Submitting Your Android App for Review

While there is no formal approval process from Google to publish an Android app, the NCSU Mobile group will review any submitted app to ensure that it meets certain quality standards.  Once your Android app is ready to be published, you will need to send it to mobile@ncsu.edu for validation and submission.  Before it is submitted, there are some things that you can do to make the process easier and increase the chances of having your app published on the first try.

 

Satisfying Technical Requirements

There are certain technical requirements that must be met before your app can be submitted.

  • Have a version number.  This is a number like 1.0 or 3.1.2.  It can contain numbers and periods.
  • Have a build number.  This number must be numeric and cannot contain any letters or punctuation.
  • Set the Minimum Required SDK.  This is the lowest version of Android that the app will support.
  • Set the Target SDK.  This is the highest level of Android that the app has been tested on.

 

Providing Your Application Source

You must provide the entire source of your project for your app to be signed for the app store.  Any external or third party libraries must be included as well.  Please provide all of this in a zip file, which will make your review time shorter and the reviewers happier.

The project files will be fairly large, so please use the campus Velocity service to send them.

 

Compiling the Required Metadata

When you send your source code, please also send the following additional information about your app, which will be submitted directly to Google and will appear on the Google Play App Store.  Your app cannot be submitted without this additional information:

  • Version of the app
  • App Name
  • Description
  • Promo Text (up to 80 characters, optional)
  • Recent Changes Summary
  • Primary Category
  • Support email address
  • Support URL
  • App Launcher Icon
    • Launcher icons on a mobile device must be 48×48 dp.
    • Launcher icons for display on Google Play must be 512×512 pixels.
  • High Resolution icon for use in Google Play.  512×512, 32-bit PNG with alpha; Max size of 1024KB.
  • Feature Graphic (optional)
    • Use: The featured section in Google Play and also on the web version of Google Play.
    • This graphic is required in order to be featured on Google Play, and is highly recommended. Without this graphic, your app cannot be featured on Google Play.
    • Specs: 1024w x 500h, 24 bit PNG or JPEG (no alpha) with no transparency.
    • Tips:
      • Use a safe frame of 924×400 (50 pixel of safe padding on each side). All the important content of the graphic should be within this safe frame. Pixels outside of this safe frame may be cropped for stylistic purposes.
      • If incorporating text, use large font sizes, and keep the graphic simple, as this graphic may be scaled down from its original size.
  • Promotional Graphic (optional):
    • Use: This graphic is only used in old devices.
    • Specs: 180w x 120h, 24 bit PNG or JPEG (no alpha), Full bleed, no border in art.
  • Screenshots – between 2-8 images
    • Specs: Minimum dimension: 320 pixels. Maximum dimension: 3840 pixels. The maximum dimension of your screenshot cannot be more than twice as long as the minimum dimension. You may use 24 bit PNG or JPEG image (no alpha). Full bleed, no border in art.
    • We recommend adding screenshots of your app running on a 7″ and 10″ tablet if supported.

Please include all of this in a metadata.txt file in the zip file with your source code.

 

Preparing for the Review Process

Based on experience submitting apps to Google, a review process has been developed to prepare your app so that it can provide the best user experience on the first try.

After submitting your source code and your metadata, your app will be reviewed for a number of things:

  1. It compiles without crashing.
  2. It conforms to the published Google UI guidelines.
  3. It conforms to the university branding guidelines.
  4. It runs without crashing and all links and features work as intended.

The review is scheduled as soon as possible, with the typical review time being 10-15 days.  After your app is tested by our review group, you will be notified of the results of the review.  If you are working with a hard deadline, such as the start of the semester or a specific event, submit your app with at least a month’s lead time.  Once the app passes the review, it will be published in the Google Play store under the NC State license.