I have finished my android app work and the apk is signed.I have to give the app to someone for whom I have made the app .If I am sending it as email attached will it be installed or not.I searched in the net but it gave me confusing answers.Is there any other better way to send the app.Please help me
No it won't. The user has to activate installing apps from unknown sources in the settings and that he/she can install the attached app.
Better sign up on the Google Play Console publish you app in the alpha or beta stage and add the user as a tester. Than the user just has to become a tester and he/she can download the app from the play store
If you plan to release multiple versions to your client regurlarly, you can try releasing it via GooglePlay alpha or beta release.
Advantage: You can track your app version and crash reports, etc.
Yes
First of all goto mobile Settings / Application / Settings and check the box next to Unknown sources option. then click on apk downloaded from email and install.
I guess any mail service firstly will not let you attach .apk file to any mail.
Better store it on cloud service and access it from any where. also do not forget to set allow files from unknown sources in your android phone to true.
Related
I have an android app that has a login and OTP features.
I have generated the release version of the app and we were able to use it when we download it from external link.
However, when we download the same app from PlayStore, we are unable to pass the OTP Screen although we receive the otp.
Whenever we add the otp number, it just remain in the same page and we can't proceed.
My point is, why we have different behavior when we download the app from the PlayStore?
What can we do to debug or troubleshoot the app in this case?
There won't be any difference between the app that you submitted to the play console and the release app you generated if it is the same android package.
If you really want to check, you could use the testing track to test your app.
More information here https://developer.android.com/distribute/best-practices/launch/test-tracks
There's no crash in Logcat.
Both releases were created 24 hours ago.
Public Alpha (closed) track
https://photos.app.goo.gl/mm9DKDDyqkfb4Y6S6
Internal Testing track
https://photos.app.goo.gl/wC95MMdhqzCTrSr9A
P.S.: Would have loved to file a bug report but found no appropriate channel.
I managed to fix this by enabling the internal app sharing option on the play store account I wanted to test the app before accessing the link.
Just open your playstore, click on settings, enable developer mode (by tapping seven times on the Play Store Version) and then enable the internal app sharing.
If it doesn't work, you could change the permissions on "Manage testers (on your internal test playstore console)" from "Restrict access to email lists" to "Anyone you shared the link with can download", after accessing the link for the first time you should have access to it even if you switch back to "Restrict access to email lists".
Ok so after trying multiple solutions the only solution which worked for me is-
First you need to open the invite link from your system not from
the phone(for some reason the accept invitation button is not visible on
phone).
Now you need to click the accept invitation button.
Now you need to authenticate and then you can install the app successfully.
In my case I had to explicitly set who can download & install shared apps (in GooglePlay Console). By default no item was selected...
This issue happens when the option on your testers email list hasn't been checked.
Assuming that you already setup your email list:
Navigate to Google Play Console > Setup > Internal app sharing
Also, assuming that you want to restrict access to only your email list:
Check the Restrict access to email lists option
Go to the 'Email lists' tab and check all or specific emails you want to grant access.
Please see screenshots.
What fixed this to me was first joining on the web(copied link and opened from android) and then using the download link
I published my app in internal app sharing. After I shared link to download to myself, but to another account. I turn on internal app sharing in Google Play on my phone. When I click downloading, I catch error -> Error retrieving information from server. DF-DFERH-01
I tried to test in two phones, but with same google account.
There is a step I missed - testers have to opt in to the test program before they can use the shared link, and until they do they get the opaque DF-DFERH-01 error. On the Play Console under Release Management, select App releases. In Internal test track, click Manage. Under Manage Testers click the drop arrow. This opens up a panel, and near the bottom is an opt-in URL. Copy this and send it to testers. They have to click on this link and agree to opt in to the test program. They can then download the current version. After this they can also use internal app sharing links for new builds.
In my case, I was trying to access the internally shared debug app not a production testing app. For this, I was using Internal App Sharing feature. To be able to install and use such apps one's email needs to be added to an email-list(as per the settings we had) otherwise, anyone with the link can install.
Problem
The problem is despite having my email in the list, and email representing a google account I was not able to install it. I faced this error.
Click here to see the Screenshot
Cause
I maintain about 8 google accounts on my mobile and I was logged in to all of them. I realized having multiple accounts is causing the issue.
Solution
Instead of logging out from all the google accounts, I simply created a new user in my mobile and set it up. Then I opted-in to Internal App Sharing in the App store. Then shared the app link via google-keep. Voila, I was able to install it.
In my case I just had to wait ~48 hours and it Just Worked with no other changes.
A few more silly things to consider if you are new to Google Play Console.
You need to make sure to enable Internal App Sharing on Google Play Settings, here is a tutorial for that.
Do not forget to publish your modifications by clicking on publication overview (sorry for the Portuguese language on the pic, but you can find through the icon):
And then publishing it by clicking on the blue button (publish modifications or something like that):
After doing this, try to clean the cache of your play store and remove all updates from play store (after doing this you'll need to enable Internal App Sharing again).
I was able to get rid of the error by clearing the storage of the google play store app then open the play store app again and enabling the internal app feature then opening the internal app sharing link again.
sometimes if that didn't work , restarting the device does the trick!
I have a question on the apk distribution. We all know that we can distribute apks through bluetooth, emails etc.
Now, when I download any apk from the google play, the app gets installed and that we cannot share it by using the licensing policies.
I have my apk on a website. I want the same thing. I want fresh installs from the website also. The app should not shared with any1.
Is there any way to this? Any suggestions on how to do this?
As I said in comment, You can not stop users to forward your apk if they have them in storage, what you can do is to delete it after your app installed, but it can be shared before installing.
and there are tools/apps exist in market which claim to convert installed app into apk, and then it can be forwarded to other device.
Similar question on Forward locking of apk
Edit :- though you can not stop user to forwarding of your apk, But can stop other user to use it, if they receive this app from other sources then your web, as I myself did it earlier, by client server communication where a key is getting generated on Server based on mobile IMEI, so this app is going to be activated for particular mobile based on IMEI number. hence if other users try to use it you can check if this IMEI is register or not, and take action accordingly.
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!