I had uploaded apk(created using unity) with its expansion file on play store.after publishing the apk,play store download large expansion file (additional file) firstthen small apk file. why ?Actually I want to change the order of downloading for my app, how can I change that?
No, you can't change it.
And I don't see why it matters. The APK needs the expansion file to work, so it downloads the data first and then the executable. What order it's downloaded in doesn't matter.
However, if you for whatever reason want to download it in the apk-> expansion file order, you have to download it from a self-hosted server from the APK. You cannot change the order in which it's downloaded from google play
Related
I have published my app on play store with expansion files (obb format). On play store it the download size is apk size + obb file size. Can I get answers for following queries?
Is there any settings on console to download apk only and then manually trigger to download apk?
If you add expansion file, is it automatically downloaded with apk?
Sometimes it does not download automatically, what is the reason for that?
I was looking to download the app first and once app is installed, manually trigger the download of the expansion files (obb) from the play store.
After testing and speaking to customer care of Google developlers Play console I got this specification :
Google play automatically downloads the expansion files while downloading the apk most of the times.
There are exceptions sometimes it does not download with the apk and need to trigger download manually. One of the problem can be limited storage on the device.Then it needs to be triggered manually.
The size of the apk reflects the size of the apk and size of the expansion file together.
I am using APK with external OBB Extension file.
PlayStore Console UI has changed since I used this feature last.
I can not figure out how to upload the OBB file.
Even the PlayStore help describes the wrong, old way.
https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/2481797?hl=de
Can someone please give me a hint.
Seems to be solved - the small + button was missing in the German UI Version. I changed my language to English and the + button was there. Now in 2018 the + button is also visible in the German UI. Thanx Google
I've been able to chat with Google support about this, and it's indeed kind of hard to miss. This is not like before where you could set the expansion file at APK upload anymore.
To upload an expansion file or use an existing expansion file, you can only do that while uploading the APK, not after you click on Save.
Once you uploaded the APK, on the line where the APK name is, there's a small + icon with the tooltip "Update APK", you have to click on this icon, and there there's the ability to set/upload expansion file.
In this case you have tu use the JOBB tool to encapsulate the resource files, having your .APK then you can go to https://play.google.com/apps/publish/
then Release management > App Releases , you have the option to test your app first MANAGE ALPHA or MANAGE BETA or publish directly to producction MANAGE PRODUCTION, create a Draft Release.
And then Add or change expansion files
You can upload new or add existing expansion files to APKs in a draft release.
Go to your Play Console.
Select your app.
On the left menu, click Release management > App releases.
Next to the release type you want to update, select Manage.
Drop or select your app's APK file.
You'll see a list of APKs that are associated with your release. Next to the relevant version code, select the add icon .
Choose whether you want to upload a new file or attach an existing expansion file.
If the APK hasn't been published yet, you can change or remove an expansion file by selecting another file or No expansion file. You
can't remove expansion files from an existing release.
Select Save.
This is the current documentation for APK Expansion Files
Read the checklist to use Expansion files in your application:
Development checklist
Here's a summary of the tasks you should perform
to use expansion files with your application:
First determine whether your application absolutely requires more than 100MB per installation. Space is precious and you should keep
your total application size as small as possible. If your app uses
more than 100MB in order to provide multiple versions of your graphic
assets for multiple screen densities, consider instead publishing
multiple APKs in which each APK contains only the assets required for
the screens that it targets.
Determine which application resources to separate from your APK and package them in a file to use as the main expansion file. Normally,
you should only use the second patch expansion file when performing
updates to the main expansion file. However, if your resources exceed
the 2GB limit for the main expansion file, you can use the patch file
for the rest of your assets.
Develop your application such that it uses the resources from your expansion files in the device's shared storage location. Remember that
you must not delete, move, or rename the expansion files. If your
application doesn't demand a specific format, we suggest you create
ZIP files for your expansion files, then read them using the APK
Expansion Zip Library.
Add logic to your application's main activity that checks whether the expansion files are on the device upon start-up. If the files are
not on the device, use Google Play's Application Licensing service to
request URLs for the expansion files, then download and save them. To
greatly reduce the amount of code you must write and ensure a good
user experience during the download, we recommend you use the
Downloader Library to implement your download behavior. If you build
your own download service instead of using the library, be aware that
you must not change the name of the expansion files and must save them
to the proper storage location.
I have a 10MB app with a 100MB expansion file. If I try to download the app, but the expansion file already exists in my device, why does the Play Store tell me that it's downloading a large file?
The download is still 10MB, but most users would think that the Play Store downloads the expansion file every time I update the app. How do I fix this?
You should upload your expansion file like path version, and download it programmatically if expansion file does not exists in device, if exists then ok
Is it possible to disable the automatic download of the APK expansion file when you download the application from google play?
Can I force google play to disable the download and let the application download itself the expansion file?
Thanks
If it's your own application you want to test, the best option is to install localy the .apk file on your device without the expansion pack. Upload the application and expansion pack to Google Play and activate it without publishing. When you first start your application, the expansion files will be downloaded from Google Play. This way you can test your expansion files downloader.
#Kai
Is there a specific reason for you to wish for downloading the files yourself?
Yea, our App has many stages(game), each requires its own specific data(media), so downloading only the required data will help increase convenience of the user by avoiding unwanted paid mobile data usage...
I am using concept of Android Expansion which helps us to remove obstacle of 50mb limitation of Apk.
Following all the steps http://developer.android.com/guide/market/expansion-files.html
I understood that you need to follow file format like this [main|patch].<expansion-version>.<package-name>.obb and did the same.
And also Expansion files may be in (ZIP, PDF, MP4, etc.) format.
I uploaded additional expansion files while publishing apk on Google play. At the time of download apk I get all the additional in my Local(Advanced latest Device), But through code I am not able to get the expansable files of my application.
In code looking at the sampleDownloader code I came to know that it requires three parameter (int type, int expansionCode, long fileSize)
here type: main/patch expansionCode: integer value but I am just wondering how to give FileSize in Long(exact)? and second thing its show message like Download failed because the resource could not be found
Any idea?
Update
Done, all steps are shown here
Did you go through Downloading the Expansion Files? It mentions that
If the expansion files are not there with your Application downloaded from Android Market,
You have to perform Application Licensing to get your app's expansion file names, sizes, and URLs.
Perform a request using Google Play's Application Licensing to get your app's expansion file names, sizes, and URLs.
Use the URLs provided by Google Play to download the expansion files and save the expansion files.
UPDATE:
No, its not compulsory that Google Licensing only works with paid Application. There is a clear Note: defined in the Docs itself that any application may use licensing service to initiate the download of an APK expansion file. But, in that case your request will be only for expansion files and not for a check whether the user paid for the app or not.