Release Bundles

Release Bundles

Building a Release Bundle with cordova build android --release

--release switches Gradle 19,597 to the release build type: no debugger, no debuggable flag, and, since cordova-android 10, an Android App Bundle (.aab) rather than an APK unless you ask otherwise. With build.json naming the key and the passwords passed after --, the bundle comes out signed:

Building BookNest's signed release bundle and checking who signed itShell

cordova build android --release -- --storePassword="$BOOKNEST_STORE_PASS" \
  --password="$BOOKNEST_STORE_PASS" | grep -E "keystore|BUILD SUCCESSFUL|\.aab"
keytool -printcert -jarfile platforms/android/app/build/outputs/bundle/release/app-release.aab |
  grep -E "Owner|SHA256:"

Output

...
Reading the keystore from: .../keys/booknest-upload.jks
BUILD SUCCESSFUL in 9s
BUILD SUCCESSFUL in 50s
   .../platforms/android/app/build/outputs/bundle/release/app-release.aab
Owner: CN=BookNest Team, O=Example Books, L=Kota Kinabalu, C=MY
    SHA256: AA:F4:72:D5:8E:4E:5D:A3:50:ED:B3:BE:06:E6:AD:93:2A:63:DE:8C:71:8A:C0:69:61:40:33:33
      :A7:DB:72:C9

Without the passwords the build fails at :app:signReleaseBundle (Android Build Failures); without build.json it produces an unsigned bundle, which Play rejects. Before you upload:

Bump the version. Play refuses a versionCode it has seen. Raise version in config.xml (1.0.1 gives

or pass -PcdvVersionCode as release does (Build Batch Files).

Leave WebView debugging off. Release builds disable it unless you set InspectableWebview.
Test the release build itself, as an APK on a device (Build Batch Files).

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