How to deploy your IONIC 3 App to Google Play store

 

1) Build your android app : i

ionic cordova build android --release

2) Move to the platforms folder:

cd platforms/android

3) Build a bundle (Since playstore might not accept apk)

./gradlew bundle

4) Move to the folder with the .aab file

cd app/build/outputs/bundle/release

5) Sign your release

5.a)  Generate a key

keytool -genkey -v -keystore my-app-key.keystore -alias appalias -keyalg RSA -keysize 2048 -validity 10000

5.b) Sign your bundle 

jarsigner -verbose -sigalg SHA1withRSA -digestalg SHA1 -keystore my-app-key.keystore app-release.aab appalias 

5.c ) Move to the Android sdk build tools

 cd $ANDROID_HOME/build-tools/29.0.3

5.d) Use zipalign to generate a signed package of your bundle

./zipalign -v 4 ~/Documents/mobileapps/app/platforms/android/app/build/outputs/bundle/release/app-release.aab  ~/Documents/mobileapps/app/platforms/android/app/build/outputs/bundle/release/signed_release.aab