Prepare and Submit Your Android Branded Mobile App

Ready to create and set up your own branded app on Android? This article will walk you through the necessary steps to help you submit your branded mobile app to the Apple App Store.

About This Feature

Branded Mobile fits into your audience’s existing routines, making it easier for them to learn and engage with your content — all on their own schedule. This means higher course completion rates, improved student satisfaction, and more revenue opportunities for your business.

The Thinkific team will work with you to build your own branded app and ensure that it is approved by Apple and Google. However, there are certain steps that need to be completed by you. These steps are outlined below.

Important Considerations

We strongly recommend creating your Google Play Console account as soon as possible. Creating a developer account in advance can help shorten the time it takes to submit the app.
Unlike the Apple App Store, the app automatically becomes available when it is reviewed and approved by Google. Learn more: Branded Mobile: What is the Difference between App Submission and App Launch?
For the Apple App Store instructions, see: Prepare and Submit Your iOS Branded Mobile App.

Step 1: Prepare and Grant Access to Your Android Branded Mobile App

First things first, you'll need a Google Play Console account! This is where the Thinkific team will build your Android mobile app and where you'll manage it.

Create a Google Play Console Account

You will need to register for a Google Play Developer account as an Organization.

There is a one-time fee associated with a Google Play Console account. A paid account is required in order to distribute your app on the Google Play Store.

Create Your App

To get started we'll create your app in Google Play Console.

In Play Console, select the All Apps page from the left sidebar
Click Create app
On the next screen, complete the following details:
1. Under App Name, enter your app name as you want it to appear in the app store
2. Under Default language, select your app’s default language
3. Under App or game, select App
4. Under Free or paid, select Free
5. Under Declarations, check each box
Click Create app

Grant Thinkific Access to Your Account

To help build and submit your app to the Google Play store, Thinkific will need Developer access to your developer account. To add Thinkific:

In your Play Console, select Users & Permissions on the left-hand side
Select Invite New Users
Enter the following information:
1. Email: svc-mobileapp-mgt@thinkific.com
2. Access Expiry Date: leave unchecked
Under Permissions, select the Account Permissions tab
1. Check the Admin (all permissions) box
2. Click on Invite User
3. Click the App Permissions tab
4. Click Add App
5. Select the app you created earlier and click Apply
6. Ensure the following options are selected:
  1. App Access: View App information (read-only)
  2. App Access: Edit and delete draft apps
  3. Releases: Release to productions, exclude devices, and use Play App Signing
  4. Release apps to testing tracks
7. Click Apply
8. Click Invite User
9. Confirm your selection by clicking Send Invite

The invite will be automatically sent to the Thinkific team. See this article for detailed information: Add developer account users and manage permissions.

Step 2: Set up your Google Cloud environment

Set up Google Cloud for Your Organization

In Google Cloud, click the menu icon on the top left corner
Scroll to the bottom of the side bar menu and select Google Cloud setup
Click Begin the setup
Follow the prompts to complete 'Task 1: Organisation'

Add an "Organization Policy Administrator" Role to Your Organization

Note: If your organization was created on or after May 3, 2024, you will need to complete this step and 'Allow service account key creation' below. If your organization was created before May 3rd, you can disregard them.

In Google Cloud, click the drop down menu on the right side of the Google Cloud logo
Select your organization's name (it will show a building icon next to it, not 3 hexagons)
Click the Menu icon (3 lines), then IAM & Admin, then IAM
Click Grant Access
Under Add Principals, click the New principals input field and type in your Google account holder email address (the one you're already signed in with)
Under Assign Roles, click the Select a role drop down menu and type in "Organization Policy Administrator"
Click Save

Create a Google Cloud Project

We use a Google Cloud Project to store information related to your app.

In Google Cloud, click the drop down menu beside the Google Cloud logo in the top left corner
Click New Project
Enter "Thinkific Branded Mobile" as your project name
Click Edit (next to Project ID)
Rename the project to the name of your app
Under Location, click Browse
Select the organization you created earlier
Click Create

Allow Service Account Key Creation

Click the dropdown menu on the right side of the Google Cloud logo
Select your project name (this should be "Thinkific Branded Mobile" or the name you gave your project in the initial Create a Google Cloud Project step)
Click the Menu icon (3 lines), then IAM & Admin, then Organization policies
In the Filter search bar, type or paste in "Disable service account key creation"
Click Disable service account key creation
Click Manage Policy
Under Policy source, select Override parent's policy
Click Add a rule
Under Enforcement, select Off
Click Set policy

Note: For all following steps in Google Cloud, be sure that your "Thinkific Branded Mobile" project is selected in the top left corner beside the Google Cloud logo.

