How to Automate Google Play Releases Without Losing Your Mind

Intro Let’s be honest. Publishing an Android app to Google Play manually is already annoying… but automating it? That’s where things usually get messy. If you’ve ever tried, you probably ended up with: a random JSON key sitting in your repo 😬 a CI pipeline you don’t fully trust or a setup you’re afraid to touch because “it works… somehow” I’ve been there. So this post is the version I wish I had earlier: a clean, secure way to automate Google Play releases without hacks, without leaking secrets, and without overcomplicating everything. The Key Idea Instead of storing a Google service account key in your repo (please don’t), we use: Workload Identity Federation (WIF) Service account impersonation In plain English: Your CI logs into Google using short-lived tokens — no permanent secrets needed. What You’ll Get By the end of this: Your app builds automatically Your AAB gets uploaded to Google Play No credentials stored in your repo A setup you won’t be scared to touch later Quick Setup (