I have an app that I would only like certain people to access. I need to be able to distribute the app via Play Store because the receivers don't want to have to download from an external source. I have seen it done before that an app is distributed via URL using the beta channel, in which it was a closed beta, but anyone with a link could join the test. I know that I can use Google+ or Google Groups, but the end users will not want to join such services. We don't have G Suite, the end users are not part of the organisation.
Here's my situation:
Client requests an app for an ongoing event
Client doesn't want people from outside the event to access the app
My idea is to distribute the app via the Play Store, but only people who have a link to the app can download it
If all else fails I am considering just using a password which will be distributed to the users, but this will mean that the app can be viewed on the Play Store by people not within the event.
I hope I have provided enough information, I get if this sounds confusing so please ask for more detail if necessary.
There is no way to restrict the app to specific set of users. Best what can you do is as follows.
Restrict your app with some credentials
Upload the app in play store with some weird name and description
which rarely anybody will relate to
Restrict the country in play store
Create a short url for your play store link and distribute to your users
Related
Google Play has something called Private Apps: https://support.google.com/googleplay/work/answer/6145139?hl=en
However, to my understanding this means that only members of my organization can install the app. It doesn't say what "organization" mean but I assume it's members of a Google Workspace or a specific email domain.
I want to achieve something similar to Apples "Unlisted apps": https://developer.apple.com/support/unlisted-app-distribution
This means the app is present on the Appstore, but it's not listed or searchable. Only if you have the link to the app you can download it, and the user will receive automatic updates.
Is there something similar on Google Play? I want to distribute and update the app via Google Play, but only to users that I share the url with.
You can publish the app on the Google Play store via the Play Console and while selecting where to launch (publish) the app, add the app/app bundle only to the closed testing option. There you can add specific email ids and only those will be able to see the app, get updates, etc. no one else.
we use internal testing on playstore to test the app internally before we move to closed and open beta. More details can be access in the below link
https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/9845334?hl=en
I want to upload my app on play store but make it visible only through a sharable link. That is, i don't want my app to be public to anyone visiting me play account but only to people who have specific link to my different apps.
I have an app that I want to be able to distribute to clients from other organisations. I don't want this app to be publicly visible on the play store, ideally the client would receive a link from me that would allow them to download the app from the play store.
I have had a bit of a search for this, so far I can only find 'Managed groups' (https://support.google.com/a/answer/2494992?hl=en) and 'closed tests' (https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/3131213?hl=en). A closed test looks to be along the lines of an ideal scenario, however the client would be aware that the app is in a testing phase, and may be able to do more with the app than intended for an end user. The managed groups also seem ideal, but they seem to be limited to my organisation, and when they talk about whitelisting that seems to be more whitelisting the apps on a user's device rather than whitelisting who can download the app.
Any help would be appreciated :)
To publish a private app within a client's organization (as a 3rd
party developer): If you’re an agency developer who wants to manage
the publishing flow on behalf of your client, or if you’ve built an
app for multiple organization clients and don't want the app to show
up in the public Play store, you can use your clients’ Organization
IDs to publish these apps directly to your client's organizations.
https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/6145139?hl=en
Iam doing Quiz application.In this application I would like to challenge a question to the users.For this, First of all I should verify whether my app is installed or not in other user's device whom i challenging the question.If app is installed I have to send a particular screen from my app.If app is not installed in user's device just send the playstore link.
Is my requirement is possible to implement in android?
Since There is no way to connect to the other user's phone, this is not possible. But I would like to propose you a alternative way to implement this application.
It should like this,
Initially both users should have the application installed in their devices. Application users can see the online users who already installed the app. Primary user can send a challenge to the online users by selecting one or more users from the online users list. Then the user/users who received the challenge should Accept the challenge in-order to join to the challenge.
You should have knowledge about Google cloud Messaging, Web services to implement this.
Or Else
You can build a separate UI to invite for other people who don't have app installed by sending A email with google play store url of your app. When the other user click this link, Google Play app will automatically start with your app download location
It is not possible. But in practice, android devs just send the Play Store link anyways, because if a user who has the app installed clicks on that link, he only has to press the open button in the Play Store. So you see, it's not much of a difference if you open the app or the Play Store Page. Your text could look like
username challenged you to play appname! Can you beat his score? link
We have a Play Store button on our landing page which has a link tagged with all the required UTM parameters to track installs from the Play Store. So if a visitor clicks on the Play Store button (using a web browser) goes to the web version of the Play Store and installs to his device from there, we should be able to track that install as coming from the web version of our landing page.
However, our data looks sketchy. Tracking less installs than we actually see on Mixpanel.
And then we found this article It says: "Again, attributing installs based on the install referrer using direct links to Google Play does not work if a user chooses to open the measurement URL with a web browser (instead of the Google Play Store app)."
Anybody knows if this is correct? And if yes, what's a comprehensive way to track Play Store installs (source, medium etc)
Yes, this is correct - your app won't get tracking params if your user does not open the Google Play Store app.
If you want to track user's installation source, try some 3rd-party solutions, like Branch.io (free) or Flurry (well, at least Flurry used to do that and used to be free, not sure about now) for example.
Basically, the way they work is that they collect so-called fingerprint of the user (IP, browser, time of the click, device info etc) and then compare it with the data that their SDK sends from within your app (after the user has successfully installed and launched it).
I'm not trying to promote any of those solutions, we are just happen to be using Branch on our production app and it works quite well for us.
Also, you can try to set those link to target market:// links instead of http links (this one would force the Play Store app to open), but I would not recommend that solution as it could cause problems with people who have Google Play Services missing.
market:// links look like these one:
market://details?id=your.package&referrer=utm_stuff...
EDIT:
If you want to keep all your data in one place (let's say, Analytics) - you could pass those utm tracking params into your Branch links and collect/send them manually to Google Analytics (and Play Store - they are connected) using CampaignTrackingReceiver class