Head First Android Development

Appendix D. Leftovers: The Top Ten Things (we didn’t cover)

Even after all that, there’s still a little more.

There are just a few more things we think you need to know. We wouldn’t feel right about ignoring them, and we really wanted to give you a book you’d be able to lift without extensive training at the local gym. Before you put down the book, read through these tidbits.

1. Distributing your app

Once you’ve developed your app, you’ll probably want to make it available to other users. You’ll usually want to do this by releasing your app through an app marketplace such as Google Play.

There are two stages to this: preparing your app for release, and then releasing it.

Preparing your app for release

Before you can release your app, you need to configure, build, and test a release version of your app. This includes tasks such as deciding on an icon for your app and modifying AndroidManifest.xml so that only devices that are able to run your app are able to download it.

Before you release your app, make sure that you test it on at least one tablet and one phone to check that it looks the way you expect and its performance is acceptable.

You can find further details of how to prepare your app for release here:

http://developer.android.com/tools/publishing/preparing.html

Releasing your app

This stage includes publicizing your app, selling it, and distributing it.

To release your app on the Play ...