Build Android App bundle from the command line

Question

My APK file is already signed (with jarsigner) and compressed (with zipalign). I do it via a bash script. Though I'm getting a warning in Play Console to use Android App Bundle:

Reduce the size of your next release using the Android App Bundle. Your app could be 15.4% smaller if you used the Android App Bundle.

I know I have to use bundletool to use it in command line. The documentation is though too long and cumbersome.

Imagine I have such a file myApp.apk (already signed and compressed). Which command should I run to have the Android App Bundle file to upload to Google Play Console?

Emamie · Accepted Answer · 2021-12-23T15:43:47.713

16

It's very simple. You can create android app bundles (.aab) file from android source by this command :

gradlew bundle

OR

gradle bundle

edited Dec 23 '21 at 15:43

answered Aug 25 '20 at 14:41

Emamie

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To add bundleRelease will build hte release version – Travis Delly Dec 02 '20 at 01:15
so where's the output? – Elbo Shindi Pangestu Dec 21 '21 at 09:09
The output is an android app bundles (.aab) that you can use it to publish your app to google play. – Emamie Dec 23 '21 at 15:46

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Jun 30 '20 at 15:32

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You cannot simply convert an APK to an App Bundle. You have to use a build system that supports building App Bundles from source, like Android Studio (which uses Android Gradle plugin) or others.

Bundletool has a build-bundle command but it is meant to use by build systems since you need already precompiled dex code, and resources compiled in a proto format.

answered Jun 30 '20 at 15:32

Pierre

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it's possible, solution here: https://github.com/apache/cordova-android/issues/729#issuecomment-507569844 – João Pimentel Ferreira Jul 01 '20 at 16:36

Build Android App bundle from the command line

2 Answers2