<p>After releasing my iOS apps, I wanted to bring them to Android. Since both were built with Expo, I expected it to be easy — and it mostly was! Still, I ran into a few surprises along the way that might help others doing the same.</p>
<h3>⚙️ 1. Porting with Expo</h3>
<p>The best part? No big code changes needed.</p>
<p>Expo made it super simple to build for Android — I didn’t need to eject or do any deep platform-specific setup.</p>
<p>But when I started testing, I noticed something off…</p>
<h3>🖋️ 2. UI issues — font sizes on Android</h3>
<p>Some screens looked slightly off on Android.
It turns out Android renders font sizes just a bit larger than iOS, so my UI spacing broke in a few places.</p>
<p>My fix: I wrote a small helper function to automatically scale font sizes down slightly on Android devices.</p>
<pre><code><span class="hljs-keyword">import</span> { Platform } from <span class="hljs-string">&quot;react-native&quot;</span>;

<span class="hljs-keyword">export</span> <span class="hljs-type">const</span> normalizeFont = (size: number) =&gt; {
  <span class="hljs-keyword">return</span> Platform.OS === <span class="hljs-string">&quot;android&quot;</span> ? size * <span class="hljs-number">0.95</span> : size;
};
</code></pre>
<p>Tiny tweak, big difference — everything looked balanced again.</p>
<h3>🧩 3. Google Play configuration</h3>
<p>Here’s where it got trickier. To publish, I had to:</p>
<ul>
<li>Generate and upload keystores (Expo does this automatically if you don’t have one).</li>
<li>Add the keys to Firebase for Android integration.</li>
<li>Download and include the <code>google-services.json</code> file in my Expo project (in the <code>app/</code> folder).</li>
</ul>
<p>Expo’s build process using <code>eas build -p android</code> handled most of it, but double-checking the Firebase connection was key.</p>
<h3>🔐 4. Google Authentication setup</h3>
<p>Since my apps already used Firebase, enabling Google Auth for Android was easy — Firebase linked it automatically through the connected project.</p>
<p>No extra manual setup needed besides enabling the provider in Firebase Console.</p>
<h3>🧪 5. Closed testing — finding testers</h3>
<p>I didn’t have many Android users among my friends, so I tried a few things:</p>
<ul>
<li>Posted testing invites on X, Reddit, and daily.dev</li>
<li>Found an awesome app called “12 Testers - Closed Test Pro” on Google Play, where devs test each other’s apps for 14 days.</li>
</ul>
<p>That community feedback helped a ton before the public release.</p>
<h3>✅ 6. Review and approval</h3>
<p>After fixing UI details and testing everything, both apps were reviewed and approved without issues!</p>
<p>The process was actually smoother than the iOS review 😅</p>
<h3>📱 Finally my apps are now live!</h3>
<p>🍱 TinyRecipe is live on:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://apps.apple.com/app/id6749379823" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">App Store</a></li>
<li><a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.vladislavsiumbeli.foodable" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">Google Play</a></li>
</ul>
<p>💰 TinyDebt is live on:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://apps.apple.com/app/id6752252043" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">App Store</a></li>
<li><a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.vladislavsiumbeli.tinydebt" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">Google Play</a></li>
</ul>
<h3>💡 Final thoughts</h3>
<p>If you’re using Expo, deploying to Android is surprisingly smooth — most hurdles are design-related rather than technical.</p>
<p>Testing across devices is key, but once that’s handled, the Play Store pipeline feels quick and dev-friendly.</p>


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Vladislav Siumbeli

Deploying Expo apps to Google Play is mostly straightforward with minimal code changes required. Key challenges include adjusting font sizes for Android's rendering differences using a platform-specific scaling function, configuring keystores and Firebase integration with google-services.json, and finding testers through communities like Reddit and specialized testing apps. The Google Play review process proved smoother than iOS, with Firebase automatically handling Google Authentication setup for connected projects.

Deploying my Expo apps to Google Play — lessons learned

<p>Comparing to the Apple publishing process, is it as easy? I know developers tend to release on Android first because it’s easier than iOS. You reminded me that iOS-first is also a valid strategy.</p>


<p>Hey Thanks for this it’s helpful 🔥🔥</p>


<p>Nice content, are you planning on releasing something related to IOS deployment?</p>


<p>Thanks. This is gold for beginners in Android app publishing 🚀</p>
