Keytool -genkey -v -keystore release.keystore -alias example -keyalg RSA -keysize 2048 -validity 10000 The primary -genkey options we are concerned with are in the table below with a brief description: -keystore Again, there are lots of options for this keytool command. The most common command used for signing Android builds -genkeypair, commonly abbreviated -genkey. The other commands may be useful to you, but uncommonly so. keytool will quickly generate a public/private key pair and store them in a keystore for you after you answer a few simple questions. keytool is located in your Java JDK installation and should be on your path for the purposes of this article. Java includes a tool for just this purpose: keytool. Creating keystoresĪfter you have decided on an app’s lifespan, you’ll want to generate your keystore.

You will also lose touch with your user base unless you have notified them in some way to expect the existing app to be obsolete. Any ratings your app had on Google Play will be lost. If you need to sign your app with another key for any reason, you will have to deploy the app with a new package name. Android, as well as Google Play, enforces the use of the same key for updates to an APK. You will not be able to deploy the same app signed by another key at any point in the near future. Primary among these is the expected lifespan of your app. There are some things you will need to consider before first deploying your Android app. Signing the APK in this fashion allows Google to provide a high level of certainty that future updates to your APK of the same app come from you and not some malicious third party. A public key certificate is used to sign an APK before deployment to services like the Google Play Store. A keystore is a storage mechanism for security certificates. Signing an app first requires creating keystores.

As a security measure, Android requires that apps be signed in order to be installed.

Android studio debug signing keystore