I think we need a separate guide on building release versions of apps. "Using offline bundle" is only documented inside "Running On Device (iOS)" right now.

Yes, that'd be great. I could only find a short block of information about this topic on the Debugging page in the documentation (disabling developer mode for the app. And it doesn't include any information about the bundle command)

+1 on the documentation. Also see #2712

This works for me:

1. cd to the project directory
2. Start the react-native packager if not started
3. Download the bundle to the asset folder:
   curl "http://localhost:8081/index.android.bundle?platform=android" -o "android/app/src/main/assets/index.android.bundle"

Messed around with this for a while...seems like the only way (as of my writing this) to create a bundle for Android is to use the method that @krizpoon outlined above.

I tried:

react-native bundle --url src/index.android.js --out android/app/src/main/assets/index.android.bundle --root src

However it seems like the packager is excluding *.android.* files and throws the following error, despite /Users/hswolff/Sites/chartbeat/mobile_app/src/index.android.js existing:

➜  ~/Sites/chartbeat/mobile_app git:(phoenix) ✗ react-native bundle --url src/index.android.js --out android/app/src/main/assets/index.android.bundle --root src
Building package...

/Users/hswolff/Sites/chartbeat/mobile_app/node_modules/react-native/node_modules/promise/lib/done.js:10
      throw err;
      ^
NotFoundError: Cannot find entry file src/index.android.js in any of the roots: ["/Users/hswolff/Sites/chartbeat/mobile_app","/Users/hswolff/Sites/chartbeat/mobile_app/src"]
    at DependencyGraph._getAbsolutePath (/Users/hswolff/Sites/chartbeat/mobile_app/node_modules/react-native/packager/react-packager/src/DependencyResolver/DependencyGraph/index.js:186:11)
    at /Users/hswolff/Sites/chartbeat/mobile_app/node_modules/react-native/packager/react-packager/src/DependencyResolver/DependencyGraph/index.js:141:28
    at tryCallOne (/Users/hswolff/Sites/chartbeat/mobile_app/node_modules/react-native/node_modules/promise/lib/core.js:37:12)
    at /Users/hswolff/Sites/chartbeat/mobile_app/node_modules/react-native/node_modules/promise/lib/core.js:103:15
    at flush (/Users/hswolff/Sites/chartbeat/mobile_app/node_modules/react-native/node_modules/promise/node_modules/asap/raw.js:50:29)
    at doNTCallback0 (node.js:407:9)
    at process._tickCallback (node.js:336:13)

Even trying to do something clever like this:

react-native bundle --root src --url index.android.bundle?platform\=android\&dev=

Also throws the same error.

I imagine this will be looked at once the packager is in its own repo. For now I'm using the above outlined method.

@hswolff This is due to the hardcoded blacklist param that results in the index.android.js getting ignored. Looks like this has been fixed on 0.12-stable.

can someone document the complete steps, from bundling all the way to installing the release version apk to device?

I put together my steps here. Hopefully it will save people some time.

https://gist.github.com/marty-wang/5a71e9d0a6a2c6d6263c

+1

I have a pull request open here - #3061

@marty-wang +1 for gist

@kkganesan It's already on the documentation page - http://facebook.github.io/react-native/docs/signed-apk-android.html#content

Closing this issue, looks like it's been solved by @satya164's PR

Hi all, whenever I run the $ cd android && ./gradlew assembleRelease step in the page linked by @satya164 I get the error: org.gradle.api.GradleException: Could not list contents of '/Users/me/React/myapp/node_modules/.bin/defs'.

Has anyone else experienced this? I can't seem to get around it. I've posted on SO with no luck so far: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/33785803/error-generating-signed-apk

cc @mikearmstrong001 ^

Just as an update, the only way so far that I can create a signed APK is by running the curl "http://localhost:8081/index.android.bundle?platform=android" -dev=false -o "android/app/src/main/assets/index.android.bundle" command and then using Android Studio to create the actual APK. Whenever I try to create the APK fully via Terminal I get the error outlined here: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/33785803/error-generating-signed-apk

@scgough I have same question. Have you solved it?

Hi there @shawnXiao - I can run the following to compile the package now (from the project folder in terminal):

react-native bundle --platform android --dev false --entry-file index.android.js --bundle-output android/app/src/main/assets/index.android.bundle --assets-dest android/app/src/main/res/

You don't need to run any commands. The gradle script automatically bundles the script for you.

I have tried all the guides and still can't generate a working apk, it always keeps crushing, seems like the bundle not deliveres to the apk

Same here ?
cd android && ./gradlew assembleRelease
cd android && ./gradlew installRelease
I can run apk-appdebug on my device but not the app-release. And I dont know what is happening since I cant get to the first screen of the app.

Same here, It works for the app debug on my device, but when I build a release, install on device and open it throws a "App stopped working".

