[task] Android Play Store submission prep — app, listing kit, signing, account deletion

[YJack0000]

Context

Retroactive ticket for work already delivered in Iteration 74 (2026-08-11 ~ 08-17). The Android app and its entire store-submission kit landed across 6 PRs with no tracking issue — only an untitled draft item on the board. This ticket exists so the work is reviewable and the remaining blockers have an owner.

Android counterpart to #181 (iOS App Store submission prep).

Delivered

• [feature] android: native Android app — live meetings, audio import, cloud sync #228 — native Android app from zero (+13,156 / -0, 78 files). Kotlin + Compose/Material 3, single Activity + NavHost. :parleykit is a pure-JVM Kotlin port of ios/ParleyKit with the Swift test suite ported 1:1 (28 tests). Hand-written Ogg/Opus encoder (MediaCodec + MediaMuxer), windowed-sinc resampler, AudioFileDecoder (~1,600 lines of DSP, no third-party library). minSdk 29, targetSdk 35. Same backend contract as iOS. Covers: sign-in, live meetings (foreground service), audio file import (a capability iOS does not have), cloud sync with a durable pending-upload queue, history + detail, zh-TW + en.
• [docs] android: Play Store listing kit — copy, data safety, review notes, assets #232 — Play Store listing kit: two-locale copy, data-safety answered per type from code with evidence files, review notes, 512 icon, feature graphic.
• [feature] android: release signing config and Play release workflow #234 — release signing config (env-var first, unsigned artifact + warning when no keystore, so open-source contributors can still build) + android-v* tag-triggered Play workflow with tag/version and signed-bundle guards.
• [feature] android: in-app account deletion, and a web deletion route for both platforms #235 — account deletion, in-app + a public web route reachable without installing the app. Play rejects on either gap alone. Also fixed three places on the website that told Android-only users to delete via the iOS app — a dead end.
• [feature] android: screenshot demo mode with fictional fixtures #236 / [docs] android: store screenshots for both locales #237 — debug-only screenshot demo mode with fictional fixtures (no network, no writes, no residue — verified in airplane mode, then with dumpsys netstats showing zero rx/tx) + 4 screenshots per locale.

Also in this iteration, the STT billing attribution fixes that shipped alongside: #226 (iOS keyboard dictation was sending a feature tag outside the cloud whitelist) and #227 (desktop was sending no feature tag at all). Both platforms' hosted STT usage was previously unattributed.

Parity with iOS

Positioned as iOS 1.1 parity + import. Not at parity with iOS 1.2.

Android does not have: voice keyboard / dictation extension, the 45-second live coaching loop, the recording consent prompt.
Android has that iOS does not: import of existing audio files.

Remaining blockers

• Play organization identity verification (account 6541030546953107772, pending). Until this clears there is no Play Developer API, therefore no service account, therefore PLAY_SERVICE_ACCOUNT_JSON cannot exist and the upload step in the workflow will keep skipping. Root blocker, not solvable in code.
• First bundle must be uploaded by hand — Play refuses API uploads until a release exists in the console.
• Foreground-service declaration video — storyboard exists in [docs] android: Play Store listing kit — copy, data safety, review notes, assets #232, not filmed. Play rejects without it.
• Confirm appreview@pathors.com is live and has sample meetings (marked [TODO: confirm with Jack] in the review notes).
• Recording consent prompt — a product gap, not a copy gap. [docs] android: Play Store listing kit — copy, data safety, review notes, assets #232 works around it by writing consent into the listing as usage guidance, and warns whoever answers a Play follow-up not to claim the feature exists.
• Backfill stale docs — android/AppStore/README.md still lists account deletion, demo mode, and the feature graphic as open, all of which [feature] android: in-app account deletion, and a web deletion route for both platforms #235/[feature] android: screenshot demo mode with fictional fixtures #236/[docs] android: store screenshots for both locales #237/[docs] android: Play Store listing kit — copy, data safety, review notes, assets #232 resolved. RELEASING.md §5 still says account deletion "is not solved yet". Anyone following those files today will be misled.

Upload keys (PLAY_UPLOAD_*) are already set.

[YJack0000]

Status 2026-09-12 — the Play rejection of 0.1.1 (2) (2026-08-28, Broken functionality: "Parley keeps stopping") is diagnosed and fixed:

• [fix] Android release build crashed on sign-in: keep DataStore's protobuf field names through R8 #354 — the actual crash: DataStore's shaded protobuf-lite loses its field names under R8 full mode, so the first DataStore write (the sign-in callback) threw Field value_ for … not found on every release build. Debug builds never minify, which is why no local walk-through saw it.
• [fix] Android: stopping a meeting can no longer kill the process, and a failed one releases the microphone service #355 — the rest of the audit: stop-during-connecting resurrected the mic read loop and crashed on append() after finish(), no CoroutineExceptionHandler anywhere, three MeetingService paths that could stop without startForeground(), a failed capture leaving the microphone FGS running, and a duplicate LazyColumn key. Also changesNotSentForReview: true on the Play upload — android-v0.1.2 failed at that step because Play refuses an auto-submitting edit while a rejected change is outstanding.

Both verified on the minified release build on an API 34 Play emulator (sign-in, record/stop/upload, notification Stop, task removal, import). Shipped as android-v0.1.3 (versionCode 4); the production release is being sent for review from Play Console.

Still open from the list above: recording consent prompt (product gap), and the appreview@pathors.com account needs a human to confirm it is live with sample recordings before the review lands.

[YJack0000]

Follow-up: android-v0.1.3 uploaded but Play refused the commit — Target SDK of artifact is too low. Since 2026-08-31 Play requires API 36; #356 bumps compileSdk/targetSdk to 36. android-v0.1.4 (versionCode 5) went through the workflow cleanly onto the internal track, was promoted to production from Play Console, and the 12 pending changes (release + listing + declarations) were sent for review on 2026-09-12. Review is typically up to 7 days.