How to Release Your Cordova App for iOS and Android

Releasing a Cordova app means building a signed native package for each platform and submitting it to the App Store and Google Play. This step-by-step guide covers both, from build configuration and signing to store listings, so your first release goes out without surprises.

How to release your Cordova app for iOS

1. Prerequisites

Have a Cordova project with an iOS app
Make sure that you are running on Apple OS X. You can check with the following code:

The result will look like this:

Requirements check results for ios:Apple OS X: installed

2. Build a deployable iOS project

Run the following command:

As soon as the building is completed successfully, you will find the project in /platforms/ios/iOSApp

3. Open the project in Xcode

From the command line:

4. Sign and publish your app on the App Store

Follow this step-by-step guide for How to Submit Your App to the App Store.

How to release your Cordova app for Android

1. Update your release information

Open the config.xml and package.json files in your project’s directory.
Edit all the release details you need: the widget ID, app icon, and versioning.

2. Make sure you build properly

From the Cordova directory execute the following:

Open config.xml and add the following bracket where luciq is the name of your domain and androidapp is the name of your app. The result will look like this:

3. Specify if you want the icon to apply to all platforms or Android only

This can be done by adding the following:

4. Specify the version of your app

Remember to increment every time when building a new release. This can be done by adding the following:

5. Add the Android platform back

6. Sign your Android app

Cordova has a built-in way to let you sign Android apps quickly. This is done with a config file, build.json, which will carry all the needed information to sign the app. The file should look like this:

Edit the config file to your liking.

When it’s ready, execute the following command:

Now you should have your final product: app-release.apk

7. What should you check before submitting?

A short checklist run before submission saves a rejection cycle. App Store review typically takes one to two days, and a rejection for a missing item pushes your launch by that much.

Before you submit:

Signing: confirm you have a valid distribution certificate and provisioning profile for iOS, and a release keystore for Android. An expired certificate or a profile that doesn't include your bundle ID will fail at upload.
Version numbers: the build number must be higher than any previously submitted build. If you've submitted any TestFlight or internal track builds, confirm the version and build number are incremented.
Test the release build on a physical device. Cordova apps sometimes behave differently in a release build than in development. Plugins that work in debug mode occasionally fail in production due to minification or signing differences.
Crash-free run: do a smoke test of the core flows on the release build before uploading. A crash on the first screen is a fast way to get a rejection or a 1-star review on day one.
Metadata: confirm your app description, screenshots and privacy policy URL are current. Outdated screenshots or a broken privacy URL are common rejection reasons.

8. Upload your APK to the Google Play Store

Follow this step-by-step guide for How to Submit Your App to the Google Play Store.

Know how your Cordova app performs after release

After launch, track crash-free sessions and user feedback from day one. See the frameworks Luciq supports.