Building and submitting aren’t two separate jobs in AppNatively – they’re two choices inside one wizard. There’s no later “Submit” button waiting on a finished build; if you want your app published to a store, you say so up front, before the build even starts.
Before you start
GitHub needs to be connected – see Connect GitHub before you build – and the five requirements from What you need before your first build need to pass.
Steps
1. Open the build wizard
Go to Build & Deploy and click Trigger Build.
2. Step 1 – Requirements
The wizard checks your five requirements live. Next stays disabled until they all pass – see What you need before your first build if anything’s missing.
3. Step 2 – Target
Choose which platforms to build: Both, iOS Only, or Android Only – a platform is greyed out if its credentials aren’t set. Set your Build Version using standard version numbering; quick buttons are provided to bump the patch, minor, or major number instead of typing it by hand.
For Android, you can optionally check “Build APK for local testing.” Your actual Play Store submission always uses a different file format regardless – this just adds an extra, easily installable file alongside it for your own testing on a real device.
4. Step 3 – Distribution
Choose your Deployment Strategy:
- Build Only – compiles and signs your app, then stores the finished files for you to download. Nothing goes to a store automatically.
- Build & Deploy – compiles, signs, and submits automatically. If you choose this, you’ll also pick a release track for each platform you’re building:
- iOS: TestFlight (Internal), TestFlight (External Beta), or App Store (Production Review).
- Android: Internal Test, Closed Testing (Alpha/Beta), or Production Release.
5. Step 4 – Changelog
Add release notes describing what’s new in this build.
6. Step 5 – Review
Check the summary of everything you’ve chosen, confirm, and click Start Build.
7. Monitor progress
Watch its status move through the builds table: queued → building → success or failed. If it fails, see Fix a failed build.
8. Get your files once it succeeds
Open the finished build’s row menu for Workflow Logs (the full build log) and to download whatever was produced – an iOS bundle, an Android app bundle, and an APK too if you checked that testing box.