“To Do” list before publishing Android app to market [closed]

Answer 1

As far as I know comments are not included in the app in any form.

The only "gotcha" for a developer that I found during app submission was the various graphics you can provide to the market. Be prepared to take several screenshots and create several app icon sizes as well as promotional graphics.

On the bright side, be prepared to have your app show up instantly in the store -- there is no approval process to go through for Android Market apps.

Answer 2

Don't worry about comments. If you are concerned about malicious dissection of your app, though, DO run it through an obfuscator like ProGuard.

Other tips I would offer:

• Have all your graphics and promotional materials ready to go ahead of time.
• Time your release strategically for when you don't have a lot else going on in your life (like right before a weekend) so that you'll have time to respond FAST if the first handful of users start having problems. Low ratings early on can kill you, but fast e-mail response and fixes can totally redeem a customer's opinion of your app.
• I'll agree with earlier comments on reducing image sizes as much as possible.
• Get your code into source control if it's not already. You're sure to need to issue updates and fixes at some point, and source control can play a big role in that.

Answer 3

I would also make sure you had some sort of error reporting so you know how many users are encountering error's. You may want to keep a copy of your old version when updating your app incase you need to roll back. Its also nice to compile a checklist specific for your app that you can go over everytime.

Also to add to this you may want to use a trimmer to take pieces of code out that are unused to cut down on the overall file size(as phone space is pretty limited). You also may want to obfuscate your code for extra protection.

Answer 4

Declare an android:process and android:sharedUserId attribute!

See sharedUserId: safe to change when app is already in market? for why.

Answer 5

Not sure if you've seen this before, but you should excercise your UI with the monkey - my app has only had one crash, but it wouldn't have had any of those if I'd tested it with Monkey first.

Answer 6

Some points that I tend to forget:

• double check your minSdkVersion in the manifest
• test your app on an emulator with your minSdkVersion
• let your friends test your app to see if it is self-explanatory

If you are going to provide updates in your app:

• you might want to add some kind of 'Whats new in this version'-dialog
• backup your old version!
• don't forget to increase versionCode and versionName in your manifest