Can anyone here tell me if the transfer of ownership of an iOS and Android app will change the URL where the app is accessed. I have a client that had a previous developer publish the application for them, I have advised them that they should get their own developer accounts and then have the apps transferred to them. The only concern they have is that they have printed material out there in the world with QR codes that take you to the app store. So they wanted to know if it will all continue to work.
I do release this might be a bit off topic here.
Thanks guys
Here it says what it will NOT do: https://developer.apple.com/library/ios/documentation/LanguagesUtilities/Conceptual/iTunesConnect_Guide/Chapters/TransferringAndDeletingApps.html
After an app is transferred, its associated App ID is also transferred
to the recipient’s Member Center account. If the transferor’s App ID
was a wildcard App ID, it’s converted to an explicit App ID that
exactly matches the app’s bundle ID. Associated client SSL
certificates for push notifications aren’t transferred. If the app
uses Apple Push Notifications service (APNs), the recipient needs to
create a client SSL certificate using Member Center to reenable it.
For games, several actions take place depending on whether the app was
associated with any other apps. Apps that are part of a cross-app
Multiplayer Compatibility Matrix are no longer compatible or appear in
the other app’s matrix.
Apps that are part of a Game Center group are removed from the group
during the transfer. After the transfer, all leaderboards and
achievements revert back to their original status. Leaderboards that
were originally a group leaderboard retain the grp. prefix in their
identifier.
Leaderboards that were originally single leaderboards but were merged
into a group lose the grp. prefix. They also revert back to the
original leaderboard IDs they had before the merge. Make sure you
update the app build with the new leaderboard IDs so that scores are
posted correctly.
If you transfer an app that is part of an app bundle, you will no
longer be able to view your app bundle’s history. It is important to
make a record of your app bundle information before you transfer the
app, as you will no longer be able to access the bundle within iTunes
Connect.
If you transfer an app that uses ApplePay, the merchant ID is not
transferred along with the app. Transactions continue to be successful
as long as the original certificates are valid. However, when you
submit an update, the recipient needs to create a new merchant ID on
his or her account
So if even your gameplay scores stay intact. I think the URL will stay the same too.
appID is preserved so yeah, go on.
Related
I have an app published in Google Play Store using my personal email id. However, we are planning to register as a startup and launch the app under a company name. When I contacted Google about this process, they said I have to remove the old app and publish it again as a new app from the new id. That would mean I will lose all the current users. Is there a way to do it without removing the old app or linking the old app to the new app? Or some way to force the users to download the update from the new publisher link?
I am not sure if this is the right place to ask this question. If it isn't can you suggest someplace where I could get an answer for this?
Apps can be transferred to another developer account without any apparent change to the end user. But if you change the app, Id like from android.app.gekkouga to android.app.startup (which is how I think the person you spoke to understood you), then you have to republish the app which by all intents and purposes is a different app, as PlayStore assigns each app a unique url based on the app's unique app id.
My system consists of a mobile app (a Cordova app), and a webservice, providing all the relevant data. When a user buys the app in the appstore (or playstore, if android), a user account should be created on the webservice, ideally without any user interaction (no registration). The user account could be linked with the gmail account, apple id, ... This is required, to only allow people who have paid to use the webservice.
My Problems:
I did not find a way to get the user id of the user. (Android seems to have a way: https://github.com/loicknuchel/cordova-device-accounts , but iOS not).
I only want exactly one registration per user. This saves me from using something like a registration page, when the app is first started - this could easily be bypassed and lead to multiple registrations.
The user account should be linked to the user and not the device (so no device UUID or so, as this would not be portable between devices).
Ideas that I had:
(Favorite, doesn't seem to be possible) I have a method "getUserID()" in the app, which returns the right user on the phone. Additionally, I have access to an API to check who bought my App. I can easily cross check, to make sure that the user has permission to use the webservice.
(Unnecessary complicated, seems wrong) Make the app free, use a single in-app purchase to buy access to the webservice. When I searched, I found that it seems that in app purchases give you more information, so there might be the chance to link the app with a user.
(Even worse than 2.) Make the app free, use an own payment system/registration.
My question:
What does the Android/iOS app-store eco system provide, so that I can ensure that one user buying the app creates exactly one user account on my webservice, and this user account is linked to the user and not the device?
You should generate a secret api key for each paying user.
