When I use >ionic cordova build android --release, It always generates a bundle file “app. aab” but I need a .apk file as my app is pre-Aug-2021 and our release team requires an unsigned and non-zip aligned .apk file for publishing an update to the app.
For apk use apksigner command to sign apk
For .aab file or bundle use jarsigner command.
For detail steps
///Ionic 7 Angular : How to generate, sign APK and Bundles for publishing to playstore console - YouTube