We Picked 4 Tools for Building and Managing App Bundles

Our strongest pick is Android Studio with Gradle, because it covers the full Android App Bundle workflow with the least confusion for most teams. Google Play has required new Android apps to use the Android App Bundle format since August 2021, which makes this less of a nice feature and more of a release requirement [source: Android Developers]. For teams shipping often, we would pair it with bundletool, Fastlane, and Bitrise. Together, these four tools cover local builds, testing, signing, upload, and repeatable release work.

TLDR: Use Android Studio with Gradle if you want the safest default for building app bundles. Add bundletool when you need to test device-specific APKs before upload. Use Fastlane if your team ships weekly; for example, a two-person team can cut a 45-minute manual release into a 10-minute scripted flow. Pick Bitrise when you need clean cloud builds, approval steps, and release logs your whole team can read.

How we picked the tools

We focused on tools that help with real release work, not just nice dashboards. A good app bundle tool should handle repeatable builds, signing, testing, version control, and store handoff. It should also fail clearly. Vague errors waste hours.

The four tools below work best when used together. Still, each one has a clear role. That matters. Nobody wants five tools all pretending to solve the same problem.

1. Android Studio with Gradle: best default choice

Best for: Android teams that need a stable way to create Android App Bundles.

Android Studio is the standard place to create, inspect, and prepare an .aab file. Gradle handles the build logic behind it. You can define product flavors, build types, signing configs, version codes, and dependencies in one controlled setup.

This is the tool we would start with for almost any Android project. It keeps the bundle process close to the code. That reduces weird handoff problems between developers and release managers.

• Strengths: direct support for Android App Bundles, strong Gradle control, good signing setup.
• Weak spots: Gradle errors can be cold and unclear.
• Best fit: native Android apps, Kotlin apps, Java apps, and teams using product flavors.

The catch is that Gradle tuning can feel slow when a project gets large. A small config change can add 20 to 40 seconds to a build check. That sounds minor. After a full day, it gets annoying.

2. bundletool: best for testing what users will get

Best for: teams that want to inspect and test APKs generated from an app bundle.

bundletool is the command-line tool used to build APK sets from an Android App Bundle. It helps you see what Google Play may generate for different devices. That matters because users do not install your .aab file directly. They install APKs created from it.

With bundletool, you can test splits for screen density, CPU type, language, and device features. This is useful when users report bugs that only happen on one device group. Instead of guessing, you can create a targeted APK set and test it.

• Strengths: accurate local testing, device-specific APK generation, strong debugging value.
• Weak spots: command-line syntax is not friendly at first.
• Best fit: QA teams, release engineers, and apps with many device targets.

Honestly, it feels like bundletool should have a friendlier interface by now. It works well, but the first setup can still feel like reading a manual under bad lighting. Once scripted, though, it becomes reliable.

3. Fastlane: best for release automation

Best for: teams that want fewer manual release steps.

Fastlane is built for automating app release work. It can build, sign, upload, tag, create changelogs, and send notifications. It supports Android and iOS, which makes it useful for teams shipping both platforms.

For app bundles, Fastlane is often used to run Gradle, produce the .aab, then upload it to Google Play. It can also manage metadata, screenshots, and release tracks. That helps when your release process has too many browser tabs and too many chances to click the wrong thing.

• Strengths: repeatable release scripts, store upload support, strong community use.
• Weak spots: config files can get messy if nobody owns them.
• Best fit: teams releasing weekly or biweekly.

Fastlane is not magic. Bad release habits still create bad releases. But it removes boring manual work, and that lowers risk. A simple lane can build the bundle, upload it to internal testing, and post a message to Slack.

4. Bitrise: best for managed CI builds

Best for: teams that want app bundle builds in the cloud.

Bitrise is a CI/CD platform made with mobile apps in mind. It can run builds after code changes, create signed artifacts, run tests, and push bundles toward store release. The visual workflow builder is easy to follow, even for non-specialists.

This is helpful when your local machines are no longer enough. If one developer has Java 17, another has Java 21, and the release laptop has mystery settings from 2022, builds become risky. A cloud pipeline gives the team one clean build path.

• Strengths: clean build machines, readable workflows, strong mobile focus.
• Weak spots: pricing can rise as build minutes grow.
• Best fit: teams with multiple developers, QA gates, and staged releases.

Recommended setup

For most teams, the best stack is simple:

1. Build with Android Studio and Gradle.
2. Check output with bundletool.
3. Automate release work with Fastlane.
4. Run everything in Bitrise when the team grows.

This setup keeps each tool in its lane. Android Studio and Gradle create the bundle. bundletool proves what will reach devices. Fastlane turns release steps into scripts. Bitrise gives the process a clean, shared home.

If you are a solo developer, start with Android Studio and bundletool. Add Fastlane when releases start to feel repetitive. Add Bitrise when missed steps, machine differences, or approval needs start costing time. That is usually the point where manual release work stops being “simple” and starts becoming a quiet source of bugs.