Creating and setting up developer accounts is fundamental to getting started with the development of your apps.
We've created all these guides to help you understand the process and steps required to get this done. If you need assistance during the process, please get in touch with your Onboarding Specialist or the App Launch Team (ott@uscreen.tv). We're here to help!
📌Note: Due to additional steps required in this setup process, if you are using an organizational GSuite/Google Workspace account to sign up for the developer account, please make sure that you are the owner or a Super Admin of the account before proceeding
Create a Google Developer Account
A Google Developer account is required to host Android and Android TV apps.
When creating your developer account, you will have the choice to create the account as an Individual or as an Organization. Individual accounts are only for businesses that are individual proprietors and are not eligible for an Organizational account.
⚠️ Warning: Please be aware that applying for a Google Individual account comes with increased and time-consuming app requirements.
If you have an Individual developer account but are eligible for an Organization account, we encourage you to migrate your account to an Organizational one via the steps in this Help Guide.
Follow the steps below to create your account:
Open the Google Play Console to get started.
Log in with a Google account (it needs to have Gmail or G Suite email), or create an account on Google if you don’t have one.
Pay attention to the email/account used to create your developer account. It will be the developer account owner's login credentials. This login will have the proper access level to take all the steps required to set up your account and invite the Uscreen user to build and deploy your apps.
After you log in, fill out the form to create a new developer account:
Public developer name: This will be shown on Google Play Store as the developer’s name in your app store listing
Secondary contact email address: Google might use it to contact you (won’t be shown to your users)
Contact phone number: Add the country code (eg: +1) and phone number. Google might use it to contact you (won’t be shown to your users)
Check the Developer Agreement and Terms of Service
Click on Create Account and pay
You’ll be forwarded to the payment gateway. You might need to add your credit card number (if you have not done that already).
$25 will be charged to your credit card.
After the payment has been processed your account will be created and you’ll receive an email from Google with the details of this transaction (example below).
Access your account
You will receive the email from Google in the same account you have used to create the developer account, you can click on the View Online button at the bottom of the email’s body and you’ll be forwarded to the Google Play Console.
This is the Home screen of Google Developer Console:
If you’re able to open your Google Developer Console, you are ready to check the next steps to review your account details and invite the Uscreen user as a third-party developer.
Unable to access Google Play Console?
If you click on that link in the email and are routed to the Create developer form once again you’re probably opening your email while logged in to a different Google account, not the one used to create the developer account before.
In this case, check the email address in the To: field of Google’s confirmation email and make sure you’re logged in with that account to access the Google Play Console.
You can also check the steps below to access your Google Developer Account:
Open Google Play Console: https://play.google.com/apps/publish/ (bookmark this link)
Login with the same Google account used to create your developer account.
If the login form does not appear to you, click on the ‘profile’ icon and switch/login to the proper account.
Additional Google Developer Account settings
Once you have created your Google developer account and can access it with the account owner’s login, it’s time to review your account settings and send the invite to the Uscreen user.
Create a Payments profile
This is required if your Android or Android TV apps will have In-App purchases. If your apps are sign-in only, you can skip this step.
To create the payment profile, go to the Payment Settings of the Google Play Console.
You can use this URL: https://play.google.com/console/developers/paymentssettings
Or log in to Google Play Console and click on the Payments profile
(it's located under ‘Setup’ on the left navigation)
Click on ‘Set up a merchant account’
If you don’t have a payment profile, click on Create payment profile.
Make sure to have your business information available to complete the steps below
Select your account type (Business or Individual):
Business: Used for corporations, LLCs, partnerships & organizations
Individual: Used for Sole Proprietorship or Single-Person Company
NOTE: The account type is used for tax & identity verifications. This selection cannot be changed later.
Add your business’s Name and Address: Enter the legal name of your business as you want it to appear to your customers and also on your receipts. Provide your legal business address as it appears on your official documents.
Complete the rest of the form with your business’s details. Here’s the guide from Google, for reference.
What do you sell: Select the most appropriate option on the menu, if none apply, you can select ‘Other’
Customer Support email (required)
Credit card statement: The business/product name that will appear on your customers' credit card receipts.
NOTE: Use an appropriate statement to help your users remember what they purchased and avoid unnecessary chargebacks.
Click on Submit
If you see the screen below, your payment profile has been created successfully:
Click on Add payment method, under ‘How you get paid’, and add your bank account details. This allows you to retrieve your funds from your Google account.
Invite the Uscreen user to your Google Developer Account
In order to work on your Android and Android TV apps, the account owner needs to send an invite to the Uscreen account.
Follow the steps below to share the access with us:
Log in to Google Play Console with the account owner credentials
Click on Users and permissions on the left menu
Click on the Invite new users button
- Email address: ott@uscreen.tv
- Access expiry: don’t check this option (don’t set an expiration date)
- Permissions: Switch to the ‘Account permissions’ tab and select Admin (all permissions)
- Then click on Invite user and then Send invite
You have now reviewed your Google Developer Account settings and shared the access with Uscreen!
