APK builds are in the web app at app.newly.app.
Before you build
A build always comes from a saved source: the code as it stood at a turn where you ran an Android preview. If nothing is saved yet, the card says “Run an Android preview to save a source turn before building its APK.” Open the Android simulator once, and the source is saved. The card names the saved source by its commit, so you can tell which changes are in it. To include newer work, make the changes in the chat and run the Android preview again.Build one
1
Ask for it in the chat
Ask the agent for an Android APK. The Production Android APK card opens in the chat.
2
Press Build production APK
The card shows Queued, then Building, with the step it’s on (“Installing dependencies”, “Compiling release APK”, “Publishing APK”) and how long it has been going. A build takes around 12 minutes. Once a project has finished builds, the estimate comes from its own times instead.
3
Get told when it's done, if you want
Press Notify me when the build finishes for a browser notification. If your browser blocks notifications, the card says so, and you can allow them in your browser’s site settings.
4
Download it
When the card turns Ready, press Download APK, which also shows the file size. The line under it gives the build time and the source it was built from.
Install it on a phone
Copy the APK to an Android phone and open it. Android asks you to allow installing apps from this source the first time. This is an ordinary release build, so it stays installed and runs without Newly open.How the APK is signed
Each project has its own signing key. Newly creates it the first time you build an APK or publish to Google Play, and signs every production APK for the project with it. What Newly uploads to Google Play is signed with the same key.- A service asks for your app’s SHA-1 (Google Maps, Google Sign-In, Firebase): ask the agent for the fingerprint your APK is signed with.
- APKs built before October 2026 were signed with a shared development key, and an APK you already built keeps the signature it has. Build the Android preview again to get a newly signed APK. Android won’t install it over the old one, so uninstall the old app first. If you restricted an API key to the old fingerprint, add the new one.
- The Google Play version is signed by Google with a different key, and Play Console’s App signing page shows its fingerprint. To move a phone from an APK to the Play version, uninstall the APK first.
Every build for the project
The chat card shows only the newest build for that chat. Deploy then Builds has an Android card with every production APK built for the project, across all of its chats. Each build is a row with its version, size and when it was built, and the newest is tagged Latest. Download any of them from there. The iOS card beside it holds the project’s TestFlight builds, so every version of your app is in one place. Builds start from a chat, not from that list.When the source moves on
If you keep working after a build, the card notices: it says newer source is saved and offers Build with latest source. The APK you already have keeps working, it just doesn’t have the newer changes in it.If a build fails
The card turns Failed and shows what went wrong, with Retry build under it.- Press Show build log to read the end of the build output.
- Ask the chat to fix it. The agent can read the build’s log and change the code.
- A build can also fail for a temporary reason on our side. Retrying the same source is worth one attempt before anything else.
Who can build and download
You need to be signed in, and the project has to be open.- Can view access can download an APK, but not start a build: “An editor must request this build.”
- Can edit and Admin can do both.
Related
From TestFlight to the App Store
What Newly publishes for you, and what it doesn’t.
Testing on a real phone
iPhone through TestFlight, Android through an APK.