Create an Individual or Organization Account?
The first thing to ask yourself is if you're creating a Google Developer Account as an individual or organization. If you are part of a registered business or team, then we recommend you opt for an ORGANIZATION account. If you are a single person, sole proprietor, or single-person Company then you should create an INDIVIDUAL account.
Steps to Create a Google Developer Account
In order to publish Android and Android TV apps, you must setup a Google Developer account. Below is a step-by-step guide on how to setup your developer account.
Step 1 - Create a Google Account
You need to have a Google account before you can make a developer account. It's possible you already have a personal Google account. We recommend that you instead use a dedicated Google account that is tied to your professional / work email. If you already have a work-related Google account, you can skip ahead to Step 2, otherwise follow the steps below to create one:
You have the option to "Try Google Workspace" or to "Get a Gmail address". If your organization intends to use Google Workspace for its various different business features then feel free to go this route, otherwise click "Get a Gmail address"
Follow the prompts to "Create a Google Account"
Step 2 - Create Your Developer Account
Go to the Google Play Console
Login with the Google account you created above or intend to use with your new developer account.
After logging in, fill out the form to create a new developer account:
Public developer name: This will display in app's Google Play Store listing as the developer's name
Secondary contact email address: Google might use this email to contact you. This email will not be shown publicly or to your users.
Contact phone number: Google also might use this to contact you. This phone number will not be shown publicly or to your users.
Check the Developer Agreement and Terms of Service
Click on Create Account and Pay
You'll now be taken to a payment page where you can add your credit card if you haven't done so already.
Continue to pay the $25 one time charge
Once your payment has processed, you will receive an email from Google with the details of the transaction.
Step 3 - Invite Viewcastle to the Google Play Console
Go back to the Google Play Console
If you're not already signed in, sign in using the Google account that you used to create your developer account above.
If you're already signed into one or more OTHER Google account's then you may need to select the dropdown of the current account you're signed in as and either select the correct account or click "Use another account" to sign into the proper account.
When you are successfully signed into the Google Play Console with your developer account, you should see the following screen:
Click on "Users and permissions" and then "Invite new users"
Fill out the "Invite User" screen as follows:
Email address: apps@viewcastle.com
Access expiry: leave UNCHECKED
Permissions: Click on the "Account permissions" tab and select Admin (all permissions)
Once you've filled out the above information, click the "Invite user" button in the bottom right corner to finish inviting Viewcastle.
Step 4 - Create Service Account and JSON Key
A Service Account is a special type of Google account intended to represent a user that needs to authenticate and be authorized to access data in Google APIs. We need this access in order to upload Android and Android TV apps to your Google account automatically.
Logging into a Service Account programmatically requires a key contained in a JSON formatted file. The only person who can create a Service Account and generate a key is the developer account's owner. Therefore, we'll need you, the account owner, to create the Service Account and generate the JSON key and share it with Viewcastle.
We recommend opening a private browser session or incognito window before continuing on. This is to ensure that no other signed in Google accounts will conflict in the process.
Create Service Account
Log back into the Google Play Console
You MUST log in with the account owner credentials.
In a new browser tab, but still the same window if you're in a private/incognito session, go to the following URL: https://console.cloud.google.com/projectcreate
You'll be prompted to create a new project which will be used to manage API accounts that serve your Android app functions
Create a new project. If you don't know what title to give it, you can just use Google Play Developer Console
You do not need to choose a Location if one is not already chosen for you
Click "Create" to create the project
In a new browser tab, again use the same window if you're in a private/incognito session, go to the following URL: https://console.developers.google.com/apis/api/androidpublisher.googleapis.com/
Click "Enable" and wait for the page to reload
Once complete, click the hamburger button in the top left corner of the screen (this is the icon with three horizontal lines stacked on top of each other, doesn't it look like a delicious hamburger? 😋)
Click "IAM & Admin" and then click "Service Accounts"
Click the "+ Create Service Account" button. You'll be stepped through the following:
(1) Service account details: Fill out the form as follows:
Service account name: You can use "Viewcastle" or "ViewcastleOTT" etc.
Service account description: You can leave this blank if you'd like
Click "Create"
(2) Grant this service account access to project: Complete this step as follows:
Role dropdown: Select "Owner"
Click "Continue"
Skip the third step "Grant users access to this service account (optional)" as we do not need to do this
Click "Done"
(3) Grant users access to this service account (optional): You can skip this step as we do not need to do this
Click "Done"
Now you should see a new Service Account listed on the Service accounts page from Step 8 above.
When you see the service account, copy the email address of the service account
Switch back to the first tab you opened of the Google Play Console
Click "Users and permissions" in the left-side menu.
Click "Invite new users" and paste the service account email address that you copied in Step 11 into the Email address field
Leave Access expiry UNCHECKED
Under "Permissions" click on the "Account permissions tab" and select the Admin checkbox.
Click "Invite user" in the bottom right corner
On the "Users and permissions" screen, you should now see, at least, the following 2 user accounts:
If you see both accounts listed, then you have successfully shared access with Viewcastle and created the Service Account 🎉
Generate JSON Key
Switch back to the Cloud Project tab that you had originally opened in Step 2 above.
Click the dot menu (three vertical dots) and choose "Manage Keys"
On the "Keys" page, click "Add Key" and choose "Create new key"
Next, select JSON as the "Key type" and then click "CREATE" in the bottom right corner.
Download and save this JSON file and upload it to the designated spot your Viewcastle Onboarding Coordinator provided, or email/send it directly to your Onboarding Coordinator.
Step 5 - Enable Firebase Management and Cloud Resource APIs
These underlying free services must be enabled in order for Viewcastle to properly setup and configure push notifications for your app. Once again, only the developer account owner can take these steps. However, afterwards Viewcastle will handle the rest!
Enable Firebase Management API
Navigate to the Firebase Management API
Ensure that "Google Play Console Developer" is the selected project (or whatever you ended up naming the project if you named it something different)
Click "Enable"
That's all, we'll take it from here!
Enable Cloud Resource
Navigate to the Cloud Resource Manager API
Ensure that "Google Play Console Developer" is the selected project (or whatever you ended up naming the project if you named it something different)
Click "Enable"
That's all, we'll take it from here!
Congratulations, you have completed all the steps for creating and setting up your Google Developer account 🎉