diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index ba23a7dae..7051e766d 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -7,3 +7,4 @@
 /build
 /captures
 release.keystore
+signing.properties
diff --git a/app/build.gradle b/app/build.gradle
index 6d98eccf4..7a481c1b3 100644
--- a/app/build.gradle
+++ b/app/build.gradle
@@ -11,10 +11,16 @@ android {
         versionCode 1
         versionName "1.0"
     }
+
+    signingConfigs {
+        release
+    }
+
     buildTypes {
         release {
-            minifyEnabled false
+            minifyEnabled true
             proguardFiles getDefaultProguardFile('proguard-android.txt'), 'proguard-rules.pro'
+            signingConfig signingConfigs.release
         }
     }
 }
@@ -27,3 +33,23 @@ dependencies {
     compile 'com.github.bumptech.glide:glide:3.7.0'
     compile 'com.davemorrissey.labs:subsampling-scale-image-view:3.4.1'
 }
+
+def Properties props = new Properties()
+def propFile = new File('signing.properties')
+if (propFile.canRead()) {
+    props.load(new FileInputStream(propFile))
+
+    if (props != null && props.containsKey('STORE_FILE') && props.containsKey('STORE_PASSWORD') &&
+            props.containsKey('KEY_ALIAS') && props.containsKey('KEY_PASSWORD')) {
+        android.signingConfigs.release.storeFile = file(props['STORE_FILE'])
+        android.signingConfigs.release.storePassword = props['STORE_PASSWORD']
+        android.signingConfigs.release.keyAlias = props['KEY_ALIAS']
+        android.signingConfigs.release.keyPassword = props['KEY_PASSWORD']
+    } else {
+        println 'signing.properties found but some entries are missing'
+        android.buildTypes.release.signingConfig = null
+    }
+} else {
+    println 'signing.properties not found'
+    android.buildTypes.release.signingConfig = null
+}
diff --git a/signing.properties_sample b/signing.properties_sample
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..acf8fb9fc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/signing.properties_sample
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+STORE_FILE=/path/to/your.keystore
+STORE_PASSWORD=yourkeypass
+KEY_ALIAS=projectkeyalias
+KEY_PASSWORD=yourkeypass