The developer console for android has functionality for reporting runtime crashes if users decide to report a crash. Other frameworks has similar features that sends crash-reports without involving the user.
Does anyone know of a way to report installations or upgrades that has failed? With android 5.0 I am getting more and more user-reports of failed installs, but it is hard to obtain logs from non-technical users of my app.
You cannot detect whether or not an installation has failed yourself, because there is no way to execute code before your app is actually installed. So the logical app to do such a thing would be the market app triggering the install (i.e. Google Play). This not only knows when each installation starts, but also knows all details about the apk to report to the right developer.
Unfortunately however, Google play does not support this currently (as far as I know) and hence you cannot detect failed installs.
On older Android phones you could ask users is to install a "logcat app" and email the logs to you for analysis, but this will only work for devices older than Jelly bean. (Read this Link)
The best solution I can come up with (Mac only) is to ask users to install AndroidTool, press one button to generate a bugreport and email that to you. Not great, but for now the best you can do.
You can build an api that reports successful installation. Just call the api in onCreate of first activity. I don't think there is need to collect log on why the installation failed, is it needed ? You can do the same for upgrade, call an api one time from upgraded code.
Related
I just went live with my android app (Xamarin) -- and all my users are getting a -504 error when they try to install the application. Please help!
The app name is 'ControlTower' (the one with a tick symbol); can you tell me what I might have done wrong
Seems to download fine here. So I don't know who "all your users" are, but they might want to check this link: http://appslova.com/fix-android-504-error/
The error 504 code appears while attempting to download apps or games
in the Google Play Store. This is a gateway timeout error and is
generally associated with slower internet connections or mobile data
networks. Simple fix that worked for some is turning your mobile data
off and then back on. You can try it now by turning your Airplane mode
on and then off or by going to settings >> data usage>> turn off
Mobile data and turn it back on. Now try to download or update the app
via Google Play. If that didn’t work, some users have even solved the
Google Play Store error 504 by freeing some space in their android
device by uninstalling unwanted apps or games. If these Android fixes
didn’t work there are more to go in this post for “App” could not be
downloaded due to an error. (504)
Has more to do with the user's device than anything else. You say it just went live. It might have to fall through to all proxies and servers etc. So it might just be a small hiccup while going live on the app store.
I have a strange behaviour and I do not have any explanation for this. Can someone help me out ?
I implemented LV into my app.
I uploaded this app as a payable app into Google Play.
I am testing the app now
I sent the app by gmail to my testing google account. I like to simulate to have a cracked version.
I installed the "cracked" version and I am happy to see, that my app denied the access.
I uninstalled the "cracked" app.
I purchased the same app from google play (I see a button with the price on it ) and let it install and I am happy to see the the app allows me to use it.
Everything good so far.
I refunded my own order with the "Wallet Merchant Center" and I see in the status, that it was cancelled.
I retry to install and run the "cracked" version.
!!! My app allows me to use the app !!!
!!! In GooglePlay I see that the install button has no price and I can still install the app, even the order was canceled !!!
I expected that in google play I see the button with the price again and that my "cracked" app denies me the access ?
This would mean, that if someone asks me to refund the order (after the official 30 minutes) and I do so, the user is still able use the app but for free !!!
Can someone explain me this ?
You probably decided for the ServerManagedPolicy. It uses a license file to avoid asking the license server too much.
Now, the bought version of your app saves a valid license file in the file system. If for some reason (e.g. you changed the path of this license file) the file is not deleted when refunding, it is still valid.
That means, if you now install your "cracked" version and it finds this license file, it allows the app to run.
Usually, the initial values in the license file avoid running it much longer than the refund period. So, you will see that after some time of usage the license locks your cracked version, which solves your problem automatically, admittedly with an unexpectedly long delay.
I have created a test build of a GDK Glass app that I want to deliver to a few test users. However the app disappears after a reboot. Logcat shows this:
08-19 18:18:18.256: I/GlasswareSyncAdapter(978): Uninstalling Glassware ID #6DBADA7634397F00 (com.example.demo).
A look at the issue tracker explains that this is caused due to the fact that the MyGlass app didn't install this app and that the app thus isn't linked to the user's account.
Are there any workarounds? With a submission process of over a month how can we get our app tested properly?
The submission process should be less than a month at this point. I suggest that once you think you have things working, you submit the app.
