1. Read the pre-launch report Play already generated for you. Google Play Console's pre-launch reports page states that every time you publish an app bundle or APK to a test track you automatically receive a pre-launch report, testing your app on a range of Android devices for stability, performance, accessibility, and display (https://play.google.com/console/about/pre-launchreports). Two published best practices decide whether it is useful: publish to the default closed or open testing track to be eligible, and provide test account credentials if your app has a sign-in screen so the crawl reaches the flows behind it. Google publishes a separate help article on interpreting the results (https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/9844487).
2. Confirm the target API level. New apps and app updates must target the API level Play currently requires, and failing the requirement prevents submission in Play Console rather than producing a warning. Play's target API level help states the current thresholds and effective dates (https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/11926878); the Android Developers requirement page carries the same rule from the build side (https://developer.android.com/google/play/requirements/target-sdk). Check your build configuration, not a note from last quarter.
3. Verify the artifact, not just the code. Publish a bundle signed with your upload key with Play App Signing enrolled; use a version code higher than the one already live, and one that unambiguously identifies this release; make sure the release build is not debuggable; and turn on code and resource shrinking so the artifact that reaches Play is the artifact you meant to ship.
4. Finish the compliance paperwork. The Data safety form is the most commonly incomplete section for new developers, and the gap is almost always a third-party SDK - analytics, crash reporting, push, ads, auth - that collects or shares data but never made it into the answers. Walk the dependency list. Add a privacy policy URL that actually resolves, and make sure the policy does not promise less than your SDKs actually do. Complete the content rating questionnaire and answer it accurately: misdeclaring content is a policy problem, not a paperwork problem.
5. Request only the permissions the app uses, and complete any declaration a sensitive permission requires. A permission sitting in the merged manifest that no feature needs is both a privacy finding and a policy finding, and high-risk permissions carry their own declaration form before they can stay in a published build.
6. Test first, then roll out gradually. Install the build from a test track on a real device, then start production at a small percentage and watch Android Vitals before going to 100%. The pre-launch report gives you a snapshot before users see the app; a staged rollout limits the blast radius if that snapshot missed something. Crashes and ANRs the crawl found on a mid-range device are crashes your users will find - they are not negotiable findings.