Building & Submitting to the Stores

"Building the mobile binary is the easy part. The stores, the signing, and the review are the parts that take a week the first time."

The Build Commands

tauri ios build and tauri android build produce release artifacts — an .ipa for iOS, an .aab/.apk for Android. For App Store distribution you tell the iOS build how to export, e.g. --export-method app-store-connect. These commands drive the underlying Xcode/Gradle release builds, so the output is a real, store-ready package, not a dev build.

Signing Is Mandatory and Platform-Specific

You cannot ship a mobile app unsigned. iOS requires an Apple Developer account, a signing certificate, and a provisioning profile that matches your bundle identifier. Android requires a keystore you generate and must guard carefully — lose your Android signing key and you can't update your own app on the Play Store. Set up signing in the generated platform projects (or via CI secrets), and treat the keys as critical, backed-up infrastructure.

The Stores Have Gates Beyond Code

Shipping to the App Store needs a paid Apple Developer account and passing App Review (human + automated, takes time, can reject for policy reasons unrelated to your code). Google Play needs a developer account and its own review, generally faster. Budget for accounts, signing setup, store metadata (screenshots, descriptions, privacy disclosures), and review iterations. The honest takeaway: mobile distribution is a process with real calendar time and cost, not a one-command publish — plan for it the way the ship track plans desktop distribution.

Code

Release builds + the signing you can't skip·bash

# Android: produce a release AAB for the Play Store.
npm run tauri android build

# iOS: produce a release build, exported for App Store Connect.
npm run tauri ios build -- --export-method app-store-connect

# You'll also generate/manage signing:
#  - iOS: Apple Developer cert + provisioning profile (matching identifier)
#  - Android: a keystore you create and MUST back up (losing it blocks updates)

Exercise

Write the release checklist for shipping your app to ONE store (pick iOS or Android). List: the account you need, how signing works on that platform, the build command, and three non-code things the store will require (metadata, privacy disclosure, review). You're mapping the real distribution process so the first submission isn't a surprise.

Hint

iOS: Apple Developer account ($99/yr), cert + provisioning profile, tauri ios build --export-method app-store-connect, App Store Connect metadata + privacy nutrition label + App Review. Android: Play Console account, keystore, tauri android build (AAB), Play Console listing + data-safety form + review.