Google Play internal app sharing no longer works on any device - android

At my company we use Google Play's internal app sharing links to provide builds to QA. As of an hour or so ago, opening any link now fails, showing this error inside Google Play:
To view this content, install and set up a web browsing app.
This happens on every device & OS tested, all of which previously handled links perfectly.
We are not using opt-in testing, only 1 google account is whitelisted for the builds.
The links are in the format https://play.google.com/apps/test/xxxxx/xxxx-xxxx_xxxx.
Since it happened on all devices at the same time, I suspect it's a remote config switch.
Is there any known workaround?
Note: None of these suggested solutions work, as they just let you open the URL in the browser. That doesn't help, as the URL just provides a link to open it in the Play Store.

Try directly this if link is originated from an app for Android to handle:
market://details?id=<package_name>
Note: There's no domain and host.

It was caused by a temporary outage on Google's end. It resolved itself a few hours later.

Related

Installing old uploaded APK from Google Play Console not working anymore?

I used to test migration problems via installing old APKs from google play console and then updating to the most recent internal test version.
Since at least a week this doesn't work anymore. Every share link to a specific APK just links me to the latest APK that is published. I'm talking about this share link:
So either the live production version, or as an internal tester the current internal test version.
Anyone else has this problem? I couldn't find anything about it online.
My personal fix now is to manually download the APK, install it via ADB and then update via playstore. But that's of course more annoying than just clicking a link.
I have been in contact with an agent from google for more than 1 month about this issue, first they insisted that it was not a problem, but I helped them to understand this issue with a few images. The agent who took care of me says that their technical team has been investigating this issue for a while.
It seems we have to wait until we get a proper fix. Until that, you can use this area to upload your apk and get a specific link for that:
https://play.google.com/console/u/0/internal-app-sharing
This part gave google play link for that build and still working on android devices without a problem.
Best!

Branch io: fallback to AppGallery on Huawei devices

Tell me if branch io supports fallback to AppGallery on Huawei devices without Google Play services? Now on such a device, a browser opens for me, and redirects to Google Play page of my app. Device - Huawei P40 Lite E Android 10.
By documentation branch io supports such market: https://help.branch.io/using-branch/docs/creating-a-deep-link#default-link-behavior
But there isn't any property to configure such function on branch io dashboard.
How can I check fallbacks on Huawei devices? How do I configure this functionality?
Here is my configuration:
I recommend using App Linking. The Unified Linking function allows you to configure links on the AppGallery and Google Play details pages at the same time. Different phones can automatically switch to the corresponding app store.
https://developer.huawei.com/consumer/en/doc/development/AppGallery-connect-Guides/agc-applinking-unifiedlinking-0000001070790553
There is Branch io support answer:
Thank you for contacting Branch Support.
Branch links will open the default app store on the device. On devices
where Huawei App Gallery is the default app store it will be opened to
download the app.
If you want to try opening the Huwaei app market even when there is a
different default app store, you can try entering the App link in the
format https://appmarket://details?id=com.xx.xx
Once the app is installed there is no change in the functionality due
to the source of app install.
UPD 08.02.2021 second answer:
They are two methods on how to use a single link which works on both
Google Play Store and Huawei App Gallery
Method 1 -
Set the Custom URL to point to your app on the Huawei App Gallery, on
the Configuration page. And set the $android_url parameter for all
links to the app on Google Play Store.
In this case on Huawei devices the link will redirect the users to the
Huawei App Gallery when the app is not installed. And on other Android
devices as the link will not be available, the fallback url set by
$android_url will kick in, opening the Google Play Store.
Method 2 -
Choose your app from the Google Play Store on the Configuration page.
If you have any specific links targeting Huawei users, then change the
Default Redirect for those links to the Web URL of your app on the
Huawei App Gallery.
Do let me know if this helps.
UPD 09.02.2021
On the link kindly use the Default Redirect for Android as well.
The default in this case would be the Huawei App Gallery link to your
app.
On the link data page can you add key - $fallback_url
value - The play store link to your app
After making the changes on the link, please test the link on both
Android and Huawei devices at least after an hour or two as the link
level changes sometimes take a while to reflect.
UPD 07.04.2021
We had another round of discussion with the Product team on this
issue, and they mentioned that the fallback to Huawei app gallery is
not supported anymore.
They have not provided us with the exact details, but they seem to
have been changes on the OS level on Huawei devices which has broken
the functionality and which we have been unable to fix due to certain
limitations.
Unfortunately this flow is not supported at the moment.
I do apologise for any impact this might have on your link, but it
does look like we do not have any solutions for this matter at the
moment.
You can refer to the following:
The typical link format of the application details page on Huawei AppGallery is:
https://appgallery.cloud.huawei.com/appDetail? pkgName=packagename&channelId=channelid&referrer=referrer&detailType=0&calltype=AGDLINK
Parameter description:
Packagename: required, the package name to be popularized and applied, such as com.huawei.gamebox ..
Channelid: It is recommended to fill in. To improve the channel identification degree of data analysis, it is recommended to fill in the designated identification number for each channel. If it is not filled in, the system will automatically read the package name of the source media, but the package name cannot be obtained by jumping through the webpage or offline QR code.
Referrer: not required; if not, it will be blank by default. This parameter refers to the secondary channel number. When links are posted on multiple pages (scenes) of the same media, the specific location effect of the media can be identified by the secondary channel number.
DetailType=0&calltype=AGDLINK: basic parameter, which cannot be deleted.

