Android Academy · Lesson

Preparing a Release Build

App bundles and shrinking.

From Debug to Release

Every day you run the debug build from Android Studio. But Google Play needs a release build: smaller, faster, and not tagged as debuggable.

A release build is different in three key ways: it is signed with your release key, it has debuggable false, and it is usually shrunk to remove unused code and resources.

In this lesson you will prepare a proper release build and produce the file Google Play wants: an Android App Bundle (.aab).

Build Types in Gradle

Gradle defines two build types by default: debug and release. You configure them in your module's build.gradle.kts.

The release block is where you turn on optimizations. Notice isMinifyEnabled and isShrinkResources below — these are the switches that make your app smaller.

android {
    buildTypes {
        release {
            isMinifyEnabled = true
            isShrinkResources = true
            proguardFiles(
                getDefaultProguardFile("proguard-android-optimize.txt"),
                "proguard-rules.pro"
            )
        }
    }
}

All lessons in this course

← Back to Android Academy