CODEWITHSUNDEEP
androidgoogle-playapkcode-signing
C-Viorel
C-Viorel

Reputation: 1866

How to update an android app If you lose keystore file?

I am new to the Android ecosystem. To give you a more context about my problem, here are some facts.

Now, the problem is related to APK signing. From what I understand I should use something named Keystore file to sign the app in order to be able to update the current app.

The problem here, is that I can't obtain this file, because the previous developer doesn't have it anymore.

enter image description here

My question is, what can I do in this case. Releasing as a new app is not an option.

Verry important, the last developer doesn't have the option to let google to manage the signing keys.

Thank you for your help!

I founded a related question, but the answers are old, so maybe, since then google may come up with a backup plan to recover this.

android - how to recover Keystore file

Upvotes: 0

Views: 6001

Answers (2)

Seerat Abbas Khan
Seerat Abbas Khan

Reputation: 196

Following are the steps to generate new keystores with the help of Google Play Console.

Step 1. First of all Goto this Link [https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/contact/otherbugs] in which they are asking about

  • First Name
  • Last Name
  • Email Address
  • Developer Name
  • Developer Account ID
  • Location
  • App Name
  • App Package name

and select your issues in the context of mine i select(I have a key or keystore related issue-->I have an upload key-related issue-->I lost my upload key).

After Submitting our request they Send us Email in which they are telling that we have to do two steps-

In first step we open our command window in a specific folder and copy this below command and hit enter

keytool -genkeypair -alias upload -keyalg RSA -keysize 2048 -validity 9125 -keystore keystore.jks

after hitting enter we have to put key and password. it will generate .jks file

In Second step copy second query and paste it into command window and hit enter now it will generate a .pem

keytool -export -rfc -alias upload -file upload_certificate.pem -keystore keystore.jks

Step 3.

Now in the reply of email that Google Help Center send us attach .pem file

Step 4.

Now they register our new generated key but it will give some days to be valid.

Step 5.

Now Create signed apk with that key and upload to play store.

Upvotes: 3

Alexander Hoffmann
Alexander Hoffmann

Reputation: 6014

You can't.

You'll need to release a new app with a new play store entry.

When you sign your APKs yourself, as soon as you upload any signed APK to the Google Play Store, all further uploads will require the same signing key.

This is also true if you upload an APK to the internal, alpha or beta test channels even without publishing the tests. Just the upload of the first APK will lock you in.

Upvotes: 2

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