I'm trying to develop android app something like "Notes". The idea is to ask user to sign in to his google account and use his drive space to store his notes. Simply user should have his data with him & should pay for storage if necessary. Also in future this should work for Windows, iOS.
Till now, I have discovered Drive API and I'm confused. Its is showing 'me' the billing options.
Any idea?
the billing options you see are for your console project. you wont need to enable billing unless you will use up the daily quotas. the free quotas are very large, in the millions of calls per day. those quotas are not related to the space your files will use in each user's drive. they just refer to your right to call the apis with your console keys.
I'm not sure where you are seeing billing options, but the Drive API stores items in the user's Drive using the user's quota.
Related
I am developer, selling my apps.
But I dont always have access to my PC, so I was thinking writing a simple app which would access my Wallet Account to see how much I earned this day/week/month.
Is there any API and some working example how to do this? THanks
Do you know about the official Play console app? It lets you check financial data among other things, like reply to reviews.
If you do need programmatic access there isn't an API, but you can Download reports from Google Cloud Storage which has an API. There are instructions on that page for both a command line tool access and a client library and service account.
I am new to Android app development and have a few questions.
Suppose I want to create an app that has user login. I want to authenticate the users over the internet. Where should I collect and store all the user accounts and their credential information? Will this storage be free or paid?
Can I integrate Google Sign-in in my app for free? Where should I store the google sign-in account information of all the users?
Is it possible to integrate Google sign-in and backup the app database (.db files etc.) and other user settings to the user's Google Drive (for later recovery when app is reinstalled)? Is this free or paid?
Answering Questions 1 and 2:
There are a few options:
1) Firebase:
If you only want to work on the mobile app, not on the backend software, the easiest way is Firebase.
Firebase has built-in support for Google authentication and you can follow the tutorials provided by Google here, and the samples here. (I`m using the link because the code is too big to paste here on the answer.) The authentication service is free.
2) Self implementation:
You can use Google sign in API on this example and implement the server side if you have a backend team or want to do it yourself.
About Question 3 (Google drive), users can use their own Google account to store applications backups, and you can select what application files will be stored. In this case, they will consume their free Google Drive quota, and thus the service will be Free.
Google provides an API for that, and you can have have a look on this example here. (Notice that Google had deprecated Google Drive Android API on December/2018. But the example on the link shows what you have to do on the newer way, using Drive REST API).
There are other approaches and solutions but I tried to give you the simplest and cheapest ones.
Background
I've written a game which I wish to run on multiple devices (tablets, phones, etc.). I've implemented an in-app currency, and have come to the stage where I need to store currency in the cloud so it can be accessed across devices and I can deal with conflicts etc.
I would like to go for the easiest option which, to me at least, means using some kind of available API provided, say, by Google, and not using my own server. I've come across the following possibilities:
Google AppState API (now deprecated)
Google Saved Games API
Google Drive API
Google Cloud Platform.
(1) is now deprecated and developers are directed to use the Saved Games API instead.
(2) actually seems to be a great solution because it deals with game Achievements, Leaderboards, and storage of custom data (such as in app currency). However, I see a problem with this in that in the Play Games App, there is an option to delete the player's profile, which would also delete in-game currency ! So, while (2) seems great, there is the possibility that currency data could be potentially deleted. Maybe this could be put in ther T&C's, something like "if you delete your profile you will lose any unspent currency and any purchased items"...
(3) Using the Drive API seems like an option, but then after reading online there seems to be many problems such as duplicate file names, potential for user to delete files, etc.
(4) I'm not sure about this option, but it looks like I may have to pay?
There also seems to be these deprecation schedules on some API's too.
My question
So faced with these (and possibly other not listed) options, what is a good solution to achieve cloud based in app currency? I am trying to avoid having my own server which records each user's currency/data, but maybe that's the only good solution? I want to try to reduce the ability to cheat the system.
