Build and Install Unsigned APK on Device Without the Development Server

How to generate an apk that works without dev server in react native

After you go through https://facebook.github.io/react-native/docs/signed-apk-android you can simply run

// for build and run
react-native run-android --variant=release

and take apk in

<rn_project_dir>/android/app/build/outputs/apk/release/app-release.apk

How to generate the unsigned apk for android - reac-native

Try this and make sure you have created assets folder :

react-native bundle --platform android --dev false --entry-file index.js --bundle-output android/app/src/main/assets/index.android.bundle --assets-dest android/app/src/main/res \
&& cd android \
&& ./gradlew clean\
&& ./gradlew assembleDebug

After this you can find your debug apk in

/android/app/build/outputs/apk/debug

Hope it will work .

How can I generate an apk that can run without server with react-native?

Following Aditya Singh's answer the generated (unsigned) apk would not install on my phone. I had to generate a signed apk using the instructions here.

The following worked for me:

$ keytool -genkey -v -keystore my-release-key.keystore -alias my-key-alias -keyalg RSA -keysize 2048 -validity 10000

Place the my-release-key.keystore file under the android/app
directory in your project folder. Then edit the file
~/.gradle/gradle.properties and add the following (replace ****
with the correct keystore password, alias and key password)

MYAPP_RELEASE_STORE_FILE=my-release-key.keystore
MYAPP_RELEASE_KEY_ALIAS=my-key-alias
MYAPP_RELEASE_STORE_PASSWORD=****
MYAPP_RELEASE_KEY_PASSWORD=****

If you're using MacOS, you can store your password in the keychain using the instructions here instead of storing it in plaintext.

Then edit app/build.gradle and ensure the following are there (the sections with signingConfigs signingConfig may need to be added) :

...
android {
    ...
    defaultConfig { ... }
    signingConfigs {
        release {
            if (project.hasProperty('MYAPP_RELEASE_STORE_FILE')) {
                storeFile file(MYAPP_RELEASE_STORE_FILE)
                storePassword MYAPP_RELEASE_STORE_PASSWORD
                keyAlias MYAPP_RELEASE_KEY_ALIAS
                keyPassword MYAPP_RELEASE_KEY_PASSWORD
            }
        }
    }
    buildTypes {
        release {
            ...
            signingConfig signingConfigs.release
        }
    }
}
...

Then run the command cd android && ./gradlew assembleRelease ,

For Windows 'cd android' and then run gradlew assembleRelease command , and find your signed apk under android/app/build/outputs/apk/app-release.apk, or android/app/build/outputs/apk/release/app-release.apk

Build unsigned APK file with Android Studio

I would recommend you to build your APK file with Gradle:

• Click the dropdown menu in the toolbar at the top (Open 'Edit Run/Debug configurations' dialog)
• Select "Edit Configurations"
• Click the "+"
• Select "Gradle"
• Choose your module as a Gradle project
• In Tasks: enter assemble
• Press Run

Your unsigned APK is now located in

ProjectName\app\build\outputs\apk

For detailed information on how to use Gradle, this tutorial is good to go: Building with Gradle in Android Studio. I also wrote a blog post on how to build an unsigned APK with Gradle.

If you moved your project from the other IDE and don't want to recompile, you may find your APK file that was already built in the IDE you moved from:

• If you generated the Project with Android Studio, the APK file will be found in ProjectName/ProjectName/build/apk/...

• Imported the project from eclipse: File should be in the same directory. Go to Project - Show in Explorer. There you should find the bin folder where your APK file is located in.

• Imported from IntelliJ, the location would be ProjectName/out/production/...

Side note:
As Chris Stratton mentioned in his comment:

Technically, what you want is an APK signed with a debug key. An APK
that is actually unsigned will be refused by the device.

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