Step 3: Create Your Service Account and Retrieve Your JSON Key

Create Your Service Account

A Service Account allows the Thinkific team to update your app remotely and in a timely manner.

In Google Cloud, ensure the newly created project appears on the top left corner
Select IAM & Admin on the left-hand side
On the left-hand side, select Service Accounts
In the top row, click on +CREATE SERVICE ACCOUNT
Under the Service account details section, fill out the following details:
1. Service Account Name: Thinkific Mobile App
2. Service Account ID: thinkific-mobile-app
3. Service Account Description: Allows for managing new release versions of the mobile app
Click on Create and Continue
Click Grant this service account access to project
In the Select a role section, choose Service Accounts > Service Account User
Click on +Add another role and select Pub/Sub Admin role
Click on +Add another role and select Monitoring Viewer role

Note that searching by name in the filter does not always bring up both roles. You can find each role by scrolling through the list in the Pub/Sub and Monitoring folders respectively.
Click on Create and Continue
Click Done

Add Your Service Account to Your Play Console

In Google Cloud on the Service Accounts page, locate the account you just created.
Hover your mouse over the email address and click the copy icon once it appears to copy the email to your clipboard
Next, go to your Play Console account
On the left sidebar, click Users and permissions
Click the Invite new users button
In the Email address field, paste in the email you copied from Google Cloud
On the App permissions tab, click Add app, then select your app
On the next page titled ‘Permissions for [your app name]’, click the checkbox for the following permissions:
1. View app information and download bulk reports (read-only)
2. Edit and delete draft apps
3. View financial data, orders, and cancellation survey response
4. Manage orders and subscriptions
5. Release to production, exclude devices, and use Play App Signing
6. Release apps to testing tracks
Click Apply
Click Invite user
Click Send invite

Create Your JSON Private Key

Once you create a Service Account, you need to create a private key and provide this key to the Thinkific team:

Still in the IAM & Admin page > Service Accounts section , find the service account you created following the steps above
Under the Actions column, click on three vertical dots, and select Manage Keys
Select Add Key > Create New Key
Select JSON key type
Click Create
The key will be automatically downloaded to your computer
In your Thinkific site, navigate to Mobile App > Your Branded App
Select the Connect tab
Under Google Play Store, upload the file in the Private Key field
Click Save

Make sure you save the key in a secure place, as it cannot be recovered if lost.

Enable the Google Play Developer API

We require the Developer API to send updates to your Android app.

Go to the Google Play Developer API page in Google Cloud Console
Confirm that your Thinkific Branded Mobile project name is displayed on the top-left corner beside the Google Cloud logo
Click Enable

Enable the IAM API

Go to this IAM API page
Confirm that your Thinkific Branded Mobile project name is displayed on the top-left corner beside the Google Cloud logo
Click Next
Click Enable

Enable the Pub/Sub API

If you will be enabling In-App Purchases, please complete these steps:

Open this Pub/Sub API page
Select your Thinkific Branded Mobile project
Click Next to confirm your project
Click Enable to enable Cloud Pub/Sub API

Step 4: Set Up In-App Purchases in the Google Play Store

If your website offers paid digital content to the general public, you will be required to include In-App Purchases. If all of your courses are free, are sold primarily to businesses (B2B), or are bundled with physical goods or services, you may be exempt from this requirement - please let Thinkific know as soon as possible if you think you may be exempt from requiring In-App Purchases.

Create a Payments Profile in Google Play

In your Play Console, open the Settings menu on the left-hand side
Select Payments profile
Create your payments profile. For more information, see: Create a payments profile

Reduce Your App Store Fees

This optional step allows you to reduce your app store fees from 30% to 15%. The Google Play Store offers reduced rates to qualified businesses. To enrol in this program, follow the instructions outlined here: Enrol in the Google Play Store 15% service fee tier.

Step 5: Launch Your App

App Approval and Launch

Once your app is reviewed and approved by Google, it will be automatically available in the Google Play Store for your audience to access and download. If you prefer to wait and publish your app at a specific date, simply communicate this with the Thinkific team.