How to Generate Unsigned (Shareable) Apk in Android Studio?

Last Updated : 20 Oct, 2021

Unsigned Apk, as the name suggests it means it is not signed by any Keystore. A Keystore is basically a binary file that contains a set of private keys. Every App that we install using the Google Play App Store needs to be signed with a Keystore. The signed apk is simply the unsigned apk that has been signed via the JDK jarsigner tool.

If you want to generate a signed apk then refer to How to Generate Signed Apk in Android Studio?

Why do We Need to Generate an Unsigned Apk?

When developers are developing the android application for end-users, they need to test the application for which they share that apk with their friends or client to get the feedback and the improvement need to be done. It is somewhat lengthy and difficult to generate a signed apk every time to share as that requires a Keystore(Unique). That is why most of the time we prefer to generate unsigned apk as that is even easy to be generated.

Difference Between Signed and Unsigned Apk

S.No	Signed Apk	Unsigned Apk
1	Signed APK it's signed with your own key which is guarded by you	Unsigned APK is actually signed by debugging key.
2	It is a somewhat lengthy process to generate Signed Apk	It is Easy to Generate Unsigned Apk
3	It is Secure.	It is not Secure
4	Generally Available on Play store	Only the Developer has unsigned Apk.
5	It is generated when we are releasing our App.	It is generating when we are testing our app.

Generating Unsigned (Sharable) Apk in Android Studio

Step 1: Build your project then go to the Build > Build Bundle(s)/APK(s) > Build APK(s) as shown in the below image.

Step 2: Then, You will see that Gradle is building. Wait for 3 to 4 minutes to complete the build.

Step 3: After the Gradle Build Running Completed Then In the Right Bottom Side, you will see something like this as shown in the below image.

Step 4: Then Click on locate and you will see your Apk File as (app-debug.apk) and Now You can share this Apk file with anyone.