Visual Studio for Mac creates 2 .apk archives, one with -signed.apk

user_315386 0
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When I create a release archive of a Xamarin Android app in the latest release of Visual Studio for Mac (8.1.3 build 19), I end up with two .apk's, with filenames like:

  • com.whatevs.android.apk
  • com.whatevs.android-signed.apk

Why does it do this? What can I change in my project setup to prevent it? If it can't be prevented, then which one is the appropriate file to upload to Google Play?

This actually used to be a problem a year ago or so, but went away, and now it's back...

visual-studio-mac xamarin xamarin.android
2 Answers

The major differences are the debug flag and the signing keys, I guess. You can read more about signing here and manually signing here.

user_70160220

This happen when you build the app and create an archive for publishing with a physical device selected in Visual Studio for Mac as target device. Select an emulator, Build all and Archive for publishing.

user_92987730
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