How do I "Sign" an APK for new Google Play verification?

MIT App Inventor Help
1

So I’m not sure how to “sign” an app with the following file added to the “assets” file in MIT App inventor. Do I just upload it to the media files? Here are google plays insturctions. I’ve blocked out the unique identifier, but am curious how this file and snippet would be added to an MIT assets folder. Thank you.

  1. Copy the snippet below. This is an identifier that is unique to your account.

    xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

  2. In your IDE, navigate to your app's source tree.

    You can use an empty project with the same package name that you're registering, or your actual app.

  3. Inside the assets folder, create a file named adi-registration.properties.

    Make sure to use this file name exactly.

  4. Open the file and paste in the snippet that you copied.

2
  • create a new text file on your computer called adi-registration.properties
  • paste your code snippet to this file and save it
  • upload this file to your media folder (assets)

Now whether this will work or not (probably not) is another matter!

@ewpatton

3

Hmm, why shouldn't it work?

4

Also, where do I go to get this code to sign my own APK?

5

So I got it to work. I had to create a file from my command Line prompt on the computer adi-registration.properties. This tutorial worked: 4 Ways to Create and Delete Files and Directories from Windows Command Prompt

I also had to export my keystore to my computer from the settings page on MIT app inventor. I downloaded a software called “keystore explorer”. Google Keystore Explorer and it pops up. Using that software I was able to open my keystore file and verify my SHA-256 Fingerprint for google play. From google play I was given the text snippet which I pasted into the file when I created the file on the command prompt. I was then able to upload that to the media files in MIT app inventor. It needs to have .properties at the end. A text file didn’t work. I then created and downloaded my APK from MIT app Inventor and uploaded it to google play to verify that file and code snippet. It worked for me and now I’m going through the next steps in the google play store.

6

.txt files won’t work. But if you create the file with .properties from the command line prompt on your computer and add the text to the file that way, it can then be added to the MIT App Inventor media files. I posted the tutorial link below to create that file from the command line.

7

A text file named adi-registration.properties is still a text file.

8

Yes, but people could save it as a .txt file simply and that won’t work, for those that might mistaken things. I was just trying to clarify for anyone reading the thread. I’m just glad I got things to work with this new verification process. I hope this helps others.

9

  1. Save the code snippet generated by Google for your app as a text file named "adi-registration.properties".

  2. Upload the file to your project's assets (either the original project or a new, empty project) with the same project name.

  3. Build the APK file using the same build server as the original app (to use the same keystore) and upload it to the Google Play Console.