Aab and Apk files

[Jacques]

Hi,

Apologies if this was asked already, just can't find correct answer for me.

I do understand that Aab is for Google play store and apk for your phone.
I wanna know if my aab app (file) will be exactly the same as my apk file.

I always test my app on my phone (apk) before publishing it on Google play store but obviously aab file is not for phone, only Google play store needed.

Hope it make sense.

Thank you in advance

[Alpha2020]

AAB files are used for publishing an app in Google Play Store. Google play is recommending AAB files because there are many uses of it like size reduction, app optimization etc. But mobile phones cannot unpack AAB files to run it on the phone, thats why we are using APK files for testing the app in our phone.

Conclusion
AAB files are used to publish app to Google Play (recommended).
APK files are used to publish app to Google Play (not recommended) or to test the app in phones.

More information: https://developer.android.com/guide/app-bundle

Hope it solves the problem,
RutheniumAlpha

[Nicola_Imperati]

D'altronde sarebbe una grandissima incoerenza da parte di Mit App Inventor; se un file APK fosse differente dal relativo aab..non trova?

[Anke]

How to upload and publish an app in the Play Store → AAB or APK

If you want to upload and publish an app in the Play Store, the following should be observed: Apps that were published in the Play Store before Aug 1, 2021 can still be uploaded as APKs in the Play Developer Console (even after Nov 2021) and therefore do not need to switch to Google App Signing (which simplifies it). Apps that were published in the Play Store after July 31, 2021 must use AABs and also Google App Signing. To test such apps in advance, you should always have an APK generated…