I have an android app that is active on the playstore and I want to use the same code base (packages and everything) and publish another app which would be a different app on the play store. The new app would use most of the code from the older app but would also have newer functionalities added to it. Is this possible?
Package id is a unique id for google play, you can't upload two apps with one package.
Instead of this use library projects or create different flavors.
Of course it is possible. Use on your new app all your abstract classes and interfaces and implement them properly but dont forget to put them in a new package. No one is gonna tell you not to do it couse no one knows or understands that you are extening another application. Good luck
Related
Because of how my app has evolved I want to split it into two different play stores so I can better describe it.
I can't find info on if this is allowed by Google or not. It would be more or less mostly the same application, but with a different title and description.
Secondly since there are a lot of paid versions of applications, is it fine for me to do this if I make one of the versions a paid version?
Thanks
Yes, you can do so, but it requires your app to use a different package name (i.e. a different application id). It will basically be a different app.
I have a React-Native app in the Google Market. What I need to do is to create a separate version for our internal use (it will have some different functionality). Pretty much I need to have two apps in the market so I can have both of them on my phone. The closest answer that I found was this. I forked my app and from my understanding, I need to change all the package names to a new one. However, the problem is in my app I use Google Services like FCM, I use some extra packagaes like sharing and importing posts. And those are also tied to a package name.
Are there any tutorials to doing this, or do I need to create a blank project and start building it up from scratch, adding packages?
Sorry, if I am unclear about the explanations. I thought this was a common practice, but did not find much information about it.
You just need to change your apps name by cloning your repo and made some changes explained here.
I wanted to know if it is possible to submit multiple versions of the same app to the Google Play store. I know that Google Play allows developers to submit multiple APK's to the target certain device configurations, but we would like to release a different name of the app to each of our clients. Things that would be different in each app are the logos, app names, access to different types of information for each customer. I wanted to know if this would violate the Google Play Store's submission guidelines (it is an app built using Adobe Phonegap build, each app package name would be the same), would it be subject to rejection? I know that there are multiple questions on this site similar to this, but they are older questions and I wanted to see if this is something that Google Play is offering. Thank you.
"each app package name would be the same"
AFAIK, that not possible, since package name is used as ID in play store.
The package names must be different. Ideally, you would have unique security keys that signed the APKs as well. It prevents one app from accessing the private data of another app. Other than that, there's no policy or technical block stopping you from posting the same APK with different flavors.
As has been said - the package name is used as the ID in the Play Store.
But the way around this is very simple - just use different package names!
You'll be making the same app with different branding anyway so you'll already have different code bases.
Copy your entire app folder.
Find the config.xml. It looks like this (from the docs): http://docs.phonegap.com/phonegap-build/configuring/#example
Change the id. If you have two apps you'd have:
com.phonegap.appname1
com.phonegap.appname2
Upload each app to a different PhoneGap Build repository. This will create two different apps. Easy.
Is it legal to update an Android app on the Play store with a totally different app under the same package name?
Is it considered against the policies since I am updating the app USING THE SAME PACKAGE NAME with a totally different app?
Is it legal to update an Android app on the Play store with a totally different app under the same package name?
well, there's no such definition "different app".
as long as you are using the same keystore (as #SplatFace Development said) it considers from Google play point of view the same app by definition.
you can change whatever you'd like.
it's legal for sure, and there's no any security problem with that because the user anyway would have to accept again the new app permissions if they changed at all...
and as I mentioned in the comment -
I almost sure google did it with thier own apps when Google Talk replaced with Hangouts.
I don't see why it wouldn't be legal. If they are both your creations, you should be alright. It's basically changing the source code with a normal update, only a lot of changes, and changing the name if you're going to change the name. If you are going to change the name though, that may be more of a problem. I wouldn't be sure. I never did that.
Two apps cannot have the same package name. Android will treat them as the same app, with all the consequences that implies.
I want to upload the same application twice to the Android Market. One version will have AdMob messages and the other version of the same app will cost a pair of bucks.
Should I make two applications with differents packages names in order to upload them or is there any trick to do it with the same project.
Thanks in advance.
Every application at Android Market must have unique package name, so you have to place your apps into different packages (one be a subpackage of another though, i.e. com.app and com.app.ads). You can share common code in a library project.
You will need two different package names. You might also consider to exclude certain parts of your code in your free version, because Android Market is known for not being the most secure distribution channel. But if the only difference is the additional ads in your free version, it is not worth the effort.
There is another possibility, which unfortunately, I don't know how to do, but I'd like to find out. You can put all the functionality into one app and then create a second app which acts as a "key". Users download your first app for free, but it has limited functionality unless the "key" app is also present. You would charge users to download the "key" app.
This solution has the advantage of not having to maintain two code bases for every app, which is what I do and it drives me nuts.