This started to happen from react-native 0.24 (It was working with 0.22)

Should I create a new issue?, because this one is closed

Same here, Gradle is not outputting the JS bundle file

@philohelp There's no "./gradlew installRelease" task... (RN 0.26)

@pjnovas same issue here, after upgrading to 0.22.2 from 18 - not sure if that's the same as your 0.22. Thought I'd add it here in case you did open another issue, as I'm at a loss of what to do.

I'm using version 0.28.0-rc.0 and this is my working flow of releasing signed Android APK:

1. Bump version in android/app/build.gradle.
2. As @scgough said: react-native bundle --platform android --dev false --entry-file index.android.js --bundle-output android/app/src/main/assets/index.android.bundle --assets-dest android/app/src/main/res/
3. In Android Studio: Build -> Generate Signed APK

@neciu do you use the build.gradle supplied by react-native or your own?

@fab1an the one given to me by react-native init.

but shouldn't that one build the bundle by itself without you manually having to do it?

I have encountered a similar problem as @scgough described. In my case, it is Could not list contents of '/Users/me/React/myapp/node_modules/.bin/window-size'. The windows-size is a symbolic link point to '../window-size/cli.js', and this file disappeared, so I reinstalled the window-size package and the problem solved.

@levinqdl o wow! I gonna test that this evening!

Hi all - sorry I've not been active on this. Been on other projects. To summarise though, I can only create an Android APK using the method @neciu described. Not the end of the world but slightly more painful than iOS. It just feels a bit of a 'hacky' process.

In my case

./gradlew assembleRelease

...

FAILURE: Build failed with an exception.

* What went wrong:
Could not list contents of '/Users/devpc/myproject/node_modules/.bin/window-size'.

* Try:
Run with --stacktrace option to get the stack trace. Run with --info or --debug option to get more log output.

I simply had to remove that empty file rm ~/myproject/node_modules/.bin/window-sizeand now it works!

@marty-wang : Your guide was awesome. Really helped a lot.
I wish there was a step by step like that for apple from unassigned app to deploying online.

A solution which worked for me was deleting node_modules, run 'npm install' on the project folder
than cd android
en run ./gradlew assembleRelease

I tried the following:

Generate APK (UNSIGNED) (Android)

1. Create the folder assets in android/app/src/main folder.
2. Run curl "http://localhost:8081/index.android.bundle?platform=android" -o "android/app/src/main/assets/index.android.bundle"
3. Run react-native bundle --platform android --dev false --entry-file index.android.js --bundle-output android/app/src/main/assets/index.android.bundle --assets-dest android/app/src/main/res/
4. Run cd android && ./gradlew assembleRelease

BUILD SUCCESSFUL

But no .apk file created. I'm trying to generate an unsigned app, to install it on my own mobile. What did I miss?

@Vadorequest the APK you seek should reside in app/build/outputs/apk

@fab1an Thanks, I must have missed that in the doc. I tried to adb install the app-release-unsigned.apk but I couldn't (permission denied). So I tried the debug.apk, but I got a bundle error at startup, which I fixed by running the react-native start and react-native run-android commands, but it requires a wired connection between the phone and the computer. I wanted to have a standalone apk on the phone.

Finally, I just tried with the app-debug-unaligned.apk and it works on the phone without wired connection.
Thanks for the help!

@Vadorequest You did not miss it, it's simply not in the docs.

You can install the signed apk using adb pm install myapk.apk

@neciu do we have to run react-native bundle --platform android --dev false --entry-file index.android.js --bundle-output android/app/src/main/assets/index.android.bundle --assets-dest android/app/src/main/res everytime we wish to build apk?

(in project directory run following commands)

1. mkdir android/app/src/main/assets
2. react-native bundle --platform android --dev false --entry-file index.android.js --bundle-output android/app/src/main/assets/index.android.bundle --assets-dest android/app/src/main/res
3. react-native run-android

I am creating release apk in react native using below commands. It works for me.

react-native bundle --platform android --dev false --entry-file index.android.js --bundle-output android/app/src/main/assets/index.android.bundle --assets-dest android/app/src/main/res/

Mac
watchman watch-del-all && rm -rf node_modules/ && npm cache clean && npm install && npm start -- --reset-cache

Windows
Permanent delete node_modules
npm cache clean –force
npm install
npm start -- --reset-cache

Open SDK -> Click on rebuild -> Fixed gradle build issue -> click on rebuild again -> generate signed apk.

I was able to build for offline use without having to sign using @krishan-kumar-mourya instructions! The only problem is now I don't have my assets that were loaded as so require('./assets/portal_ship/portal_ship_specular.png') from one of my js files.

Update
Found the Solution to ^ following step 5 of the answer here https://stackoverflow.com/questions/34175416/how-to-use-offline-bundle-on-android-for-react-native-project/