No Android Studio? Build APKs in GitHub Actions and verify them on real hardware

Description and use

Automated APK build without Android Studio: build in GitHub Actions, download artifact, and verify on a real device via adb.

Problem

Android developers often need to build and test APKs without installing Android Studio, which is large and GUI‑dependent, especially on headless Linux environments.

Outcome

The workflow produces a verified APK with evidence of successful build and runtime behavior on a real device, all without installing Android Studio.

Workflow

• Set up GitHub Actions workflow with ubuntu-latest runner
• Checkout repository using actions/checkout@v4
• Set up JDK 17 with actions/setup-java@v4 (distribution: temurin)
• Run ./gradlew assembleDebug to build debug APK
• Upload the APK artifact with actions/upload-artifact@v4
• Download the artifact locally using gh run download <run-id> -n apk
• Install the APK on a real device with adb install -r wifiwarn-debug.apk
• Verify the accessibility service is enabled via adb shell dumpsys accessibility | grep -i enabled
• Monitor runtime logs with adb logcat -s WarnService
• Confirm warning channels fire on the device

Evidence

You can ship Android APKs without ever installing Android Studio.

Source

CI builds the APK, I pull it back, I verify it on a real device.

Source

Build succeeded ≠ it runs.

Source

Artifacts expire after 90 days by default — promote real releases to a GitHub Release

Source