React Native Build APK Generate release mode APK for React-Native project to publish on PlayStore

Good Day All! I hope you are doing Good.

From last couple of days, Me and my friends were doing comparative study of ionic3 and react-native. During that period, we were struggling to generate release mode APK for React-Native project.

Finally, we came across following solution:

Create and then copy a keystore file to android/app

keytool -genkey -v -keystore mykeystore.keystore -alias mykeyalias -keyalg RSA -keysize 2048 -validity 10000

Setup your gradle variables in android/gradle.properties

MYAPP_RELEASE_STORE_FILE=mykeystore.keystore
MYAPP_RELEASE_KEY_ALIAS=mykeyalias
MYAPP_RELEASE_STORE_PASSWORD=*****
MYAPP_RELEASE_KEY_PASSWORD=*****

Add signing config to android/app/build.gradle

android {
signingConfigs {
release {
storeFile file(MYAPP_RELEASE_STORE_FILE)
storePassword MYAPP_RELEASE_STORE_PASSWORD
keyAlias MYAPP_RELEASE_KEY_ALIAS
keyPassword MYAPP_RELEASE_KEY_PASSWORD
}
}
buildTypes {
release {
signingConfig signingConfigs.release
}
}
}

Generate your release APK:

cd android && ./gradlew assembleRelease

Your APK will get generated at: android/app/build/outputs/apk/app-release.apk

Special Thanks to Tyler Buchea : http://blog.tylerbuchea.com/react-native-publishing-an-android-app/

Comments

[Emicarito ★]

Hi Zilu,

If you are in Windows the last command is cd android && gradlew assembleRelease

whitout the "./"

[Rostyslav]

Hi Zilu. Follow your instructions, obtain error:

Unable to load script. Make sure you're either running a Metro server (run 'react-native start') or that your bundle 'index.android.bundle' is packaged correctly for release.

[Zilu Ramkrishna Rane]

You get this error after running which command?
Could you please provide more details.

[Egi ESEM]

don't run debug version, to create apk release version first you must run:
npx react-native run-android --variant=release
or
react-native run-android --variant=release

Then APK can be found in android/app/build/outputs/apk/release

[mrcflorian]

Thanks for the tutorial! I've put up an article containing several errors that I encounter when building a release APK for React Native pretty frequently.

[Zilu Ramkrishna Rane]

Thanks mrcflorian

[Anaga Uche]

I love your article, thanks

[Ayesh Nipun]

Thanks for the article. The app was built without errors. But when I install it on my device and run the app, App keeps stopping with the message "App keeps stooping"

[rahilahmad]

Hi, i have an issue when i run last command in terminal it show Build successful but my release folder is empty
can you help me to figure it out?

[skptricks]

check this simple example : skptricks.com/2019/06/react-native...

[Apk2Down]

The online APK downloader I found at the best Apk2Down provider for you, a reliable address for every device used.

[jbernibe]

Hello my friend, i did the procedure above, but dont work, it show me the next message :
"Deprecated Gradle features were used in this build, making it incompatible with Gradle 6.0"
Could you Please help me whit that.