Google Play Android App Publishing Tips

Coding done, testing done, testing on multiple devices done. What next? Publishing the app on the Google Play store. Publishing on the Play store is not a complex process but it is helpful to be prepared about a few things. Publishing is done through the Google Play Developer Console and the process is straightforward.

• After paying the fees of 25$, you enter the app details and upload its APK file. The device compatibility of the app will be shown.
• The next step is the most important: store listing. This is how the world will see your app. 
• Fill the short description - keep it catchy to interest the user; if you can't, then keep it short 
• Fill the full description - while there is no fixed format, it is better to enter bullets here instead of paragraphs. There is no automatic bulleting so add hyphens at the beginning of each point. As with screenshots, remember to keep the important points at the top 
• Upload the app's screenshots - make sure to highlight the main screen and the best parts of the app (if you are building for tablets, you have to upload separate screenshots in tablet form)
• Upload a high resolution icon (512x512) - It is never enough to emphasize the importance of a good app icon in high resolution as this is the face of the app, even before it is downloaded. Roman Nurik's Android Asset Studio was used to create the app's launcher icon and it generates icons similar to Google's own apps
• Upload a feature graphic in JPG or PNG of size 1024 x 500 dimensions - be creative and add any messages that you want to highlight; this is like a banner ad. Norio's Android Feature Graphic Generator is easy to use and was used to create the feature graphic 
• Upload a promo graphic in JPG or PNG of dimensions 180 x 120- a smaller one which is probably used in older Play stores
• Upload a promo video uploaded to YouTube - a simple way to create a promo video is using the adb. Connect your device to a PC, then on a command shell type the command: adb shell screenrecord /sdcard/videos/demo.mp4 and run your app on your device. A video of your screenshots will be recorded and stored in the location mentioned.The video should be uploaded to youtube and the link should be provided. Note that the full youtube link such as https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpUPzmlh7PA should be entered instead of  https://youtu.be/cpUPzmlh7PA. This is important otherwise your video will not appear on Play.
• While the video and promo graphic are optional, it is important to upload them as they help in marketing the app. 
• If you are app supports multiple languages, do the steps above for each of the language that it supports 
• The next step is to complete a questionnaire on the content of the app which generates the rating of the app. 
• Finally choose the category for the app, fill your contact details and submit.

My app Nadget, was live within a few hours of publishing of it. Some users have said that it could take a few days too. This is dependant on the permissions that the app requests and possibly its content rating. In most cases, the app should be live on the Google Play Store in less than half a day. But make sure you spend time in creating the promotional graphics so that your app gets the attention it deserves in the Google Play store.