Google Console Internal App Sharing no longer works

I was regularly uploading apk files to google console's internal app sharing page. However today when I open the the same link i.e. https://play.google.com/console/u/0/internal-app-sharing it has gone blank. I have tried opening it from different browsers etc, nothing works. Is this a new bug or perhaps a downtime?
Same here. Browser dev console shows the app sharing tries to load some data, but can not find it. So someone just broke the code or google server are down. Hopefully not for long, but its already over 20 hours.
It works now, seems there was a temporary blip at their end.

Android app deployment on over 100 devices

We have a fleet tracking Android app which is isntalled on around 100 mobiles.
Problem is to update each mobile whenever there is a patch release. And unfotunately we have not set auto-update.
Now we need to call each driver and follow the process of update from google play.
This is becoming very tedious as they have to go to google play, search the application and install/update it.
And the mobiles are located all over the country.
Before it was easy as Goolge play was giving an option to know the apps installed on each mobile.
Need your advice on how do we manage/automate this update issue.
Build an in-app push notification that there's a new version and have an easy link to Google Play from it. However, this does have a bootstrapping problem, and you will have to make everyone install the new version manually (as in you call them and ask them to do it) at least once. Still, this is your only viable option, as Google Play developer agreement prohibits pushing app updates through other channels.
If you have email or IM contact with the drivers, you can also send them a message there's a new version with the direct link to the Google Play. They will have to open it on their device, of course.
The link format should be market://details?id=com.mycompany.myapp, https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mycompany.myapp, or http://market.android.com/details?id=id=com.mycompany.myapp. Either of these three in general should work, though some OEMs have messed up their devices configuration and prevent Google Play app from intercepting the http/https form properly.
You could check a text file located on a server or something like that and then lookup if the current instaleld version is the same as the server version. If not you could download the new apk and open it. As far as I know this is not allowed by Google Play so you must remove the app from google play

Android Licensing (LVL) keeps returning Retry (code 291) after publishing app

I recently made an update to an existing (paid) app I have had published on Google Play for a while. While I was working on the new version, I thought I'd implement the Google Licensing Verification Library. I followed the instructions from Google at http://developer.android.com/guide/market/licensing/adding-licensing.html . Had things working pretty well at this point - when I changed the test response in the Google Play Developer Console I got a different result in my app. Great!
Then I published this new version.
I installed the signed APK (it's a paid app so I didn't want to download it from Google Play) on my phone (had been testing it on that very same device all along). Now things didn't work at all. I got the "Retry" result from the licensing service all the time. I mean for hours. I went back and fiddled with the source code, changed all kinds of things, nothing worked. The Licensing library always timed out (got a "Check timed out." in from the library in LogCat).
I searched everywhere for an answer, but it wasn't until I ran across this discussion ( http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1566770 ) and read it to it's very final post that I found the solution.
From the above mentioned post:
"I have just had this issue too & deleting the Google Play Application
data (Settings, Applications, choose Google Play & press Clear Data )
fixed it for me. Clearing Cache is not sufficient. Ihe only impact I
saw of doing this (apart from my App now working again) is that you
have to re-accept Google Play T&C etc when you next use that app and
my search history had gone."
I did it, it worked, and now everything is back to working!
I had the same issue with an app downloaded from google Play Store. In my case the problem was not the storage or cache as in the other answer. I had the Google Play Store Background-Data-Usage restricted, which prevented this API from working. After enabling background data usage, everything worked just fine.

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