I know there are tutorials and unofficial ways to install Google Play Services for AR. While this may work or not for a particular device is a technical problem to be addressed, but is it legal?
Is it legal to install Google Play Services for AR and use it as part of an AR app for commercial purposes?
Doing some googling I found that google play services for AR comply to https://developers.google.com/ar/arcore_open_source_licenses
It is stated that it is Apache License Version 2.0. This practically should allow commercial usage of it, but what if I am installing it not officially (not from Google Play)?
and it also stated on play store for Google Play Services for AR that:
By using this service you agree to be bound by our Google Terms of Service (Google ToS, https://www.google.com/accounts/TOS) and Google’s general Privacy Policy (https://www.google.com/intl/en/policies/privacy/). This service is a Service as defined in the Google ToS and the terms regarding software in our Services apply to your use of this service.
Also, there are privacy requirements stated here: https://developers.google.com/ar/distribute/privacy-requirements
But I suppose that as long as I add
"This application runs on Google Play Services for AR (ARCore), which is provided by Google LLC and governed by the Google Privacy Policy."
in the right place, it should be ok.
Did I get it correct? Is it legal (in terms of obeying all licenses) to use ARCore on any device whether it has Google Play Services or not? even if the specific device is officially unsupported?
Related
Let's say i have an xaiomi device that doesn't have a license for using google apps(Google App Services) but only have the android system on it(hence the device is suppose to be more cheap). So is an app that uses a google map services can be used in the device?
No. When you try using the Play Services SDK, it will look for the Play Services Framework and not find it and give you some sort of unrecoverable error.
Your choices are:
Build the app using something other than Play Services (e.g., OpenStreetMap or MapBox for maps instead of Maps V2).
Use different product flavors of your app for different distribution channels (e.g., a google flavor for distribution through the Play Store and an other flavor for distribution outside of the Play Store). You can use Play Services in the Play Store flavor and use some alternative for the non-Play Store flavor. This is more work, but if you feel that the Play Services results will be much better for the user, it may be worth the effort.
Was wondering whether Google publish the installed versions of Google Play Services anywhere. https://developer.android.com/about/dashboards/index.html has some nice stats on installed android versions, but nothing on Google Play Services stats.
There is no official documentation as such from Google regarding the statistics of Google Play Services but there is a lot going in the market. Have a look at the articles below, they will give you a better insight about the popularity of Google Play Services since the time they are released. They are interesting and worth reading!!
http://lifehacker.com/why-google-play-services-are-now-more-important-than-an-975970197
http://www.androidcentral.com/new-google-play-services
http://www.phonearena.com/news/The-Google-Android-fork-Google-Play-services-Android-4.4-and-the-Nexus-Experience_id48229
I am considering using Xamarin.Android and MvvmCross on an enterprise device that does not have Google Play Services or any other Google apps/services (i.e. Google Maps).
Does MvvmCross have any dependencies on Google Play Services or other Google apps/services that may not exist on an enterprise device?
No. The only time you would need to install the Google Play Services component is if you use a feature like Maps, Cloud Messaging, or In-app purchases.
MvvmCross is very modular and you include only the features you need primarily via plugins.
As mentioned by #Kiliman, MvvmCross has no dependencies on Google Play.
To get you started here are two good links:
1) Writing a first App
2) Video on using MvvmCross and Android (iOS and Windows as well)
I have released a game that uses Google Game Services on Google Play. Everything works, but when I look on my game in Google Play it doesn't show that it's using Game Services. Some other games do (like Riptide GP for instance). What is controlling this?
Implementing the Google Play Game Services features is not sufficient, your users have to use the service for you to get the badges.
Let me quote from this video from Google I/O 2013: Practical Android Games Development
http://youtu.be/ZbQWf7C5ymU?t=23m39s
"As you get more users you will get badges. [...] However, they are not just given out because you put them in the config, and we don't snoop your APK to see if you are making API calls from there. We verify how much the feature is being used and if you meet certain threshold we give you a badge. So you need to actually integrate it, it is not a token thing that you can put there to get more eyeballs in the store."
I'm about to put my Android app, which uses google api v1 onto the market. I now see that v1 has been depreciated and that I am urged to use v2 instead. I see that v2 appears an order of magnitude more complex and that google play services are needed.
Since google play services are needed does that mean that my app will only be able to be distributed on google play and not, say, be distributed from my own web site?
thanks, Gary
Since google play services are needed does that mean that my app will
only be able to be distributed on google play
No, you can still distribute through any channel you want. It is a requirement for the device, not the distribution. The device your app installs on needs to have Google Play Services installed, which a number do. It is very similar to the v1 maps which required the phones have Google Maps installed, reflected in the manifest via
<uses-library android:name="com.google.android.maps">
Google likes to keep everybody using their own system as per usual. But it should still be possible to distribute via your website. You would need to save it as a .apk file.
Heres how to save as .apk file
and Heres a tutorial on how users can download and install.