How to Publish Flutter App on Play Store

Introduction

Every Flutter application developer wishes to create a public app that will be downloaded by the people and used by many.
If you are one among them then you have come to the right place. Here, I am going to share with you the best and easy way to publish your flutter application on the Play store.
This step-by-step tutorial will take you through every step required to publish your flutter app on the play store.
Excited?
Let's get started.

Step - 1: Add a Launcher Icon

After you've designed your Icon. Now it's time to add it to our project.
For that go to App Icon Generator.
Drop your Icon.
After that select Android and click on Generate button.
It will create a zip file containing all the different sizes of Icons that you require for publishing the application.
Extract the zip file
Here we got android(containing all the mip-map folders), playstore icon (will use this later when publishing), and appstore icon.
Now copy all the folder available in the android folder and replace it with android > app > src > res mip-map folders
To check whether the icon has been set or not let's run the app.
Okay, so we've successfully added Launcher Icon. Let's rename our app and also the bundle and appId.

Step - 2: Rename the App, BundleId, AppId

For renaming the app, Bundld and AppId we can use rename package available in Pub.dev.
For that first of all we have to activate the command. For that paste the below command in your terminal.
```
pub global activate rename
```
After activating the command, we can now rename the app by running the below command.

pub global run rename --appname "Counter"

Instead of Counter specify your own app name
You'll get this message after running this command.
Now to rename the BundleId run the below command.

pub global run rename --bundleId com.dhruvnakum.counter

Make sure your BundleId and AppId are unique.
Now let's run the app and check if the name has changed or not.

Step - 3: Signing the app

To publish on the Play Store, you need to give your app a digital signature. Use the following instructions to sign your app.
Create key.properties file inside the android folder.
Now paste the below text inside key.properties

storePassword=eChim2v6qKn3     '''use your password here and make sure to keep it in secret.'''
keyPassword=eChim2v6qKn3
keyAlias=upload
storeFile=<location of the key store file, such as /Users/<user name>/upload-keystore.jks>

After this run the below command in your terminal.

For Windows

keytool -genkey -v -keystore c:\Users\nakum\upload-keystore.jks -storetype JKS -keyalg RSA -keysize 2048 -validity 10000 -alias upload

For Mac / Linux

keytool -genkey -v -keystore ~/key.jks -keyalg RSA -keysize 2048 -validity 10000 -alias key

Go to the file location where key is generated.
Now move this upload-keystore.jsk inside android > app folder.
Update the storeFile path inside the key.properties file.

storePassword=eChim2v6qKn3
keyPassword=eChim2v6qKn3
keyAlias=upload
storeFile=../app/upload-keystore.jks

Now go to [project] > android > app > build.gradle file and add the following text above the android { ... }

def keystoreProperties = new Properties()
def keystorePropertiesFile = rootProject.file('key.properties')
if (keystorePropertiesFile.exists()) {
  keystoreProperties.load(new FileInputStream(keystorePropertiesFile))
}

Scroll down a little bit and remove buildType{ ... } and paste the below text instead.

  signingConfigs {
     release {
         keyAlias keystoreProperties['keyAlias']
         keyPassword keystoreProperties['keyPassword']
         storeFile keystoreProperties['storeFile'] ? file(keystoreProperties['storeFile']) : null
         storePassword keystoreProperties['storePassword']
     }
 }
 buildTypes {
     release {
         signingConfig signingConfigs.release
     }
 }

Step: 4 - Create android app bundle

Run futter clean to clean the previous build.
```
flutter clean
```
Now to generate appbundle run the below command.
```
flutter build appbundle
```
This will create a .aab inside build > app > output > bundle > app-release.aab.
Now it's time to publish this app via Developer Console.

Step: 5 - Create Developer Account

Head over to Developer Account
You have to pay $25 to create a Developer account. If you have it already skip this step.
So create the account and then jump over to Step : 6

Step: 6 - Create App

Now click on the Create App button
Now Fill App Name, Default Language, App Type, Free or Paid and check all the checkbox.

Step: 7 - Adding Description, Logo, Screenshots, Videos, Feature Graphics.

Now go to Store presence > Main store listing.
Fill out the Short and Full description.
Now to add App Icon open the previously downloaded AppIcons file.
Here you will see a png file named playstore.
Simply drag and drop this playstore.png into App icon box.
Now you have to add Feature Graphics.
For that, I've found out a very good website Online Graphic Generator. You can create Feature Graphic using this website. Feel free to use any website.
Now add at least 2 Screenshots of your app in the Phone Screenshots section.
If you have 7' and 10' tablets Screenshot please add it also in the Tablet section.
Now Save the Main Store Listing.

Step: 8 - Store Setting

Now go to Store Settings and select your app Category and add tags if you want to.
Now enter your email (required), phone number, and *website URL.
Save it.

Step: 9 - Add Country and Region

Go to Production > Country / Region and then add the countries where you want to show your app.

Step: 10 - App Content

Add Privacy policy of your app. You can use Privacy Policy Generator or if have any then paste the link in the text field.
Select App Access
Go to Ads and select YES if your app contains ADS or NO if app doesn't contain any type of ADS
Go to Content Rating. Select the category of your app.
Now go to Questionnairy tab and answer the given questions.
After answering all the questions Save it.
Now go to Target audience and content
Select What are the target age groups of your app?
Click Next
Select the appropriate options on the App Details page.
Click Next 2 times. You'll end up in Store presence tab. Select appropriate option.
Click Next and Save it.
Go to News apps
Select YES if your app is news app, otherwise select NO.
ALL DONE.

Step: 11 - Rollout the Application in Production

Click on Production from the sidebar.
Create a New Release
Now upload the app-release.abb app bundle file in App Bundle section.
Now add Release Note this will be displayed on your Google Play's App's home page.
Save it and Review Release.
Now FINALLY click on Start Rollout To Production.
That's it 🎉!! Now you have to wait for the response from the google team. They will review your application manually and then will add it to the Google Play Store.