Good day.
My question today is the following:
If I installed my app from the google playstore then tried to update it manually with an updated signed APK generated straight from android studio would it throw an error?
Does google play add extra meta-data to my app upon submission in which it can only be updated through google play?
My reasons for asking this question are due to my own observations and are stated in the following.
I recently published my app to the app store (my first app). Afterwards I immediately began working on an update the update is ready but this is where things get complicated. I installed my app from google play and then attempted to update it through a signed apk directly from android studio.
The update ran successful however the first screen runs (splash screen nothing special) then it launches the second screen which retrieves data from the database. When it lands on the second screen my app crashes.
I tried the following install patterns:
Installing a direct older version apk which was not submitted to the play store then the new apk (both are signed) which resulted in success.
I installed the new updated apk independent of the old apk (by removing the old version) which resulted in success.
From attempting these two scenarios it is certain my code is working properly so the issue must be related to installing an apk from google play as well as a new version not from google play.
Thanks for your help.
No, Google Play cannot change anything in your uploaded APK as Google Play does not have your signing key. The fact that you're able to install a new version of the APK signed by your key confirms that the key is the same and the app is exactly as you uploaded it.
Related
Previously, I have downloaded a modded version of an app (minion rush, yeah hilarious) and want to be able to download the Google Play Store version afterwards, but instead it gives me an error message which someone has told me it was a signature error.
I've been trying to sign a different APK, that I found off a website, that is the latest original version of the app, and when I go to update it from the Play Store, it shows an error message. This does the same thing when I uninstall the apk and install the version from the Play Store. The message is the same thing that happened before, from when I downloaded the modded version the first time, deleted it, and went to download the Play Store version.
The APK doesn't work without being signed but works fine when it is (btw what I did to sign it was use MT Manager with V1+V2+V3). The only problem is that I can't log into my account on the app and receive my accounts progress.
So, is there any way I can install the app from the Play Store, or a way to allow myself to log into the signed APK?
Welcome to Stack Overflow. Short answer: You can't. Google Play or the developer of the app has signed the app with their private key (which you don't have) and after you've modded the app and resigned it with your own key it has a different signature. This is a safeguard to protect users from installing tampered apps. Imagine someone managed to update your installed and set up banking app with his tampered version. Yikes. The login probably does not work for the same reason with the game's servers denying access because of the different signature.
Strange issue just started happening! I submitted an app to android store just fine about 10 minutes ago, I have just come to submit a different app and now google won't let me select the APK file from the open dialog and if I drag and drop it says invalid file type. It also does the same thing if I try a new release on the app i previously submitted without an issue.
In my screenshot attached you can see the APK is greyed out and I can't select it?
You have to upload AAB (Android app bundle).
Starting in August 2021, developers wanting to publish new Android apps on the Google Play Store will have to change how those apps are packaged together: Rather than the traditional APK (Android application package) format that has been in place for years, software makers are going to be required to use the AAB (Android app bundle) framework instead.
Is there a difference between Google Play install vs local install on an Android Device?
I have a Google Play installed application and which is set up and in use, so Xamarin.Essentials.Preferences are setup. I then installed an update to that application from the beta track. Upon starting the app, Xamarin.Essentials.Preferences are not being picked up.
I had to change the keys associated with the preferences compared to the old version of the application. The new version application, on start, updates the keys and continues as normal.
I know the update code works as expected, as when the app is installed locally from an apk (not from google play), it works as expected when the updated apk is installed.
Basically, what I want to know is:
Does Google Play Services / Play Store, remove Xamarin.Essentials.Preferences at install/update? Does this only occur on the beta track?
Is there a solution to this issue? I would like to keep the end-user from having to reconfigure/re-login to the app on an update.
I have already published an app to version 2, and have uploaded an app with version 3 to to Google Play as a beta testing version, and then discovered with errors, so I have modified the codes is now ready for publish.
I tried to upload the correct apk with version 3 to Google Play, but it says I have already uploaded a version 3 apk already.
Question:
How to remove the wrong apk from the Google Play? Or what should I do? Or I can only modify and upload the app as version 4?
Thanks!!
You can not remove the apk from google play. You just have now update your application version and upload the new apk on google play that is the only way.
Please note that package names for app files are unique and permanent, so please choose wisely. Package names cannot be deleted or re-used in the future. Keep in mind that if you've lost your keystore, you'll have to publish the app with a new package name and a new key. You should also update the description of the original app and unpublish it.
If the app was ever published, this will not work. You can unpublish an app, but you cannot delete any .apk files that were ever active while the app was published. (This behavior is undocumented as far as I can find.) This is unfortunate; it would be nice to be able to completely remove all traces of an app that was never downloaded by anyone. Even better would be a sandbox area that emulated all aspects of Google Play, including buying your own app (and would support doing it through the emulator).
Check out HERE
I am developing an Android application and in this application, I am using "In app billing" features.
I uploaded apk on the google console account and set the product id, price and other required things and saved all the data in the draft.(Application is still in draft mode).
I did not publish my app yet.
After a few minutes, I realized that I uploaded old signed apk file and keystore of this apk has already lost.
Now I want to remove this old apk file and want to upload a new one in draft mode.
My problems are :
How to remove the old apk file from the google console account.(In Draft Mode)
How to upload the new signed apk file with new key store (As I have
lost my old key store)
EDIT:
I want to publish the app with the same name and with same package name. I do not want to change my app name atleast.
This can now be done by going to Release management > Artifact library and deleting the APK.
You cannot delete the artifacts anymore.
Here's a part of my chat with Pete through the built-in help & support.
Pete:
Thanks for waiting. You can't remove an apk that you've already
served. Your next Production apk has to be version code 3 or higher.
Me:
So I can't just delete the artifact of that build?
Pete:
That's correct.
(P.S. He mentioned version code 3 because of my specific issue)
You can try KOTIOS's answer.
Delete the aab / apk file from the Google Play Console on the App Bundle Explorer under Release Tab
Then select the apk/aab file you want to delete from the List
Quoting Can we still remove never-published apps from Google Play?:
Well, the answer is that the strategy still works. If you've never
published the app, you can remove all traces of it from Google Play
and another publisher account can then upload an app with the same
package name. All you need to do is deactivate (if necessary) and then
delete all .apk files and the app will disappear from your developer
console.
If the app was ever published, this will not work. You can unpublish
an app, but you cannot delete any .apk files that were ever active
while the app was published. (This behavior is undocumented as far as
I can find.) This is unfortunate; it would be nice to be able to
completely remove all traces of an app that was never downloaded by
anyone. Even better would be a sandbox area that emulated all aspects
of Google Play, including buying your own app (and would support doing
it through the emulator).
I also discovered that the delays involved in propagating changes to
all Google Play servers seems worse than it did a year ago with
Android Market. In one case, when testing license responses I had to
wait two hours after uploading (but not publishing) an app before the
response came back as anything from "NOT_MARKET_MANAGED".
You can do this by upload new apk with upper version
and the old Apk will deactivated automaticly