Android App Bundle support

[shanlin2dltk]

What is the plan to support Android App Bundle .aab in a cordova build?

[shanlin2dltk]

added one reference article to show android is moving to this direction:
https://medium.com/googleplaydev/what-a-new-publishing-format-means-for-the-future-of-android-2e34981793a

[dpogue]

I've been investigating this (along with some other gradle updates for stuff like Kotlin and Google Services). It's clear that we should support this going forward, but I don't think it will actually provide any benefits to Cordova apps in terms of APK size.

Unfortunately, it doesn't look like I'm going to have any time to work on Cordova stuff for the next month or two, so unless someone else picks it up it won't be until sometime later in the year.

[shanlin2dltk]

Thanks @dpogue for giving a timeline.

[mesqueeb]

So Cordova currently only supports APK right?

[dpogue]

So Cordova currently only supports APK right?

At this time, that is correct.

[fortunella]

Any updates on this?
Currently, the Google Play Console shows a warning each time you upload an APK.

[janpio]

(A good solution would probably be to open a Feature Request issue, so this can be tracked and doesn't get lost in a closed issue @fortunella)

[pabloleone]

Google is not allowing me to roll-out an APK and it's suggesting me to use the Bundle build, but as far as I understand we can't use that build format yet which makes impossible to publish new apps using cordova-android if I'm right.

I think this should be a top-urgent feature to cover to keep using cordova.

[janpio]

You better create a new issue for this, so it doesn't get buried here.

Please also include specific information about your app, like the APK size etc.

[breautek]

@pabloleone You should be still able to publish apps that contains warnings. In my experience, Google only ever prevents publishing if the contains "errors". But I do agree, this is an important enhancement and something I can definitely can foresee Google enforcing in the future.

[malvarez-troop]

Hi, @pabloleone
We have generated the bundle with Android Studio.

The steps are:

1. Launch Android Studio
2. Go To Import Project (Eclipse ADT, Gradle, etc).
3. Select Android platform directory in your project (/platforms/android).
4. Wait for finish the Sync
5. Go to Build > Generate Sign Bundle
6. Complete sign data
7. Upload de .aab file generated (in path /platforms/android/outputs/

Note: if you have problems with minSDK version, fix this and make a resync

[zarabz]

Worked for me! thank you so much
In case anyone else have problems with updating their Android Studio and Gradle versions, remove minSdkVersion from config.xml and add these to your manifest (your version may vary)
android{
...
defaultConfig {
minSdkVersion 19
targetSdkVersion 27
}
}

[theunreal]

Hi, @pabloleone
We have generated the bundle with Android Studio.

The steps are:

1. Launch Android Studio
2. Go To Import Project (Eclipse ADT, Gradle, etc).
3. Select Android platform directory in your project (/platforms/android).
4. Wait for finish the Sync
5. Go to Build > Generate Sign Bundle
6. Complete sign data
7. Upload de .aab file generated (in path /platforms/android/outputs/

Note: if you have problems with minSDK version, fix this and make a resync

Android studio is not asking you to upgrade the gradle plugin version every time you build the app?