Then the user should use this key to auth into your API and get a token back (you can make it expire after some time if you want a stronger protection). User should attach this token to all of his api calls.
OK, so my company hired some broke company to develope the company's app. They developed a version for Android and for iOS. They published both versions under their developer account.
The thing is they offer a very poor service, so we have decided to get our own Developer licencenses and design a new app internally.
Our idea is to make a deal with the broke company, so they transfer the app to our account. I've read there is a procedure for this in both stores:
https://developer.apple.com/library/ios/documentation/LanguagesUtilities/Conceptual/iTunesConnect_Guide/Chapters/TransferringAndDeletingApps.html
https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/6230247?hl=en
My questions are:
Once the app is transfered to our account, can we substitute our new app for the old one, so it stays under the same name and keeps download statistics (I don't really care about ratings).
Is there any way the current app users can get an update notification linking to the new app if we don't have the old app's source code?
For the Apple App Store, this is entirely possible if they're willing to transfer the application to you (and the process is pretty simple!), but it appears you've already found that documentation. From a user's perspective, nothing changes; the app stays on their phone, and won't change at all. The next time you push an app update, even if the app has been entirely written behind the scenes, as long as you're publishing it to the same listing, users will receive the update as normal (App Store notification) and be none the wiser that ownership has changed. The only difference an end user would see is the "sold by" line in the store listing, if they checked.
I haven't tried the process on the Android Play Store, but from the description and the linked document, it appears the process would be the same. I mean, the link specifically says:
When you transfer apps to a different account, your apps' users, download statistics, ratings and reviews, content ratings, and store listing information are all transferred to your new account.
So, it looks to me like you'll be all good. One thing to note, though: even though you intend to do what's in your users' best interests by making the app "better," they've come to expect the app in the way it is currently. If you completely change the app in a single pass, they may be pretty shocked and turned off to it. Be careful about dropping an entirely new experience on them without warning.
Edit Note on the Android link, there was also this to keep in mind:
Our team can't transfer apps that offer subscription products.
If your app is subscription based, you may be out of luck on Android.
Our contracted Android developer provided us with the source code of the work performed for us, as per our contract. After the contract finished, the developer became busy and is now not reachable. We are moving to another developer to maintain the application. However, we do not have the first developer's keystore so the application is not allowing us to update it.
Is there anyway for us to maintain this application if we cannot get ahold of the original developer? We have lots of customers who have the app with data they have generated, and they need our updates.
If you have push notification feature in your old App then you can send a push to all your user that there is another updated version is available.
And Just upload updated version with different package name. And even you can send play store link in that push message as well. Most of people use this technique and they got success to move all user from old app to new.
No you can't update your app on the store without the published keystore.
You can publish the app with another name and keystore (a new app so with a different package name) but you can't update it.
I'm making a Cordova 4.0 Android app that will be sold in Google Play, and I would like to prevent illegal use of it (for example preventing someone to extract the APK from the system and re-distributing it).
One theoretical way of doing this would be by checking that when the app is launched by the user, he did actually download it from Google Play (versus being it sideloaded). I'm not even sure if this is possible or if there's an alternate way of doing something like this.
One way that works in other cases is to use require some sort of login when accessing the app, but in this case I can't do that. Any advice would be appreciated!
Google offers a way to implement validation / licensing:
http://developer.android.com/google/play/licensing/index.html
Take a look if this is what you need!
One suggestion would be for those apps which are get connected to a server to fetch some data.
App verification token
Generate an encoded 64-bit long token and store on both device & server as well. This will be a unique token per app
Whenever app tries to connect to server, it sends the device token details. Server needs to verify it before fulfilling its request.
On specific events, server can generate a new token for a device.
Same way, device token can be mapped to a user or an app on the server side.
Token could carry some app related information, for instance.
first 4 or 6 digits represent app size
second block of digits could represent user specific or device or some other details
Or another block could hold app contents modification date
In case of any change, server could verify the app size, last app contents modification dates, etc.
Generally it is recommended to uglify, obfuscate and minimize app resources before submission.
You can use the package manager class to determine the source of an app (only google or amazon currently detected)
You can similarly use google analytics which gives same information.
This is pretty neat since Android stores the source of every package, allowing apps to know where they came from, to prevent piracy and sideloading.
Great if you always publish to google or amazon. Useless if you sideload your app.