How to Setup and Use Google Play Console – A Complete Guide
May 22, 2020 |
Wisitech Content Team
Google Play connects a flourishing ecosystem of web developers to people using more than 2 billion active Android users worldwide. Around 94 billion applications were installed from Google Play in the previous year alone. Google is enabling Android developers with the feature-packed Google Play Console to help them improve their app’s performance and grow their business.
It provides developers with numerous valuable insights for both developers and marketers, and it is being improved each year. Google Play Console serves as the official app store for the Android operating system, letting users develop and publish the Android SDK. This is the dashboard where your app store optimization process starts.
It is not only limited to publish the app, but Google Search Console is also filled with useful information about your application from mobile usability reports to visibility and download tracking, and so on. Keep your app optimized with play store console, which will bring you more downloads in 2020. Wondering how to publish apps on Google Play Console? We’ve got your back covered with a complete guide on Google Play Console.
How to set up the Google Play Console Account?
- To publish an Android app on Google Play, you’ll need to create a Google Play Developer account.
- Go to the Google Play Developer Console https://play.google.com/apps/publish/signup/.
- Click Create an Account
- Fill out the form and click on the next step
- Select the Google Play Developer distribution agreement check-box to acknowledge your agreement, and click Continue.
- Pay the registration $25 fee for your account. Enter your payment details
- Fill out your Google Play Developer Profile.
You will receive an email from Google notifying you when your account is ready to be activated. (This process can take up to a week)
How to Use the Google Play Console to publish apps?
Google Play Developer Console enables android developers to publish and distribute their applications right from their accounts to users of Android-compatible smartphones. The $25 Fee is for a lifetime Google Developer Account which lets you publish unlimited apps on the Google Play Store without paying an extra penny.
Here are the steps to publish an Android app on Google Play:
1. Type Title and Description of Your App
Before deploying an android app to Google Play, keep some high-quality screenshots of your app, keyword-rich description, and an APK file ready. Keep one thing in mind that there are some limitations concerning the size of the file. The maximum size of the file should be 100 Mbytes, but 50 Mbytes would be better for users with a bad internet connection.
2. Determine the Content Rating of Your App
Next, you need to answer a few questions to establish the content rating of your product. It’s required to restrain children from downloading the app if it comprises of any adult content. You must answer correctly otherwise your app will be restricted from releasing on the Google Play.
3. Select App Category
Selecting an app category can enhance your chances of downloads. Choosing the wrong category, your app won’t be visible to the correct audience.
4. Manage the Privacy Policy Issues
If your application needs to use any private user’s data, you will have to mention that and add a privacy policy agreement while ensuring not to use that data for personal benefit. In the agreement you will also have to mention the data you will collect, how will you process the information, and who will be accessing it.
5. Upload Your APK file
Before uploading the APK file, you will have to mention if it’s a beta version or not. In an Android device, one can install only a signed APK file using a key that can be generated in Android Studio. This key has to be securely saved. If someone loses the access to Keystore, they’ll have to publish the app again with a brand-new name and key.
6. Mention Price
If your app is subscription-based, you’ll have to mention the price or choose the cost in default mode.
Track App Performance from Your Android Device
Google Play Console (GPC) allows you to learn useful information about your application. With this, you can find out about the installs, uninstalls, ratings, revenue, and crashes data. To evaluate your app’s performance, you can use your smartphone as well. For that, you only have to download the play store console from Google Play Store. Log in to your Google Play Console account and you are good to go. Let’s find out what can you do using Google Play Console app:
1. View App Statistics
Google Play Console gives you easy access to data on how your app is performing. It helps you to organize and analyze your data while showing a report using an available dimension. Upon selecting the dimension, you will see the data in the form of a graph. Based on the data card you are viewing; the dimension may have:
- Android Version: Android OS version is taken from the user’s device
- Country: Users’ country
- Language: Users’ Android OS language setting
- App Version: Version of your app
You can access the report as CSV and later download it from Google Cloud Storage.
2. View & Analyze Your App’s Ratings & Reviews
Using GPC web or app, you can see an overview of your app’s rating, user reviews, and statistics of app review. A user can rate an app on Google Play with a star rating and review where review and rating can be updated multiple times but can’t delete it. You can go through the trends and issues the user has mentioned in their review for impactful improvement in your app.
3. Review your app’s revenue & buyer data
It helps you review your app’s financial data to see how your sales, products, subscriptions, and rewarded products perform over time. Revenue data is based on estimated sales.
4. Manage Your App’s Orders & Issue Refunds
It allows you to view your app’s orders, subscriptions cancellations, and issued refunds for product users have bought. Google Play’s refund policies are available in the Google Play Help Center, but on the other hand, you are also liable for setting your own policies for refunds. You should offer a refund as per your policies. It’s your obligation to inform the users of any changes to your refund policies and guarantee that the policies will go with the applicable law.
5. Android Vitals
With Android Vital, improve the stabilities and performance of the android smartphone. When someone runs your app in their android device, it logs through various metrics comprising data regarding app startup time, app stability, battery, permission denials, and more. The GPC collects the data and shows it in the Android vitals dashboard.
We hope this guide will be helpful to you. Tell us your experience with Google Play Console in the comment section below.
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