Publishing issues

For help with developing Android apps, visit the Android developers site to find technical documentation, Android Studio tools, developer guides and tutorials on building your first app.

If you're developing a game, you can learn about using Google Play Games services and find complete documentation on the Google Developers site.

Apps enrolled in Play app signing

If you’ve enrolled your app in Play app signing and you need to create a new upload key, your account owner can contact our support team for help.

Here are some common reasons why you might need to create a new upload key:

• Your private key was lost or compromised.
• There wasn’t an upload key created for an existing app.

Apps not enrolled in Play app signing

If you lose your keystore, you’ll have to publish a new app with a new package name and key. It’s a good idea to update your original app to let users know about your new app, and unpublish it to prevent future downloads.

Note: We’re unable to delete apps or let multiple apps have the same package name.

Learn more about certificates and keystores

For detailed information about certificates, keystores and signing your app, visit the Android developers site.

If you're experiencing difficulty uploading files, you may be having issues with your browser.

For the best experience with Play Console, we recommend using Chrome. To help troubleshoot issues, make sure that you’re using the latest version of your browser.

If you’re already using the latest version of your browser, here are some solutions to common issues:

• Clear your browser’s cache and cookies.
• If you’re not using Chrome, try using it or a different browser.
• If you have browser extensions or plug-ins installed, they could be causing conflicts with Play Console. Try disabling the extensions or plug-ins, and then enable them one at a time to identify any potential conflicts.
• If you have anti-virus or firewall software installed, it might cause issues with uploading APK files or images. If you’re having issues uploading files, try temporarily disabling the software first, then upload the file again.

Scan your app for issues

If you continue having issues when uploading your app, you can use Android Lint to scan your app for potential issues. With Android Lint, you can check your app for a wide variety of issues using a command-line interface, Eclipse or IntelliJ.

Test the features required by your app

If you want to see how Google Play will filter your app based on its declared features and permissions, use the aapt tool which is included in the Android SDK.

By using the dump badging command, aapt will parse your app's manifest and apply the same rules as used by Google Play to determine the features that your app requires.

Still having issues?

If you’re still unable to upload files or publish your app, please contact our support team. Include any details about your issue, including screenshots, aapt badging output and your APK file.

If you’ve recently published an app or update, it can take a few hours for your changes to show on Google Play. Also, make sure that your app is published to production or in an open test.

To troubleshoot specific issues, visit App visibility and discovery issues.

As part of the Developer Distribution Agreement, users get unlimited reinstalls of each app that they’ve downloaded on Google Play. As a result, apps with installations can’t be permanently deleted. However, to prevent new users from downloading your app, you can unpublish it at any time.

If your app hasn't been installed on any devices, contact our support team to request that your app's data be permanently deleted.

To troubleshoot issues with uploading graphic assets, make sure that you upload files that meet the file size, dimensions and file type requirements for each type of asset. If your files meet all requirements, but you’re still having issues, try using a different browser.

In some cases, if you have anti-virus or firewall software installed, it might cause issues when uploading images. If you’re having issues uploading files, try temporarily disabling the software first, then upload the file again.

To find out how to release an app update that reaches a percentage of your users that you can increase over time, visit our Help Centre article on using staged roll-outs.

To find out how to test your app with specific groups or run an open test with Google Play users, visit our Help Centre article on setting up open, closed and internal tests.