How long does it take to build and publish an Android app?
Two clocks run on an Android project, and people usually only hear about the first. The build is in the developer's hands and can be estimated. Publishing is in Google's hands and can only be planned around. Here is both.
Clock one: the build
A focused Android app in Kotlin and Jetpack Compose takes 6-10 weeks weeks at DevLune, and rarely more than a month of actual engineering once the design and the backend are settled. What moves it: the number of screens, whether payments or realtime features are in, how much of the design exists on day one, and whether a backend has to be built or already exists.
Clock two: publishing to Google Play
- A brand-new personal Play developer account must run a closed test with at least 12 testers for 14 continuous days before it can publish to production, and if the test is not approved, the 14 days start again
- An organisation account (a registered company with a D-U-N-S number) is exempt from that requirement
- Publishing under an established organisation account, such as DevLune's, avoids the personal-account delay entirely; the app can be transferred to your own account later
- Review itself takes anywhere from hours to a week or more, and nobody honest guarantees a date for it
- Google raises the required target SDK every year and enforces it around the end of August: an app configured correctly in spring can be refused upload in autumn with no code change, so the requirement is checked at the start and again before every upload
What only you can supply, and when
A few things are permanent from the first upload, so they are settled before the first build, not the last.
- The app's package name, which is fixed forever once uploaded; it is usually derived from your brand, so the logo and name come first
- Which Play account will publish: personal, your organisation, or DevLune's
- Where the data lives (the backend region), also permanent
- Test accounts a reviewer can use, since a reviewer cannot receive your OTP
A realistic end-to-end plan
- Build: 6-10 weeks weeks
- Organisation account or DevLune's account: add review time, typically days
- Personal account: add the 14-day closed test on top of review, and plan for it to run once more if the first attempt is rejected
- Cost of your own account: ₹2,350 one-time to Google, listed at cost in the quote; nothing if you publish under DevLune's
Short answers
The questions this guide gets asked most.
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