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I sold one of my Android apps to an outside company. I provided all the code (Android Studio). Before zipping it all up for delivery, I made sure it compiled and all that. I then went through the process of changing the Play Store entire to move the ownership of the other company.

Everything seems to be in order. Except that when the new owner is trying to publish the app, they are told that the certificate doesn't match the fingerprint of the original private key.

I was under the impression that they could simply compile their own version with their own private key, but Google is not allowing that. Such to the extent that they are saying that there is nothing they can do about it. They must use the original key.

Fine... I found the original key file and sent that to them. In fact, I found like 5 different versions of it, just in case any were corrupted.

They are still not able to publish the app.

Does anyone have any experience with this? Is there a way around this?

BTW, and for the record... The last suggestion I made to them, is to NOT change ANYTHING in that keystore. Because doing so would make it different. I'm thinking that they changed all the company information in the key and that's why it isn't working.

durbnpoisn
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  • Are you able to publish a new version of the app? Are you able to publish a new version when you build it on another pc? – aalmigthy Feb 24 '20 at 14:12
  • I have already moved the store listing to the other company's account. So I am not able to publish any updates. – durbnpoisn Feb 24 '20 at 14:20
  • Have you been able to build an APK with the correct keys? I'd suggest you to setup a configuration with _Gradle_ and provide as this to the company. So everyone has a state which is working. – tynn Feb 28 '20 at 11:10
  • They can build the app. Google Play won't let them publish it. To clarify what I need here - what does Google mean about the "fingerprint"? – durbnpoisn Feb 28 '20 at 16:09
  • It's SHA1 fingerprint for keystore file. – Harry Timothy Feb 29 '20 at 07:28
  • You can compare the fingerprints of app and keystore and see if the key was tempered with. The following link show nicely how to https://stackoverflow.com/a/22983861/3385212 – tynn Feb 29 '20 at 17:36
  • So you all know, I am keeping an eye on this. Whatever suggestions you have, keep 'em coming. If something finally works, I will award the bounty. Thanks for the responses so far. – durbnpoisn Feb 29 '20 at 18:04
  • It may be solved by setting signing configurations into build.gradle file. so they have the configuration that you have set earlier. see this https://stackoverflow.com/questions/40276327/android-studio-adding-signing-configurations-to-gradle – Emad Razavi Mar 02 '20 at 16:21
  • "I'm thinking that they changed all the company information in the key and that's why it isn't working." Have you clarified this one with that company? – AgentP Mar 05 '20 at 13:53
  • PraveenSP- That is what I think too. That was the last question I asked. I'm waiting on their response. – durbnpoisn Mar 06 '20 at 13:57

1 Answers1

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I think read somewhere that when you publish an application on google store, there is a pair between the keystore you used and the application id. Did you change both applicationID and keystore used?

If you change only the keystore, the previous users who already have your application won't receive any new update, they'll have to remove the old application and download the new one.

Biscuit
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  • If he changed the app id (the reverse domain), that would have been a mighty silly thing to do. I'll ask... – durbnpoisn Feb 29 '20 at 18:03
  • This [answer](https://stackoverflow.com/a/59617917/6074224) might help you in defining what is the issue (`App Signing by Google Play`, keystore or packagename). – Biscuit Mar 02 '20 at 12:29