Adding ProGuard to Your Android Cordova Project

“The ProGuard tool shrinks, optimizes, and obfuscates your code by removing unused code and renaming classes, fields, and methods with semantically obscure names. The result is a smaller sized .apk file that is more difficult to reverse engineer” (from http://developer.android.com/tools/help/proguard.html). You’ll want to use this tool if your app has sensitive security features you want to protect. To my knowledge, it does not obfuscate your HTML.

These steps assume you’ve already built your Android Cordova project and just about finished it, and are ready to build a release version of the app.

Submitting an Android App to Amazon

Are you curious about the process of submitting an app to Amazon? These are the steps I took.

According to Amazon’s developer page at https://developer.amazon.com/public/solutions/devices/fire-tablets, you develop Amazon apps with Android Studio Beta, and your project should build by Gradle. My project was neither of these and it still was accepted. I chose an app already made with Cordova CLI, proofed by Eclipse, signed and zipaligned via CLI, and successfully uploaded to Google Play, and uploaded it to Amazon with just a few graphic asset size changes. Here are the steps I took.

Using Cordova CLI on Mac OS X to build iOS apps – updated 3/2018

This article gets you up to speed on how to integrate your HTML/CSS/JS app with Cordova into an iOS app using a Mac and prepare it for App Store submission. This article assumes you’ve already followed the steps on https://iphonedevlog.wordpress.com/2013/08/16/using-phonegap-3-0-cli-on-mac-osx-10-to-build-ios-and-android-projects/ to:

Download Node.js
Add PATH statements to .profile

In this article, I am referencing Mac OS X Yosemite 10.10.5 and Xcode 6.3.1 on a Mac Mini. Cordova CLI 5.4.1 was installed. I am referencing “cordova” in the command-line interface, not “phonegap.” This project will not use the PhoneGap Build service. Any updates to these programs may affect the following instructions.

Download Apple’s latest OS  and Xcode if you haven’t already:
http://www.apple.com/osx/apps/app-store.html 

Using Cordova CLI on Mac OS X to build Android apps

This article gets you up to speed on how to integrate your HTML/CSS/JS app with Apache Cordova into an Android app using a Mac and prepare it for App Store submission. This article assumes you’ve already followed the steps here to set up your environment: https://iphonedevlog.wordpress.com/2014/10/30/setting-up-your-developmemt-environment-for-cordovaphonegap-android-projects/

I am referencing “cordova” in the command-line interface, not “phonegap.” This project will not use the PhoneGap Build service.

If you are making an app larger than 100MB for Google Play, you’ll need to make an expansion file. This 2014 article tells how to make one, though I don’t know if it works today. Back in 2014, the Amazon App Store allows apps up to 150MB before needing an expansion file.

Using PhoneGap 3.3 CLI on Mac OS X Mavericks to Build iOS Projects

This article gets you up to speed on how to integrate  your HTML/CSS/JS app with PhoneGap/Cordova into an iOS app using a Mac and prepare it for App Store submission. This article assumes you’ve already followed the steps on https://iphonedevlog.wordpress.com/2013/08/16/using-phonegap-3-0-cli-on-mac-osx-10-to-build-ios-and-android-projects/ to:

Download Node.js
Add PATH statements to .profile
Install Cordova CLI
Install Homebrew

In this article, I am referencing Mac OS X Mavericks 10.8.5 and Xcode 5.0.2 on a Mac Mini. PhoneGap CLI 3.3.0 was downloaded. I am referencing “cordova” in the command-line interface, not “phonegap.” This project will not use the PhoneGap Build service.

Cordova PhoneGap 2.7.0 in Windows with Eclipse: Install to Release (updated 6/25/13)

I already have the major software installed on my Windows machine from my last Eclipse build, detailed in https://iphonedevlog.wordpress.com/2012/11/20/building-a-phonegap-android-app-on-windows-cordova-2-2-0-with-eclipse/. If this is your first time with Eclipse and PhoneGap, follow the link above and pay careful attention to the following setup sections:

Install Eclipse Juno IDE
Install Java JDK
Install ADT
Install the Android SDK
Android SDK Manager
Set up your PATH environment variables

The steps following will take up where these left off.

Building a PhoneGap Android App in Windows: Cordova 2.3.0 with Eclipse 4.2.1

I already have the major software installed on my Windows machine from my last Eclipse build, detailed in https://iphonedevlog.wordpress.com/2012/11/20/building-a-phonegap-android-app-on-windows-cordova-2-2-0-with-eclipse/. If this is your first time with Eclipse and PhoneGap, follow the link above and pay careful attention to the following setup sections: 

Cordova 2.0 Android App Creation in Mountain Lion with Eclipse: from Install to Google Play

I kept meticulous notes as I downloaded Eclipse and all the other software I needed to create an Android app for Google Play as though my readers were absolute newbies on the Mac (I’ve been there and I haven’t forgotten) using PhoneGap 2.0.0.

I highly recommend you read this informative FAQ page before you start your app if you are going to submit to the Amazon app store: https://developer.amazon.com/help/faq.html  and this page if you want your app to work on the Kindle Fire devices: http://www.amazonappstoredev.com/2012/09/the-kindle-fire-hd-7-emulator.html

My article below follows these basic steps, but provides much more material to finalize the app: http://docs.phonegap.com/en/2.0.0/guide_getting-started_android_index.md.html#Getting%20Started%20with%20Android

(After I finished the app, I discovered strange error. An Aussie colleague told me to open up the bin/create file in the Downloads folder and do a search for “Darwin.” “Darwin11” should be changed to “Darwin12.” It looks like it would be better off to download PG 2.1.0 instead.)

Uploading your iPhone app with Application Uploader 2.5.1 in Mac OSX Lion

According to the Developer Guide PDF dated 2012-06-13, after the status of our application is “Waiting for Upload,” we are to use Application Loader to upload our binary. However, the Product > Archive and submit process through Organizer still works. This process through Archive is way easier and faster than the App Loader process. But here is the App Loader procedures to follow if you want to take those steps.

Here are the Application Loader instructions online: https://itunesconnect.apple.com/docs/UsingApplicationLoader.pdf

“Waiting for Upload” status

Make sure in your Developer account online that the status of your app is “Waiting for Upload.” This means that you’ve filled in all required fields, including text and images. 

Code Signing Issues – Apple Tech Note

Apple must have written a gazillion tech notes on a variety of issues people have with their products. Here’s one I wished I had known about sooner to help me with my code signing blues. It has a sexy name, too: TN2250.

http://developer.apple.com/library/ios/#technotes/tn2250/_index.html

Check it out next time an error mentions anything about code signing.

“The binary you uploaded was invalid. The signature was invalid, or it was not signed with an Apple submission certificate.”

If you ever get the above message when you upload the binary to iTunes Connect, you may need to double-check the following points. I found the following helpful  list when scanning the Apple support forum.

Apple App Store Application Assets Template

I put this page at the top of the site for quicker access. View it here.