Organised the way the Play Console is, with the answers that apply to apps built from websites. Dated, and updated when Google moves the goalposts.
When a website app needs a new release at all, how version codes decide whether Play accepts the upload, how to roll an update out to 5% of users first, and how to stop a bad release when you cannot roll back.
Read the guide →Everything Google asks for between a finished build and a published listing - in the order it asks - with the documentation for each answer.
Read the guide →Account, bundle, listing, forms, testing, review, launch and maintenance - every step the Play Console will put in front of you, with the specs and the traps that catch WebView apps.
Read the guide →What the $25 buys, how identity verification works, when you need a D-U-N-S number, why personal accounts must run a 14-day closed test, and how to avoid the account mistakes that follow you forever.
Read the guide →The APK is what installs; the AAB is what you upload. What Play does with a bundle, why new apps can't be uploaded as APKs, when you still want an APK, and how to test one before the other.
Read the guide →Why every Android app is signed, what Play App Signing changed, which fingerprint goes where, and the recovery path when a keystore is gone - plus why a website-based app never has to hit that problem.
Read the guide →Why Google raises the required target API level every year, the difference between target and minimum SDK, the 2025 requirement, extensions, and the calendar reminder every publisher needs.
Read the guide →What the policy actually says about WebViews, what reviewers look for in practice, the additions that turn a wrapper into an approvable app, and the cases where the honest answer is not to list.
Read the guide →The form asks about the app; the app is your website. How to map analytics, push tokens, logins, checkout, contact forms and ad networks onto Google's categories, purposes and sharing questions - and the account-deletion requirement.
Read the guide →What Google requires the policy to contain, where it must be hosted and linked, how to cover both the website and the app in one document, and a section-by-section structure you can adapt.
Read the guide →What IARC is, how one questionnaire produces ESRB, PEGI and other ratings, how to answer for a site with comments or user content, and why an inaccurate rating is a metadata violation.
Read the guide →The digital-vs-physical rule in detail, the exemptions, what "consumed in the app" means for memberships and content, service fees, user-choice billing, and the enforcement patterns that catch shops and publishers.
Read the guide →Who it applies to, how to set up the track, recruiting testers who stay opted in, what to test during the fortnight, the production-access questionnaire, and the mistakes that restart the clock.
Read the guide →Minimum functionality, broken functionality, metadata, impersonation, Data safety mismatch, missing privacy policy, payments, and app access - what the email means, what the reviewer saw, and exactly what to change before resubmitting.
Read the guide →What actually influences installs on a Play listing, how Play's search reads your text, screenshot and video priorities, localisation, store listing experiments, and how to earn ratings without violating the reviews policy.
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