There are just a couple more steps required: Create a Service Account and share the JSON key with us. After doing that, your account setup is complete, and we can get started with your app's development!
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Enable API Access - Google Service Account
After creating your Google Developer Account, setting it up, and sharing the access with Uscreen, there are just a couple more steps required: Create Service Account and share a JSON key with us.
After doing that your account setup is complete and we can get started with your Android and AndroidTV apps development!
Create Google 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.
Uscreen developers need this access in order to upload Android and AndroidTV apps to your Google account.
The Service Account login is made through a file in JSON format that will be used as the key to authenticate. We’ll need the account owner to create the Service Account and generate the JSON key and share it with Uscreen.
🛑 Before you begin, open a private browser session/Incognito window, this will allow you to ensure this process will not conflict with any other Google accounts.
Start from your Google Play Console, and make sure you’re logged in with the account owner credentials.
Then, open a new tab and open this link to the Google Cloud Console
This will prompt you to create a new project that will be used to manage the API accounts that will ultimately serve your Android app functions
On this page, create a new project titled Google Play Developer Console
You do not need to choose a Location if one is not chosen for you in the second field
In a new tab, open this link to Enable the Google Play Developer API
Click Enable and wait for the page to reload
Once this is complete, click the three horizontal line button (also known as the hamburger menu button) at the top-left, and choose IAM & Admin > Service Accounts. Then, Create Service Account via the button shown below
Fill the form to create the new service account
- Service account name: You can use ‘Uscreen’ or ‘UscreenOTT’
- Click ‘Create’
Grant service account access to the project
In the Role dropdown, select Owner (this option will appear on the right side)
Then click Continue
Skip 3 and click DONE
You will see this new service account in the list from Step 5
When you see the service account listed on this page, Copy the email address of the service account
Navigate to the first tab you opened for the Google Play Console
Click on Users and permissions on the left-hand menu
Add a New User, pasting this service account email address and selecting Account Permissions > Admin before clicking Send Invite on the bottom-right.
If you want to review and make sure your Service Account was created correctly and the access was shared, just follow the steps below:
Click on Users and Permissions in the Menu
Check your user's list. There should be at least 2 user accounts:
If you can both accounts are listed, it means you have successfully shared the access with the Uscreen account and created a Service Account.
Generate a JSON key:
Back to the Cloud Project tab, to the right of this new service account, click the three vertical dots and choose Manage Keys
On the next page, click on Add Key and Create new key
Then select JSON and click on CREATE.
The download will start automatically:
After you have completed the additional steps below, save this JSON file and upload it into your asset collection form (or send directly to your App Launch Specialist if you have already been assigned one)
Enable Firebase Management and Cloud Resource APIs for push notifications
You must enable these underlying push notification tools. You must do this, because only the developer account owner can take these steps! Then Uscreen handles the rest!
Specifically, you will enable the Firebase Management API and Cloud Resource Manager API in your Google Play Developer Account. These are free services, part of your developer accounts.
Enable Firebase Management API
Navigate to the Firebase Management API: https://console.developers.google.com/apis/api/firebase.googleapis.com/overview
Ensure that "Google Play Console Developer" is the selected project
Select Enable
That's it! Uscreen handles the remaining work to set up your push notifications
Enable Cloud Resource Manager API
Navigate to the Cloud Resource Manager API https://console.developers.google.com/apis/api/cloudresourcemanager.googleapis.com/overview
Ensure that "Google Play Console Developer" is the selected project
Select Enable
That's it! Uscreen handles the remaining work to set up your push notifications
Congratulations! You have successfully completed all the steps required to set up your Google Developer account and shared access to your account with Uscreen!
Need help with the JSON key - Troubleshooting
In this section, we’ll help you identify what could go wrong and what you can do to get your Google Developer Account up and running!
The JSON key provides API access to the Google Service Account. It's required to build and upload your Android and Android TV apps in Google Play Console.
If you have generated the JSON key, but can’t locate that in your computer, try following one of the steps below:
Check your Downloads folder on your computer (Windows or Mac)
Also, check your browser downloads history:
Edge, Chrome and Firefox: Ctrl + J (or Cmd + J on Mac)
This will open the downloads history panel
Check the recent downloads for a JSON file.
Eg: api-5467992211468413867-753980-bf5b8c37729.json
If you’re unable to find the JSON key in the recent download, follow the steps below to generate a new JSON key:
Open Google Play Console
In the Menu, click on API access, under Settings
Scroll down to the Service Accounts section
The Uscreen Service account must be listed there (eg: uscreen@api-xxx...)
If you can’t find the Uscreen service account, it was not created or was created incorrectly. Please, check the steps above to create another one.
Click on View in Google Developers Console.
On the right side, click on Manage Service Accounts
Select the Uscreen Service Account (eg: uscreen@api-xxx...)
On the right side, click on the three dots button (actions) and select Create Key
Select the type: JSON, and click on Create. The download will start
Save this file and send it to ott@uscreen.tv