shipping-and-launch

Shipping and Launch

Overview

"Ship with confidence. Deploy safely, with monitoring, rollback plan ready." Shipping isn't just uploading an AAB — it's verifying that everything is production-ready, staging the rollout, monitoring for issues, and having a rollback plan if things go wrong.

When to Use

• Before any release to Play Store (internal, alpha, beta, production)
• Before any release via Firebase App Distribution
• When promoting from one release track to another
• After a hotfix that needs expedited release

Skip when: Not releasing (local development only).

Core Process

Step 1: Pre-Launch Checklist

1. Code Quality:

# All tests pass
./gradlew test
./gradlew connectedAndroidTest

# Build succeeds
./gradlew bundleRelease

# No lint errors
./gradlew lint

# Formatting is consistent
./gradlew spotlessCheck

# Static analysis passes
./gradlew detekt

1. Manual code checks:

   • No TODO or FIXME without issue references
   • No Log.d() or Log.v() calls in production code (use ProGuard to strip)
   • No hardcoded strings in UI (use stringResource)
   • No BuildConfig.DEBUG-gated features shipping to production
   • Feature flags for incomplete features are OFF

2. Security (see security-and-hardening):

   • No secrets in source code
   • Network Security Config enforces HTTPS
   • Certificate pinning configured
   • ProGuard/R8 enabled for release build
   • android:debuggable not set in release manifest
   • Dependency vulnerability scan clean

3. Performance (see performance-optimization):

   • Android Vitals targets met (startup < 500ms, jank < 5%)
   • APK/AAB size within budget
   • Baseline Profiles included
   • No ANR-prone patterns (main thread blocking)
   • Images optimized (WebP, proper sizing)

4. Accessibility (see android-accessibility):

   • TalkBack tested on all screens
   • Accessibility Scanner reports zero critical issues
   • Touch targets >= 48dp
   • Color contrast meets standards
   • Content descriptions on all meaningful elements