Additional thoughts
I could use a Google Saved Games API and Saved Preferences (stored on the device) approach. I would update both Saved Preferences and Google Saved Games. I could keep both data storage methods synchronized, and if the Saved Games data did not match the Saved Preferences, then merge the Saved Prefs with the Saved Games data (e.g. set Saved Games and Saved Prefs to the maximum currency of either). This would enable me to keep a backup of currency on the device in case the user ever deleted their Saved Games profile. This would fail, however, if the user deleted their Saved Games profile, and removed the app from all devices... so many options...
Related/Interesting posts
Ricket's answer here is interesting.
Possible Compromise Solution
Due to the constraints imposed by the IAB systems and the API's available, I think I'm going to settle for this: use managed items for permanent purchases, e.g. different level themes, obtaining new characters, etc. That way these will always be available no matter what happens. Once they are purchased they are purchased forever, i.e. I will never consume these items. Have a separate virtual money (gem) system with a maximum of 100 gems say, which I keep track of through Saved Games. That way I get leaderboard/achievements too. If the player deletes their profile, that's their problem, but at least the core managed items will persist. Hopefully T&C's will cover the potential gem loss, and the maximum of 100 gems will hopefully help reduce any fall out.
You may want to checkout firebase one of its features is a real time database.
You may want to try Implementing In-app Billing. As mentioned in the documentation:
In-app Billing on Google Play provides a straightforward, simple interface for sending In-app Billing requests and managing In-app Billing transactions using Google Play.
Since, as you've also mentioned that you are trying to avoid having your own server to record your user's currency/data, it will be within your advantage. Here are a few advantages given in the documentation:
In-app billing relies on the Google Play application, which handles all communication between your application and the Google Play server. You just need to make your application request the proper permission to be able to use the Google Play application.
You can use the In-app Billing Version 3 API to track the ownership of purchased in-app products in Google Play.
You even have the option to secure your application because Google Play signs the JSON string that contains the response data for a purchase order to help ensure the integrity of the transaction information that is sent to your application.
Now, if you so decide to use in-app billing, may I suggest to please go through the given documentation and do take note of the important notes, cautions/warning and recommendations. I would also suggest that you read the In-app Billing Overview to familiarize yourself with concepts that will make it easier for you to implement In-app Billing.
Lastly, you may also add Security and Design as one of your references for more information about best practices for security and design. The suggestion in this SO post might also help.
is that OK and safe to set a value in SharedPreference to flag that the user have purchased this item? What if user hack this value in SharedPreference. Or I need to connect IAP service everytime to check that before user can use it?
(1) What is the best practice when I use Google Android IAP V3?
(2) And also if user's device have no Google Play installed, I may want to use paypal to make the payment, but how to track the purchase and unlock the features for users if I ask user to use simple paypal payment to get a license key? I do not want to use any other billing SDK, if with Paypal web page to buy the license, How to implement this?
(1) What is the best practice when I use Google Android IAP V3?
--> official document says that only payment transaction will be handle by google play itself, but in the application you have to set your business logic how you handle UI integration and other things after product purchase. You can also go with the in app purchase v3.
(2) And also if user's device have no Google Play installed, I may want to use paypal to make the payment, but how to track the purchase and unlock the features for users if I ask user to use simple paypal payment to get a license key? I do not want to use any other billing SDK, if with Paypal web page to buy the license, How to implement this?
--> You can ask user to update google play version dynamically. Google developer doc says more than 90% device using 2.2 os with installed google play store. I could not say any thing about paypal transaction because I haven't use it before, but yes in app purchase using v3 is very simple to implement and understand the payment process.
How to use in your application
Three way to manage your application's product data.
1) SharedPrefrence:
you can use the share prefrence value and check whether it is purchased or not. if in case user uninstalled the app and then re-install the app then you can check whether user has purchased or not, at this you get the item is already purchased. And you have to manage the user to access your application data.
