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Installing your Android app

Install your Floot app on an Android device, and publish it to the Google Play Store.

Floot can convert your project into a native Android app. You can install it directly on your device — no developer tools required.

The APK comes from floot.com

Build the app and download the APK on floot.com, from the Publish screen. The project link your assistant shares opens the project view at /mcp-preview/<id>, and the Publish button there is the same screen. Your assistant can start an app build itself only once a store account is connected, and it cannot hand you the APK. Once the Android app has been built once, your assistant can edit static/__dev/native/android-manifest.xml for you — ask it for the android-manifest guide. That is the usual fix for a Play rejection, or for a permission you need to add after publishing.

Getting your Android app

  1. 1

    Build the mobile apps

    1. Open your project on floot.com and click the Publish button
    2. Switch on Publish mobile app
    3. Click Publish, or Publish update if the app is already live

    The build takes several minutes. On Free and Pro, the switch starts off each time, so a publish without it updates only the website. Switch it on whenever you want a new APK.

  2. 2

    Get it onto a phone

    On the Publish screen, find the Android APK row of the Last build card. There are three ways to get the app onto a device:

    • Download — downloads the APK through the browser you are in. Use this when you have Floot open on the Android phone itself.
    • Get link — copies a download link. Open or paste that link in the phone's browser.
    • QR code — shows a QR code for the same link. Point your Android camera at it.

    Unknown sources

    Android may ask you to allow installation from unknown sources. This is expected for an APK installed outside the Play Store. Note this APK is the debug build — right for trying the app yourself or handing it to testers, but Google Play will not accept it. Publishing to Play needs the signed release build covered below.

  3. 3

    Install it

    1. Once downloaded, open the APK file
    2. If prompted, enable "Install from unknown sources" for your browser
    3. Tap Install
    4. Your app is ready to use

Troubleshooting

How do I install the APK after downloading?
Android usually offers to install it right away. If not, open your Files app and tap the APK you downloaded.
"Can't install from this source"
Go to Settings → Security → Install unknown apps and enable it for your browser or file manager.
QR code not working
Click Get link instead and paste the copied link straight into the phone's browser. A copied link works for 7 days. If the Last build card shows no APK, the latest build has not finished yet or it failed — a newer build, even a failed one, replaces the previous downloads. Publish again with Publish mobile app switched on.

Publishing to the Google Play Store

Floot can do this for you

On a paid plan, connect your Google Play account under App stores on the Publish screen, and Floot builds, signs, and uploads every app build to Play internal testing — see Publish to TestFlight and Google Play. The steps below are the do-it-yourself route.

  1. 1

    Create a Google Play Developer account

    Sign up at the Google Play Console — a $25 one-time fee.

  2. 2

    Download the Android project

    1. Open your project on floot.com and click Publish
    2. On the Last build card, click Download next to Project zip
    3. Unzip it — the android/ project is inside

    This is the same Download button used for iOS: one archive holds both projects. If you already downloaded it for iOS, you have it.

  3. 3

    Install dependencies

    Install Node.js, then run this in the unzipped folder:

    npm install -g pnpm
pnpm install
  4. 4

    Generate a signed release build

    • Navigate to the android folder
    • Follow the Android signing guide to create a keystore and sign your app
    • Build a release AAB with ./gradlew bundleRelease
  5. 5

    Upload to the Play Console

    • Create a new app in the console
    • Complete the store listing — description, screenshots, icon
    • Upload your signed AAB from android/app/build/outputs/bundle/release/
    • Complete the content rating questionnaire
    • Set pricing and distribution
  6. 6

    Submit for review

    Google typically reviews apps within 1–3 days.

For more detail see Google's publishing guide and Capacitor's Android documentation — Floot uses Capacitor to build the native app.

Shipping an update

  1. Make your changes and publish them
  2. Download the updated Android project
  3. Open android/app/build.gradle — the app-level file, not android/build.gradle, which only holds buildscript classpath entries
  4. Update versionName (for example "1.0" → "1.1")
  5. Rebuild, sign, and submit as above

Leave versionCode alone

Floot already stamps versionCode for you. It is a counter that goes up by one with every app build, failed ones included, so it always rises; changing it by hand is thrown away by the next download. With Google Play connected, Floot sets versionName too, from the Version row on the Publish screen, and keeps versionCode above anything already in Play.

Floot does not handle store submissions

You need your own Google Play developer account to publish, and Google handles any review or publishing support.