Firefox for Android roughly follows the [Firefox Gecko release schedule](https://wiki.mozilla.org/Release_Management/Calendar#Calendars).
This means we cut a beta at the end of every two sprints, with a full cycle (~4 weeks) of baking on Beta before going to release. Uplifts must be approved by Release Owner (st3fan).
The [Firefox for Android release schedule](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1HotjliSCGOp2nTkfXrxv8qYcurNpkqLWBKbbId6ovTY/edit#gid=0) contains more details related to specific Mobile handoffs.
## Start of Sprint X.1 [Thursday, 1st week of sprint]
- [ ] [Create an issue](https://github.com/mozilla-mobile/fenix/issues/new?template=release_checklist.md&title=Releng+for+) "Releng for v[release]" to track the current sprint.
- [ ] Create a branch off of main (DO NOT PUSH YET) for the *current* milestone of format `releases_v85.0.0`. After that, anything landing in main will be part of the next release.
- [ ] Grant [moz-releng-automation2](https://github.com/moz-releng-automation2) write access to this branch. (Probably by adding the `mozilla-mobile/bots` team)
- [ ] On the new Beta branch, pin the AC version to the stable version ([example](https://github.com/mozilla-mobile/fenix/commit/e413da29f6a7a7d4a765817a9cd5687abbf27619)) with commit message "Issue #`<thisrelengissue>`: Pin to stable AC `<version>` for release v85"
- [ ] Update the title to include this AC version "Releng for v[release] with AC [version]"
- [ ] Tell Release Management the first beta is ready to be shipped. They'll use https://shipit.mozilla-releng.net/new to kick off a new release. This replaces the process that involved GitHub releases. Now Github releases are automatically created by [moz-releng-automation2](https://github.com/moz-releng-automation2)
- [ ] Send an email to QA at mozilla-mobile-qa@softvision.com with a link to the Taskcluster build (subdirectory of the [Fenix CI](https://firefox-ci-tc.services.mozilla.com/tasks/index/mobile.v2.fenix.beta))
- [ ] Add the uplift request to the appropriate row in the [Uplifts document](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1qIvHpcQ3BqJtlzV5T4M1MhbWVxkNiG-ToeYnWEBW4-I/edit#gid=0).
- [ ] Once there is GREEN QA signoff, file a [release management bugzilla for rollout](https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1664366)
- [ ] Check Sentry each day for issues on [Firefox Beta](https://sentry.prod.mozaws.net/operations/firefox-beta/) and if nothing concerning, bump release in the bugzilla (5%, 20%, 100%)
### Uplifting L10N strings to Beta [Wednesday, 2 weeks after sprint end]
- [ ] Find the issue ([example](https://github.com/mozilla-mobile/fenix/issues/16381)) filed by L10N / delphine saying string are ready for uplift (it takes 2 weeks for localizers to prepare localization).
- [ ] If there are new locales that are ready to be added to Release, add them to [l10n-release.toml](https://github.com/mozilla-mobile/fenix/blob/main/l10n-release.toml)
- [ ] Run the [L10N uplift script](https://github.com/mozilla-mobile/fenix/blob/main/l10n-uplift.py) against the releases/vX.1 branch (releases/v85.0.0). There will likely be conflicts, but if you are confused, they should match the strings in [main/Nightly](https://github.com/mozilla-mobile/fenix/tree/main/app/src/main/res)
- [ ] Once all conflicts are resolved, tag a new Beta to be released.
- [ ] Notify delphine in the L10N issue that the strings have been uplifted, and string quarantine can be lifted
### Production Release Candidate [Tuesday, 3 weeks after X.1 Beta was cut]
- [ ] In android-components: Create a dot release with the GeckoView Production release candidate.
- [ ] Open a PR against the release branch (releases/v85.0.0) with the AC version bump "Pin to stable AC `<version>` for release v85`. You will need code review.
- [ ] Send an email to QA at mozilla-mobile-qa@softvision.com with a link to the Taskcluster build (subdirectory of the [Fenix CI](https://firefox-ci-tc.services.mozilla.com/tasks/index/mobile.v2.fenix.release))
### Production Release [Release day, from [release calendar](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1HotjliSCGOp2nTkfXrxv8qYcurNpkqLWBKbbId6ovTY/edit#gid=0)]