I want to know is there any way to update a existing Android app in playstore with my new Android app?
Let me describe: I have a app published on playstore OK with any users. So now I have created a different app with same functionality With different package name and project name. So now I want to update existing app with new app without losing existing users. Is it possible?
What you are trying to achieve is not possible. You can't change the package name for an already published app. The best you could do is to drive your users to the new published app by adding a banner or link to the updated app inside the old one.
Google Play Store does not allow package names to be changed. It depends on a consistent package name to identify the individual listings.
For a user friendly solution you might add a splash screen to the old app with a link to the Play Store listing of your updated app.
Unfortunately you cant do that.
Thats because the package name is a unique identifier. So if you crate an app project in the PlayStore and upload an apk, this project is permanently bond to that package name.
Question: Was it necessary to change the package name?
If not, you could keep the existing packagename, change/relayout your app as you desire, and upload the new apk. Your users will then perform a regular update and everything will be kept (ratings, downloads, etc ...)
Related
I'm attempting to upload a build of an Android app to Google Play. I created a new keystore and signed it, but I get this error "You need to use a different package name" when I try to upload it.
I suspect that what happened is that another member of my team did this already but failed to commit their keystore file to version control. The app has never been published before, it is a new app.
I need a quick fix for this -- I won't be able to reach the team member who may have done this for several days. I tried removing the build that had been uploaded, but that didn't help.
Can I delete the entire app from Google Play and start over?
Can I change the package name? I've heard that this will work, but I'm not really sure what it entails. Do I have to actually change the package name of every class in my source code?
Thanks,
Frank
You can delete the application in the following cases
- Published apps or games that haven't been installed on any devices
- Published apps or games that no users are entitled to re-install
from here
also google does not allow uploading an app with a different signature and the same package name. What you can do now is to change the entire package name and this can be done easily in Android studio
More details
https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/9023647
I have already published an app for the google play store, and now it is in use by around 1000 users and is still growing. However, I find that the code which I used is quite cluttered for me to add new features, and so I am planning to write a different version of the app. I have two questions:-
Is it possible to publish an app with a different package name under the same listing I have used for the original, and how should I do this?
If I cannot do the above, can I publish a different app with the same package name for this to work?
This whole scenario is given that I have all the signing credentials for the old and new apps.
NO it is not possible to publish an app with a different package name but you can change the version code and republish this app with new code by signing the app with the same credential. hope it will help.
I have published an Ionic app to google play and it's working fine. But, I had to make a change to its package name and now when I try to reupload it, it says the package name should be the same as previous version.
Your APK needs to have the package name com.mypackagename.
You need to use a different version code for your APK because you already have one with version code 'myversioncode'.
I'm happy to take down the whole app and upload the newer version but I don't think google would allow me to do it.
How can I work around this? Should I update the version code as well?
Think of the packagename as kind of a unique id for you app. If you look closely, a playstore-link is always a combination of the url and your packagename, like https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=COM.YOUR.PACKAGENAME.
When you create a new app project in the developer console, and upload the first apk, this project is permanently linked to the given package name.
I think the reason for this is androids app update scheme. By comparing the package names it checkts if you have a certain app installed, and if the installed version has a lower versioncode then the one available, it detects that you could update it.
So basically you have two options:
A) keep the old package name and do a regular update
B) change the package name and create a new app project in the developer console. publish your "new" app. Keep in mind that this app starts at zero, so your previous downloads and ratings are gone
You can not update the same app with different package name instead disable the previous app and upload new app with a new package name.
This is not a programming question but I feel SO is the right place to put it in.
There is an android app in the market. Our job is to upgrade the app in a huge way. There is so much to change to the point where we decided to start a new project from scratch.
My question is: in order to be able to replace (upgrade) the existing app in the Play store, What should we do? Keep the same package name? or the sign key is enough? or both? or what?
Thanks for your help and sorry if this is not the right place.
You must have both the same package name and the same signature key. Also, if it has any sort of intents/actions that can be launched from other applications, you may want to keep those the same (in case a user has setup a shortcut to them).
Package name is how the Play Store determines one app from another. They have to be unique for each app. You can't change it after you've uploaded the original if you're wanting to upgrade the existing app.
The signing key is how the Play Store verifies that you are the original developer. If you ever lose or change this key you will absolutely not be able to update the original application!
in order to be able to replace (upgrade) the existing app in the Play store, What should we do?
You need both "same package name and the same signing key"
Or if you want to change any of this, You always have option to unpublish your application from Play store.(From developer console you can unpublish it)
and then u can upload a new app.
I've just finished making some updates for a company's Android app, only to realize that they no longer have the private key that was used to sign the original release that went to the Android Market. If I understand correctly, this means that these changes can't be released as an update to the original app. I think the best option is to pull the original app from the market (it doesn't have many downloads or reviews) and re-release the app signed with a new key. However, I'm worried that Android Market might not allow an app to be released which is practically identical to an app that has already been released (e.g. same name, same icon, mostly the same functionality, etc.).
Has anyone been in this situation before? Did google allow you to re-release as a separate app to the Android Market?
You are correct in that you will have to release this as a new application with a different package name. You will have to pull the other app from the Market as it will no longer be updateable and your users will have to redownload the new version of the app.
I don't see any reason why Google would have any issues with this, it's a known issue that some developers/companies can come across when they loose their signing key. Also, as far as I know, Google doesn't closely monitor incoming apps unless they are being flagged.
I've seen some apps that have 10 versions of the same app in the Market, just so that they can have more visibility, which is something that I think Google needs to look out for.
If you just forgot password.
https://code.google.com/archive/p/android-keystore-password-recover/
If you replaced the existing key file.
1.Rename your package name.
2.Generate new signed apk but this time keep copy of the key and never lose it if you want to update your existing app.
I had a similar thing happen, and we had to change the package name even after pulling the original application from the market. I assume this is to protect users from 'accidentally' downloading a malicious update to an application they already have.
As of about August of this year (2011), the Android market has had the capability of uploading multiple APK's for the same package name. You should be able to remove the original APK and substitute a new one with the same package name now using that mechanism.
I haven't tried it yet, but we were able to upload multiple copies of our different applications that targeted specific platforms and it worked like a charm.