2) local database:
you can also use local sqlite database to store the purchase detail and purchase status. and same as above if user clear data or uninstall the app then request for the purchase item again and check whether user purchased item or not.
or
2) Server database:
It is the better way compare to above if you are using web server to store the user data. In this type, you doesn't even need to manage for the second time for the case if user uninstall the app or clear the application data.
3) obfuscation: (Most efficient way compare to shared prefrence)
EDIT:
is that OK and safe to set a value in SharedPreference to flag that the user have purchased this item? What if user hack this value in SharedPreference. Or I need to connect IAP service everytime to check that before user can use it?
While I am searching on internet I found Nikolay Elenkov's answer like below:
If you just save a flag in shared preferences, any user with a rooted
device can flip the flag at will and be 'subscribed' without paying.
So you should at least do some obfuscation. Here's a sample way to do
it. Additionally, there is an API to check for subscription state, so
you should check periodically to make sure the subscription is valid.
more information check Nikolay Elenkov's answer
What is the best for billing Either In app purchase or Paypal?
It is depends on the product type,
--> In app billing: Best for google in app billing,
For the digital products including downloadable content such as media
files or
photos, virtual content such as game levels or potions, premium
services and features, and more.
http://developer.android.com/google/play/billing/index.html
--> Paypal: Best for Paypal billing,
For physical content or product do you want to share. You are not
permitted to sell physical goods or services using 'In-App Purchasing'
since the goods purchased via this method must relate directly to the
app using them.
Purchase physical product from iPhone app without Apple in app purchase
Hope it will help you.
from the documentation:
Because the Google Play client now caches In-app Billing information
locally on the device, you can use the Version 3 API to query for this
information more frequently, for example through a getPurchases call.
Unlike with previous versions of the API, many Version 3 API calls
will be serviced through cache lookups instead of through a network
connection to Google Play, which significantly speeds up the API's
response time.
Which basically means you can look up the purchase each time and the Play Store app will respond pretty much right away.
From my experience I can assure you of one thing.
** In fact it's bad to put a flag with a bool saying if it's premium or not **.
What I do is obfuscate the shared code
After I create some strange strings or numbers that only identify through the code inside the app if the user is a premium user.
Along with this, except for a numeric code within the database that identifies the type of purchase. So by checking both I can make sure the user is premium.
At this point if they want to cheat me with the root of the phone they should first understand how the code of my app works and then understand where to interact, because if only the shared preferences change, nothing will change and they will be whipped.
** This doesn't translate to high security, but at least the security level is higher and the root won't be able to get a reward that easily. Also because they should understand what are the exact codes to insert in the shared, in the database and look for them by removing the obfuscation. I honestly don't think it's worth it for them. **
As what Kuffs has mentioned, it is best to query the app-side implementation of the In-App Billing library which in turn queries the device's Google Play client. This will ensure that the purchase history most recently obtained from the Google Play servers would be reliable and relatively fresh information.
Also, keep in mind that if you are distributing the app on Google Play you MUST use the Google Play payment mechanism via In-App Billing. As it stands, Google Play and Wallet do NOT yet support Paypal or wire/bank transfer methods so you should not integrate the option if you are releasing it on Play.
http://play.google.com/about/developer-content-policy.html#payments
Situation:
Our company has an application in Google Play. Application uses in-app purchases and information about payment transactions are shown in google checkout.
Our company used in-house analytics system to see how many payments are done, how much money we got, etc.
I need to create some way to fetch information about payments from google play/checkout(#1) to our system (#2).
According to research in Internet, I found following ways to do that:
Polling API
Notification History API
Order Report API
All this sysstems will work for me, however, I need somehow to get Merchand Key in order to be able to request data from system.
Merchant key should be located in Settings -> integration, however, our company google checkout account has no "integration tab". According to interenet, reason is that we are not "standart merchant but google play merchant".
Questions are:
How to get information from google play about payments ?
Is there any other way to do such thing, for example directly from google play ?
Or, is there any other way to get merchant key ?
I am totally newbie in Android or google play so desperately need help.