How I Fixed Google Play Console APK Signature and ADI Registration in Expo React Native

Prerequisites

Before you begin, make sure you have the following:

• macOS or Linux — this guide covers Linux-specific commands where needed
• Node.js installed — verify with node -v
• EAS CLI installed — npm install -g eas-cli
• IDE installed - this guide covers uses VS Code
• An existing Expo project already set up with EAS credentials
• Access to your company's Google Play Console

Step 1 — Download Your EAS Credentials

Open your main Expo project in VS Code. In the terminal, run:

eas credentials

Navigate through the prompts:

1. Select Android
2. Select production
3. Select credentials.json
4. Choose Download credentials from EAS to credentials.json

Once done, two things will appear at the root of your main Expo project:

YourMainExpoApp/
├── credentials.json
└── credentials/
    └── android/
        └── keystore.jks

Step 2 — Create ProofApp and Copy the Credentials

Open a terminal and navigate to the parent folder that contains your main Expo project, then run:

npx create-expo-app@latest ProofApp

This creates ProofApp as a sibling to your main project:

parent-folder/
├── YourMainExpoApp/
│   ├── credentials.json
│   └── credentials/
│       └── android/
│           └── keystore.jks
└── ProofApp/          ← created here, sibling to main app

Now copy the credentials.json file and the entire credentials/ folder from YourMainExpoApp into the root of ProofApp:

parent-folder/
├── YourMainExpoApp/
│   ├── credentials.json
│   └── credentials/
│       └── android/
│           └── keystore.jks
├── ProofApp/
│   ├── credentials.json
│   └── credentials/
│       └── android/
│           └── keystore.jks

Open ProofApp in VS Code and keep credentials.json open — you will be referencing it in the next step.

Step 3 — Register the Existing Keystore in ProofApp

Open the VS Code terminal inside ProofApp and run:

eas credentials

Navigate through the prompts exactly as follows:

1. Select Android
2. Select production
3. Select Keystore: Manage everything needed
4. Select Set up a new keystore
5. Press Tab to confirm the name for the new build credentials
6. When asked to set as default credentials, select Yes
7. When asked to generate a new keystore, press N — you are using your existing one

For all remaining questions, use the values from the credentials.json file you have open:

Your credentials.json file structure will look something like this — use the values under android.keystore:

{
  "android": {
    "keystore": {
      "keystorePath": "credentials/android/keystore.jks",
      "keystorePassword": "your-keystore-password",
      "keyAlias": "your-key-alias",
      "keyPassword": "your-key-password"
    }
  }
}

Step 4 — Generate the Native Android Folder

In the VS Code terminal inside ProofApp, run:

npx expo prebuild

This generates the native android/ and ios/ folders at the root of ProofApp(we're interested in the android folder):

ProofApp/
├── android/
│   └── app/
│       └── ...
├── ios/
├── credentials.json
└── credentials/
└── android/
└── keystore.jks

Note: If you ever run npx expo prebuild --clean in the future, it will wipe the android/ folder. Keep a backup of any files you add to it.

Step 5 — Add the ADI Registration File

Google requires an adi-registration.properties file to be present in two locations of the android/ folder.

Navigate to android/app/ and create the file there. Then navigate to android/app/src/main/assets/ — if there is no assets/ folder, create it. Then create the same file inside it:

• android/app/adi-registration.properties
• android/app/src/main/assets/adi-registration.properties

Your structure should now look like this:

ProofApp/
└── android/
    └── app/
        ├── adi-registration.properties
        └── src/
            └── main/
                └── assets/
                    └── adi-registration.properties

Paste the snippet provided by Google into both files.

Step 6 — Configure the Signing Config in build.gradle

Open android/app/build.gradle and locate the android { } block. Paste the following inside it, replacing the placeholder values with the ones from your credentials.json:

android {
    ...

    signingConfigs {
        release {
            storeFile file('../../credentials/android/keystore.jks')
            storePassword 'your-keystore-password'
            keyAlias 'your-key-alias'
            keyPassword 'your-key-password'
        }
    }

    buildTypes {
        release {
            signingConfig signingConfigs.release
        }
    }
}

The keystore path uses ../../ to go up two levels from android/app/ to the root of ProofApp where your credentials/ folder lives. All password values are available in your open credentials.json file.

Step 7 — Build the Release APK

In the VS Code terminal inside ProofApp, navigate to the android folder and run the build command:

cd android && ./gradlew assembleRelease

If the ./gradlew command fails with a permission denied error, run this first then retry the build:

chmod +x android/gradlew

Once the build completes successfully, your release APK will be generated at:

ProofApp/
└── android/
    └── app/
        └── build/
            └── outputs/
                └── apk/
                    └── release/
                        └── app-release.apk   ← your release APK

Copy the app-release.apk file and head over to Google Play Console to upload it:

1. Go to your app on Google Play Console
2. Navigate to Internal Testing → Create new release
3. Upload the app-release.apk file
4. Complete the release and roll it out

That's it — your APK is now signed with the correct keystore and should upload to Play Console without any signature mismatch errors! 🎉

Conclusion

The signature mismatch error comes down to one thing — Play Console locks your app to the first keystore signature it sees. By downloading your existing EAS credentials and configuring the local Gradle build to use that same keystore, you ensure every APK you build locally matches what Play Console expects. EAS securely manages your keystore for you — however, if you ever need to build locally again, make sure to re-download your credentials via eas credentials as covered in Step 1.