[EPIC - ANDROID] Automate Android via Fastlane

[JorenC]

PRD: Automating Android/iOS Release Pipeline via Fastlane

Overview

This document outlines the requirements to automate the end-to-end release process for our React Native application on both Android and iOS platforms using Fastlane. The goal is to eliminate manual intervention from build to store release.

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1. Android: Full Automation (Build & Upload)

Current State

• Manual AAB generation (npm run build:release:android).
• Automated upload.
• Play Store is set to "disable managed releases" (automatic release after review).

Requirements

• Pipeline Integration: Integrate the full Android build process into our existing CI/CD workflow.
• Credential Management: Retrieve necessary signing keys, keystores, and Google Service Account JSON files from Joren. Secure these within the CI/CD environment variables/secrets.
• Track Transition:
  • Update the Fastlane configuration to target the production track instead of the beta track.
  • This change should be implemented to take effect in two weeks for the next production release.

Action Plan

1. Update fastlane/Fastfile supply action to point to track: 'production'.
2. Ensure CI/CD environment has access to the production keystore and service account credentials.

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2. iOS: Enabling Automatic Release

Current State

• Fastlane successfully uploads builds to App Store Connect.
• Review process occurs, but release after approval requires manual action in App Store Connect.

Requirements

• Configure Fastlane to trigger an automatic release once the app has passed Apple's review.

Solution: How to set iOS release to 'automatic'

To enable automatic release after app approval, we need to modify the upload_to_app_store (or deliver) step in your Fastfile.

Configuration Steps

1. Update Fastfile: Add the automatic_release parameter to your upload_to_app_store action.

   upload_to_app_store(
     submit_for_review: true,
     automatic_release: true
   )

Explanation:

When submit_for_review is set to true, the build is pushed to the App Store for Apple's review.

When automatic_release is set to true, Fastlane tells App Store Connect to change the release type to "Automatically release this version after App Review" rather than "Manually release this version".

Note: Ensure the App Store Connect user has the necessary permissions to change release settings.

[johnpooch]

I think this is a good idea.

Have you looked into automatically generating screenshots and uploading them via Fastlane? It's something that you can do to make sure that the screenshots that appear in the app store and play store are up to date. It might be out of scope for this, but worth considering.

A small technical note: the app is not a React Native app. It's a standard React app which uses Capacitor JS to work on Android and iOS.

[JorenC]

I think I need access to GitHub secrets if I want to set this up?

[JorenC]

done.