Step 1 — Create a Google Play developer account
Go to play.google.com/console/signup, sign in with a Google account, and pay the one-time registration fee (a flat fee, not recurring). Verification can take anywhere from a few hours to a couple of days — start this step first, in parallel with everything else below, so it's not the thing you're waiting on at the end.
Step 2 — Write a privacy policy
Mandatory, even for a simple app — especially one that touches contacts, location, camera, or accounts. It must be hosted at a real, working URL (a page on your own website is fine). At minimum it should state:
- What data your app collects (even "none" needs to be stated explicitly)
- Whether any data is shared with third parties (a WhatsApp deep link, an analytics tool, a backend API you use — all count)
- How a user can contact you with questions or a deletion request
If you're unsure what to write, ask your AI coding assistant: "Write a privacy policy page for my app. It collects [list exactly what your app actually collects — e.g. 'no personal data, it only opens WhatsApp with a pre-filled message']." Review what it produces against what your app actually does before publishing it — an inaccurate privacy policy is worse than none.
Step 3 — Prepare your store listing
You'll need, before you can submit:
- App name and short description (80 characters) and full description (4000 characters)
- An app icon (512×512px) and a feature graphic (1024×500px)
- At least 2 phone screenshots — real screenshots of your actual app, not mockups
- A content rating questionnaire, answered honestly (a catalogue/enquiry app is almost always rated for everyone)
- Your privacy policy URL from Step 2
Step 4 — Build a signed release
Your AI coding assistant can prepare this for you — ask it directly:
Prepare this Expo app for a Play Store submission. Help me generate a signed Android App Bundle
(.aab) using EAS Build, and tell me exactly what account setup or configuration I need to do on
my end that you can't do for me.Expect some of this step to require you personally logging into an Expo/Google account — the agent can prepare the configuration and commands, but account credentials and payment are always yours to handle.
Step 5 — Submit for review
Upload the .aab file, fill in the release notes, and submit. Google's review typically takes anywhere from a few hours to a few days for a first submission.
Common rejection reasons (and how to avoid them)
- Missing or broken privacy policy link — the single most common first-submission rejection. Test the URL yourself before submitting.
- Screenshots that don't match the actual app — use real screenshots, taken after your final build.
- Requesting permissions the app doesn't use — if your app never touches location or contacts, don't let a default template leave that permission declared.
- A content rating that doesn't match the app's real behavior — answer the questionnaire based on what the app actually does, not what you eventually plan to add.
If you get rejected, Google always tells you the specific reason — fix that one thing and resubmit; it isn't a fresh application each time.
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That's the full path from an empty folder to a published app. If any step above stalls you, ask EximAI directly — or skip the DIY route and have EximHub's own team build and publish it for you.