Distribute Android apps to testers using Gradle

You can integrate App Distribution into your Android build process using the App Distribution Gradle plugin. The plugin lets you specify your testers and release notes in your app's Gradle file, letting you configure distributions for different build types and variants of your app.

This guide describes how to distribute APKs to testers using the App Distribution Gradle plugin.

Before you begin

If you haven't already, add Firebase to your Android project .

If you aren't using any other Firebase products, you only have to create a project and register your app. However, if you decide to use additional products in the future, be sure to complete all of the steps on the page linked above.

Step 1. Set up your Android project

1. In your root-level (project-level)Gradle file ( <project>/build.gradle.kts or <project>/build.gradle ), add the App Distribution Gradle plugin as a dependency:

   Kotlin

    plugins 
     
    { 
     
    // ... 
     
    id 
    ( 
    "com.android.application" 
    ) 
     
    version 
     
    "7.3.0" 
     
    apply 
     
    false 
     
    // Make sure that you have the Google services Gradle plugin dependency 
     
    id 
    ( 
    "com.google.gms.google-services" 
    ) 
     
    version 
     
    "4.4.3" 
     
    apply 
     
    false 
     
     // Add the dependency for the App Distribution 
   Gradle plugin 
     
    id 
    ( 
    "com.google.firebase.appdistribution" 
    ) 
     
    version 
     
    "5.1.1" 
     
    apply 
     
    false 
    } 
   

   Groovy

    plugins 
     
    { 
     
    // ... 
     
    id 
     
    'com.android.application' 
     
    version 
     
    '7.3.0' 
     
    apply 
     
    false 
     
    // Make sure that you have the Google services Gradle plugin dependency 
     
    id 
     
    'com.google.gms.google-services' 
     
    version 
     
    '4.4.3' 
     
    apply 
     
    false 
     
     // Add the dependency for the App Distribution 
   Gradle plugin 
     
    id 
     
    'com.google.firebase.appdistribution' 
     
    version 
     
    '5.1.1' 
     
    apply 
     
    false 
    } 
   

2. In your module (app-level)Gradle file (usually <project>/<app-module>/build.gradle.kts or <project>/<app-module>/build.gradle ), add the App Distribution Gradle plugin:

   Kotlin

    plugins 
     
    { 
     
    id 
    ( 
    "com.android.application" 
    ) 
     
    // Make sure that you have the Google services Gradle plugin 
     
    id 
    ( 
    "com.google.gms.google-services" 
    ) 
     
     // Add the App Distribution 
   Gradle plugin 
     
    id 
    ( 
    "com.google.firebase.appdistribution" 
    ) 
    } 
   

   Groovy

    plugins 
     
    { 
     
    id 
     
    'com.android.application' 
     
    // Make sure that you have the Google services Gradle plugin 
     
    id 
     
    'com.google.gms.google-services' 
     
     // Add the App Distribution 
   Gradle plugin 
     
    id 
     
    'com.google.firebase.appdistribution' 
    } 
   

3. If you're behind a corporate proxy or firewall, add the following Java system property that enables App Distribution to upload your distributions to Firebase:

    -Djavax.net.ssl.trustStore=/path/to/truststore -Djavax.net.ssl.trustStorePassword=password 
   

Step 2. Authenticate with Firebase

Before you can use the Gradle plugin, you must first authenticate with your Firebase project in one of the following ways. By default, the Gradle plugin looks for credentials from the Firebase CLI if no other authentication method is used.

Use Firebase service account credentials

Authenticating with a service account allows you to flexibly use the plugin with your continuous integration (CI) system. There are two ways to provide service account credentials:

• Pass your service account key file to build.gradle . You might find this method convenient if you already have your service account key file in your build environment.
• Set the environment variable GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS to point to your service account key file. You might prefer this method if you already have Application Default Credentials (ADC) configured for another Google service (e.g., Google Cloud ).

To authenticate using service account credentials:

1. On the Google Cloud console, select your project and create a new service account.
2. Add the Firebase App Distribution Adminrole.
3. Create a private json key and move the key to a location accessible to your build environment. Be sure to keep this file somewhere safe , as it grants administrator access to App Distribution in your Firebase project.
4. Skip this step if you created your app after September 20, 2019: In the Google APIs console, enable the Firebase App Distribution API. When prompted, select the project with the same name as your Firebase project.

5. Provide or locate your service account credentials:

   1. To pass Gradle your service account key, in your build.gradle file, set the property serviceCredentialsFile to the private key JSON file.

   2. To locate your credentials with ADC, set the environment variable GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS to the path for the private key JSON file. For example:

      export GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS=/absolute/path/to/credentials/file.json

      For more information on authenticating with ADC, read Providing credentials to your application.