# Google Play release checklist

## External account gate

- [x] Google Play developer identity verification approved.
- [x] Contact phone verification completed.
- [x] Play Console enables **Create app**.

## App identity and signing

- [x] Create Android app `Who Need Help` with package
      `org.whoneedhelp.mobile`.
- [x] Default language: English (United States).
- [x] App: not a game; free; no ads.
- [x] Accept Play App Signing.
- [x] Record the upload-certificate SHA-1 and SHA-256 with the source-bound
      candidate.
- [ ] Record every Play App Signing SHA-1 and SHA-256 displayed by Play after
      the first AAB upload makes Play generate its signing identities and
      before any tester rollout. Do not assume that a new app has only one
      Play certificate: current Play quantum-ready hybrid signing can expose
      multiple classical/post-quantum identities for different Android
      generations.
- [ ] Add every applicable Play App Signing SHA-256 to production
      Google/Firebase Android configuration.
- [ ] Publish and verify
      `https://whoneedhelp.com/.well-known/assetlinks.json` for the Play
      certificate identities used to sign delivered APKs.

## Build

- [x] Build from the exact committed candidate with the validated Android
      allow-list read from the production checkout’s single `.env`.
- [x] Run `scripts/android-release-build.sh`.
- [x] Verify source fingerprint, signing certificate, bundletool validation,
      lint, package name, version code/name, target SDK, and production origin.
- [x] Install the release APK generated from the same source-bound build on the authorized
      physical phone and run the release smoke test.
- [ ] Save and publish the source-bound AAB currently uploaded to the internal
      testing draft. Do not mark this complete until Play Console shows one
      accepted artifact and the internal release is available to testers.

## Production capability gate

- [x] On 2026-08-08, run the current candidate validator against the live
      production `.env` with `--require-server-release`: all twelve capability
      checks reported `READY`, with zero blocking items and zero local-only
      warnings. The validator did not print secret values and did not modify
      production.
- [ ] Pass the stricter `--require-release` gate. Its only remaining blocking
      item on 2026-08-08 is the not-yet-generated set of Play App Signing
      SHA-256 fingerprints;
      every other capability reported `READY`.

## Store presence

- [x] 512×512 Play icon prepared.
- [x] 1024×500 24-bit PNG feature graphic prepared.
- [x] Four current 1080×1920 physical-phone screenshots captured and reviewed.
- [x] English, Ukrainian, and Russian listing copy prepared.
- [x] Alt-text copy (≤140 characters) prepared in `store-assets/README.md`.
- [ ] Enter the prepared alt text when the assets are uploaded in Play Console.
- [ ] Choose category/tags in the current Console options.

## App content

- [ ] Privacy policy URL.
- [ ] Ads declaration: no ads.
- [ ] Both App access accounts and both sides of the reviewer instructions
      tested from a clean Play-delivered install.
- [ ] Target audience/adult-only positioning confirmed.
- [ ] Content rating questionnaire completed truthfully.
- [x] Local Data Safety worksheet reconciled with the source-bound candidate,
      a fresh resolved release dependency report, and the published privacy and
      account-deletion pages.
- [ ] Enter and review those reconciled answers in the current Play Console
      Data Safety form; do not mark this complete from the local worksheet
      alone.
- [ ] Account deletion questions and external URL completed.
- [ ] Government/news/financial/health declarations answered from actual app
      behavior; do not describe the app as a medical service.
- [ ] Complete the mandatory Play Console foreground-service declaration for
      the `location` service used by the exact AAB.
- [ ] Upload the unlisted demonstration video showing the user-triggered start,
      prominent disclosure, Android permission, persistent notification,
      minimized-app operation, and Stop action.
- [ ] Reconcile any target-SDK-37 persistent precise-location declaration shown
      by Play Console with the exact artifact. The app uses a user-started
      location foreground service and does not declare
      `ACCESS_BACKGROUND_LOCATION`; do not answer that it requests the
      background-location runtime permission.
- [ ] Use and verify the prepared declaration copy in
      `location-and-fgs-declaration.md`.

## Testing

- [ ] Internal track smoke test passed.
- [ ] Closed track created and opt-in link tested.
- [ ] At least 12 testers continuously opted in for 14 days.
- [ ] Tester feedback and fixes documented.
- [ ] Production-access questionnaire completed from actual evidence.

## Publishing

- [ ] Managed publishing enabled if desired.
- [ ] Countries/regions and support contact reviewed.
- [ ] Production submission reviewed for accidental test URLs or credentials.
- [ ] Rollback and support/incident response are ready.

Official references:

- https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/9859152
- https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/9842756
- https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/9866151
- https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/9859455
- https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/10787469
- https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/13327111
- https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/14151465