Android App Deployment in Visual Studio 2019 | Generate Xamarin Android APK

Android App Deployment in Visual Studio | Publish Android App | Generate Xamarin Android APK
Specify the Application Icon – Each Xamarin.Android application should have an application icon specified. Although not technically necessary, some markets, such as Google Play, require it.
Version the Application – This step involves initializing or updating the versioning information. This is important for future application updates and to ensure that the users are aware of which version of the application they have installed.
Shrink the APK – The size of the final APK can be substantially reduced by using the Xamarin.Android linker on the managed code and ProGuard on the Java bytecode.
Protect the Application – Prevent users or attackers from debugging, tampering, or reverse engineering the application by disabling debugging, obfuscating the managed code, adding anti-debug and anti-tamper, and using native compilation.
Set Packaging Properties – Packaging properties control the creation of the Android application package (APK). This step optimizes the APK, protects its assets, and modularizes the packaging as needed. Additionally, you can provide your users with an Android App Bundle that's optimized for their devices.
Compile – This step compiles the code and assets to verify that it builds in Release mode.
Archive for Publishing – This step builds the app and places it in an archive for signing and publishing.
Ad-Hoc – Saves a signed APK to disk that can be sideloaded to Android devices. Continue to Signing the App Package to learn how to create an Android signing identity, create a new signing certificate for Android applications, and publish an ad hoc version of the app to disk. This is a good way to create an APK for testing.
Google Play – Publishes a signed APK to Google Play. Continue to Publishing to Google Play to learn how to sign and publish an APK in the Google Play store.