
mistake or we forgot to fix a bug.
0:19
Then we can just unpublish it by clicking
on the unpublish button over here.
0:22
Actually it says Published, and then
underneath it says Unpublish this app.
0:26
Or we can build a whole new APK, increment
the version, and
0:30
then publish that new one.
0:33
Actually, let's do that real quick so you
can see what I mean.
0:34
Let's make a small change to our app.
0:37
Let's add a new fact, so let's go to our
Factbook.
0:39
And here in our facts array, go to the
end, add a comma.
0:42
And then I have this new interesting fact
about humanoid robots or androids.
0:48
Okay.
So, I'll save this change and
0:55
the project is ready, but there are two
important things that we
0:56
need to change in our bill.gradle file for
the versioning.
0:59
So, let's go back there.
1:03
Over here in the App module we find
build.gradle.
1:05
So the fields we are interested in are
over here inside android and
1:09
then default config.
1:12
We wanna look at the version code and
version name.
1:13
The version code is an integer value and
we need to
1:16
increment it each time we upload a new
version of the APK to Google Play.
1:19
We can just add 1 to it each time, so
let's change this to 2.
1:24
And now the version name is the version
that appears on our listing.
1:27
Let's go back to our listing to see, so
we're currently at version 1.0,
1:32
which if we scroll down we see, down here,
listed as the current version.
1:36
Now, it's up to you to change the version
however you want.
1:40
Typically, for a small change like this,
it would be a point release.
1:43
So we would make it either 1.1 or even
1.0.1.
1:47
We generally reserve the higher number
changes for
1:50
bigger changes, like a complete redesign
or a whole new feature.
1:53
But it's kind of up to you.
1:56
I'll just change this one to 1.1 and
1:58
then we want to save our changes and sync
the gradle files.
1:59
We already have a warning up here,
2:03
but we can click on the Gradle Sync button
right here, and it executed and finished.
2:04
Okay, cool.
So
2:09
now we're ready to build a new
release-ready APK.
2:09
We can use the same keystore as before so
it goes real quickly.
2:12
Go to Build > Generate Signed APK again,
and you may or
2:15
may not get a prompt here for the Master
Password.
2:19
In Android Studio, there is a Master
Password for the tool that allows you to
2:22
use things that are password protected,
like a keystore.
2:27
So, I'm gonna type mine in.
2:29
[SOUND] And click OK.
2:30
Okay, once again we're building for the
App Module.
2:35
Click Next.
2:37
Keep everything the same from before.
2:38
Click Next.
2:39
And build it to the same place and finish.
2:40
Okay, it's executing down here.
2:43
And we'll watch.
2:45
And, all right, we generated it
successfully.
2:45
Let's close here and go back to the
Developer console.
2:48
Thankfully we don't need to go through the
whole publishing process for updates.
2:51
We just need to upload the new APK, add
some notes about the update and
2:55
then make it active.
2:58
So here, in the middle, we see a button
for Upload New APK to Production.
3:00
And we can Browse Files or
3:04
we can once again drag it directly from
Android Studio.
3:05
So I'm going to grab app-release.apk and
pull it into this section here.
3:08
Okay, so it uploaded successfully.
3:15
It has the new version code that we set
and a new version name.
3:16
We'll scroll down a little bit.
3:19
It says, what's new in this version?
3:20
And we simply, added a new fun fact.
3:22
It says the current production APK will be
archived.
3:26
So, all we need to do is set Publish now
to Production.
3:30
And, once again, we get the message that
it may take several hours until it's
3:34
available through Google Play.
3:37
But that's it, the new version will now be
available when we come back to this
3:38
URL and refresh.
3:41
Again, it'll take just a little while but
we'll come back and check the current
3:42
version and it should be 1.1 with the
release notes that we just added.
3:46
So back here in the Developer console, we
can now view Statistics about our app, and
3:50
this shows different things like, Current
installs by device.
3:56
So this is very interesting to see who is
using your app and
3:59
what version bandwidth they are running it
on.
4:02
It also gives you some additional facts
about versions of Android,
4:05
which is very helpful.
4:08
So take a look at the Developer console
and
4:09
let us know in the Treehouse Forum if you
have any questions.
4:11
But you did it.
4:14
Congratulations.
4:15
You are now an official Android developer.
4:16
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