We unpublished an Android-app from the Google play-store. We still see that it is installed on 500+ devices. Is there a way to remove it from these devices? If not, is there a way to show people who open the app a message?
If for both questions the answer is no, what would be the way to go?
Br.
Sorry, the answer would be no for the first aspect of the question and a maybe no for the second aspect of the question. The thing is that if you have some kind of connectivity in your app, i.e. some type of way to communicate with your users built by you, then you could use that channel to communicate whatever you desire. If not, well then you can't force them to uninstall the app. They got the app when it was available, and you've got no control over what apps a person has on their phone, even if you made that app.
Best of luck.
Related
My application will be running on hundreds of android devices belonging to a single owner and I may need to modify the software as an update at some point.
I decided I should include a feature to check with the server for updates and download them, which is currently working.
Installing the update is the difficult part. I need it done automatically. Preferably with no user interaction since there are hundreds of devices and it would be very time consuming to do each one manually.
This is the problem, even with the device rooted, I can not find a generic way that each device can install the update without system specific information.
I have read questions like this but can not find a proper answer: Install Android APK without prompt
The bottom answer executes but I can find no installed app, so I assume it failed.
What you want to do is not possible without some serious hacks. A private app store might be a better fit.
If your client is a Google Apps user, you can create a private channel in the Play Store.
Distribute Android apps in your organization
If not, you will have to rely on third party solution like these one:
Apperian Mobile Application Management
ManageEngine Mobile Device Manager
I didn't try any of these, so you will have to do some research to check that they fit your needs
Is there any service that can be used to monitor how a beta-user engages in an android application I made?
I've looked into different analytic solutions, but they all come with the disclaimer that I should not send "unique identification information about the users" - fair enough, and I can appreciate the privacy concerns. But I need to dig that information during my beta testing.
Currently, I'm emailing the apk files to a few people to install the app and test on their phones. They give me feedback, but not all of them are good at describing exactly what they are doing. I need more detailed information - like how they opened the app (was it a fresh open, or did they relaunch it from the running app list?), what exactly they did in the app and if possible, to get some debugging information too, since some issues are unique to the specific model of phone they use.
In a nutshell, it means that I need to dig into my beta-testers devices - and they all agree to it too, so its not like I'm spying on them or some such. (At the very least, I want to record their behavior in my app with permission)
Is anything like this available? If not, are there any other approaches I can use to solve/debug issues that generate from end-user behavior? (NOTE: I'm not talking about app crashing/hanging. The app is stable - its just not working correctly)
Stuff that doesn't seem to work:
http://acra.ch/
This looks more like a crash reporting tool than a usage/monitoring tool. :(
http://try.crashlytics.com/
Similar issues to above
Paid levels of BugSense come with a feature called Bread Crumbs, which I've never used but which sound like what you need.
Does anybody has the Idea of making an android app undeletable.I want to install selected apps on the system memory so that anyone having an access to my phone cannot delete those apps even after resetting the phone...
What I earlier saw was that the apps installed on the system memory cannot be changed or modified by ordinary users...I tried resetting my phone but saw some apps preinstalled from the company remained and all the apps that were downloaded from the play store were deleted..
The answer I got from searching the web was that I could make install an Android app to the system memory...does it make the app undeletable even after resetting or formatting the phone?
You can achieve this by making your application by Developing a Device Administration Application, follow this link http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/admin/device-admin.html.
you could only do this if you root your phone and place the apps inside system/apps.
However, if this is about your phone, why don't you use a password protector for apps, so nobody can access the app manager?
Removing a users choice to uninstall your app, goes against everything most programmers strive for. It's probably against the Google T&Cs also. And as already said, other than Malware or some dodgy virus attempt, there would be no practical (ethical) use for such an app, IMO.
I would just like to ask if there are any best practices for a shared subscription billing for iOS and Android.
Right now, we are developing a mobile app both on Android and iOS (both native sdk, not cross-platform). And we have this certain feature in the app which you need to subscribe in order to access. But this will be a shared subscription. A one time payment regardless of what device a user is using to subscribe.
Sorry, but I am not really good in explaining things so maybe I will give you a scenario. I hope it helps you to understand what I am talking about.
For example, a user has two phones, an Android phone and an iPhone. He then installed our app in both his iPhone and Android phone. Now, he opens our app in his iPhone and he wants to access that certain feature so he subscribed. With this, what we want as a developer is to make it so that when he opens the app in his android phone, he will already be able to access that certain feature since he has already subscribed when he used the iPhone app.
We are still hesitant to continue since Google and Apple have different billing schemes. But maybe there are solutions for this, or are there?
I am hoping that someone could give us light on how to do this in the best practical way possible.
Thanks in advance...
I am currently facing the same issues. That's what I have so far.
There seem to be cross-platform solutions but none of them seem to work through Google Play or Apple payment methods..
You can use your API/backend service to flag the current user subscription state and sync it across all your platforms (that might violate Apple in-app system conditions).
I'm currently looking for a way to communicate to both Google Play and Apple in-app payment system that the item has been already bought in a different platform. There should be a way but as said, still looking for it.
We'll keep that up to date.
AppBrain has a fantastic new app that lets you automatically install applications on your phone using your web browser. Similar to the Chrome push. In their case, they are using it to let you install apps without a prompt directly on the phone. Engadget has a good video demonstrating their system.
http://lifehacker.com/5582169/appbrain-upgrade-installs-android-apps-instantly-from-the-web
My question is: What mechanism are they using to avoid asking for a prompt on the phone and to do the installation directly?
The reason I'm asking is that have a couple hundred android phones that run some custom software, the users have to manually update the software by clicking through the install process. And ideally I'd prefer to be able to do push updates without having to prompt people (in exchange for a free phone+service you have to run the software, so 'you shouldn't do that' doesn't invalidate the question of how do you do that). The biggest problems are that if you're doing rapid development/testing it's a pain to get everyone up to the right versions and it's hassle for people.
What AppBrian does sounds like a perfect fix to this problem, but how does it work? The only permission the AppBrain fast installer asks for is access to your accounts and network access. Now, there was the interesting development about Jon Oberheide's REMOVE_ASSET and INSTALL_ASSET which he says uses the GTalk service to imitate prompt-less installs. The interesting this is that AppBrian's FastWeb installer works on a 2.01 Droid but does not work on a 2.2 Nexus One (maybe one of the last round of Froyo updates disables AppBrain's access to the INSTALL_ASSET intent).
http://jon.oberheide.org/blog/2010/06/25/remote-kill-and-install-on-google-android/
Can anyone shed any light on this? I know auto update is coming for the Market but I'm not sure if this would be a usable workaround. I'm fine with saying 'you need to click to install this once', but having hundreds of people waste their time clicking 'ok' is a waste.
I personally think that this is something Google should support for Enterprise users in the future with the Device Administrator features. If I went with Android and could easily stage and keep people up to date with apps it wold be pretty useful.
So I think I have a reasonably good idea on how app brain is able to work its magic. I have found a couple of links you might find interesting and then you can always refer to the discussion on this other question.
Link 1: Here is a link on how the first app that was built by a researcher shows how a person with malicious intent can easily use two commands that google has put in for "our" convenience for silent install and uninstall...!!
Link 2:Here is how the exploit works and you could use it...