Once submitted, you'll be working with the Review Process Team. They are able to create a whitelist (certainly of accounts, and possibly based on a list you can control through a Google Group) of who will be able to see the app on their MyGlass page. This will also allow you to test the app, including the auth flow, using the actual installation process.
It seems like this issue only occurs when the application you are side loading has been submitted to Google for approval. Just change change the package name of the APK you want to sideload and your problem should be solved.
Are there any good tools for getting statistics about applications released to testers? So far I have found the http://www.hockeyapp.net/ - I went through tutorials and it seems to be nothing more then the crash log collector and new versions notifier. I would like to collect also debug logs, have possibility to configure application, see number of testers, time they spend by testing, get information about devices they used, possibly see the network traces of my application.
I understand it of course will need more integration of the "service SDK" with our code, but this we can accept.
Regards,
STeN
what you can do is , can create a api that can accept log string,date time, user id etc and on device side you can create one myLog function which calls this api ,, so at runtime you can debug what each user is doing.
My android app is not in the app store yet.
Is it possible to send my app to someone, and they install it on their device.
Something like iphone AdHoc?
You can email them your APK. Of course, there are several drawbacks to doing this.
There is not any built in copy protection to lock an APK to a single device so a tester could redistribute your application without your consent. This is something that you will need to deal with even once you are using Market to distribute your application. If you select "Copy Protection On", people will still be able to get at your APK as many people have rooted devices and all this option does is influence where the APK is installed. Google advises, "you may also implement your own copy protection scheme" and I think it's prudent.
Add the READ_PHONE_STATE permission to your manifest so you can retrieve the phone's IMEI, send to your server, and determine if a user should be allowed to run your application.
TelephonyManager telephonyManager =
(TelephonyManager)getSystemService(TELEPHONY_SERVICE);
String imei = telephonyManager.getDeviceId();
Your testers will need to enable "Unknown sources" to allow install of non-Market applications.
Assuming your tester uses Google as their email provider, it is important to note that the Android GMail application doesn't handle APK attachments properly. While this might confuse the recipient of your email, there are easy work-arounds:
Tell them to use the Browser app to download your attachment through the web interface.
Have them download APKatcher first.
Starting in May 2013, Google added Beta and Alpha programs to the Developer Console. You can now upload an APK to either channel and interested users (or users belonging to the specified Google+ Communities or Groups) can now get the application from the Market just like a regular app.
Users cannot provide public feedback so you have to provide them an alternative way to contact you.
At any given time, you can promote (or demote) an app to/from beta/alpha or even Production.
Here's how mine looks:
Effective beta apk distribution, getting crashes as well as feedback from early adopter is known problem in android community. To solve this problem we built a platform Zubhium for developers by developers.
Just upload apk and email address of users whom you want to distribute beta , and click send. That's it . :)
Platform will invite users and keep a track of who, when and where downloaded, Also it will followup with users who downloaded beta for feedback. You can view , reply , communicate back with users from platform.
Optionally you can integrate crash reporting services to get crashes during beta. It will provide granular details like network, device info with exception details. It does bunch of other stuff also.
Have look at www.zubhium.com
There's already an accepted answer three years ago, but let me share a simpler way to deploy your app in present: DeployGate.
With DeployGate, you can deploy your app to your own (or your colleague's) device, in a matter of seconds. All you have to do is uploading your APK file, then send a link or scan a QR code (two-dimensional barcode) with the device. To update, just upload the app again then it will be pushed to all installed devices.
It's carefully designed to eliminate waste in your daily development. The agent app will guides you and/or your colleagues throughout the app installation process, so you can avoid almost all problems you might face, especially if they are non-tech guys. You can even shortcut typing email address and password to associate an account with your devices, just click a button shown on the browser instead. If you want, you can also catch app crashes with a single line of code integration. It magically works to help you keeping your focus on development.
Disclaimer: I'm working on this product. :)
Is it possible to send my app to
someone, and they install it on their
device
Yes, of course. You can share the APK with other people and they can install the application. It's not necessary for the app to be in the Market.
Yes. Upload it to a website or email the ".apk" file to your friend. Have your friend make sure that the option to allow for "Unknown Sources" on the device is checked (Settings > Applications > Unknown Sources). When your friend downloads the application on their device and clicks to run it, it will be installed and should appear in the applications menu ready to be executed.
Dropbox also works (from this answer).
I used it with an .apk file signed with eclipse's debug certificate. You can find this file in your eclipse project's bin folder (from this answer).
You could also user TestFlight that should perfectly fit your needs, for free!