App Stores, Size limits and more - android

Ive googled for hours trying to find the answer, im sure its out there but i cant find it... I have an app that works fine on google play using google services etc. It uses the expansion obb files to download the majority of the game files. I also use achievements from the google services and IAP.
I need to also distribute via some of the other app stores. While I can find information about IAP using samsung and amazon, what about expansion obb systems and achievements/cloud saves/leaderboards etc.
I appreciate that most devices have google play etc on them, but my understanding is i should be able to run without them so with that in mind
Do I need to host the expansion files myself and download them from my own servers if running from a samsung store/amazon store download etc. (The obb size is nearly 600mb)
The IAP is fine with other stores, i presume i just have a different apk for those stores with the relevant IAP handling code.
Do they support the google services stuff like achievements, should the game handle that not being available on samsung stores etc (and maybe even if downloade from the google store?)
Many Thanks

Its a Good Question,
If you have your app in Google Play and planning to release app on other stores like AMAZON,SAMSUNG the you should have seperate accounts and upload apk files in those stores.
1) Regarding OBB files or expansion files its only in Google Store, Amazon and samsung does not have limit of 50 MB, so if your apk is more than 50mb also your can just upload your apk file.
2) Regarding the In App Billing - amazon and samsung have there own APIs and we need to implement that for IAP to work on those store and these APIs are given in there offical websites and they have even given a sample app to test.
3) Regarding the Game Center - amazon gives us the game center api and we need to implement that inorder for the apps to work.
I hope i have cleared all your points.
Links :
1) Amazon IAP - https://developer.amazon.com/sdk/in-app-purchasing.html
2) Samusng IAP - http://developer.samsung.com/android/tools-sdks/In-App-Purchase-Library
3) Amazon Game Circle - https://developer.amazon.com/sdk/gamecircle.html
Happy Coding :)

Related

For online Android games, what services are available to ensure the integrity of the APK file to prevent cheating?

Suppose I develop an online game that interacts with a server for Android. What I want to ensure is that the APK file running on a given users' device is the APK that I have uploaded to the Google Play Store. (Meaning, I'm trying to avoid situations where someone extracts the APK from a device, hacks it, sideloads it back onto the device and then uses it to play the game).
Are there services provided by Google, the Play Store, Android, etc that can do that? For instance, the Play Store might have a SHA256 checksum of that APK file. Since my game is integrated with Google Play (for saving your game and progress), is there some service that I could invoke to compare the currently running game with what the Play Store has registered?
My thinking is that I can't add validation to my application itself since a sufficiently motivated modder could just bypass or forge. I was hoping something might exist at the platform-level.
Thanks in advance!
This seems to be what the SafetyNet Attestation API is for.

Services that update Google Play Store Apps

I am an Android developer and was planning to upload my first android app on the play store.
Being an android user for the past 4 years, I noticed that some apps update differently. I saw that some apps like Facebook, Instagram and other top apps only download 50-60% of their original size while updating.
I don't know about other apps, but I want to know that is there any different format in which I have to upload the app so that my downloaders don't have to download the full app(around 12 MB).
Thanks in advance.

Is there any way to download an app beyond Play Store?

I've published an app and I have a theoric doubt. In my google play administrator page, it shows me that my app was downloaded by 18 devices, but when I look at the google analytics, on the same period, I have over 100 devices.
I've looked for other links on Google, but every link that I found redirects to Google Play, so Google Play should count it. Is there any way to download the app from google play, and then, get the apk?
The funniest part is that I didn't spread this app and when I look at the place of the users, it's from India, Sudan, etc..(I'm from Brazil, the other side of the world)..
Yes there is a way. Apk can be downloaded from Google Play and than shared as file somewhere else. These downloaded apks are disributed commonly in these countries like India etc.
For example there is an extension to it for chrome https://lekensteyn.nl/apk-downloader/.
So I would say your Google Analytics data are valid.
Is there any way to download the app from google play, and then, get the apk?
Sure. Copying the APK off of a device is not that difficult. In addition, software pirates bulk download pretty much everything uploaded to the Play Store and make it available from their own sites.

Hide application in Market Place

I've googled this and have only found bad answers from a year or more ago, so I'm hoping things have changed.
I have developed an app for an apartment complex and they want only their residents to be able to download/see it in the marketplace. It has to do with submitting maintenance requests and rental of common facilities, so, for obvious reasons they don't want just anyone seeing it, but want the convenience of the market place for distribution.
Can this be done without any of the goofy workarounds like garbling the name with a random string or changing the package name?
Here you can do like below:
Publishing on Google Play guide can show you the ins and outs and publishing to Google Play, but in a nutshell you upload the app to the Google Developer Console, and then publish it by going to “Product Details”, “Publishing Options”, “Restrict Availability” and checking off “Make this application available only to users of my Google Apps domain”. The app will then be sent to your Private Channel. Source: TechRepublic
But here is My suggestion:
If it's for residents only then you should upload APK some where on web (Instead of uploading on play store) and give them web link. Residents will download APK directly from that link. There way your APK will be hidden from rest of the world.

Android licensing strategy for publishing to Google Play and Amazon app store

I want to publish a paid-for app on Amazon app store as well as Google Play. I plan on doing two separate builds for my app, one with the Google Play Licensing library incorporated and enabled (for submitting to Google Play) and one with the Licensing library disabled (for submitting to Amazon app store; Amazon has its own Licensing facility). Other than this, the two builds will be identical (same package name etc). Does anyone know whether or not this strategy is a feasible way to go?
A worry I have in particular is app updates. If a user purchases my app from Amazon app store and I publish an update to Google Play, would the user receive a notification telling them that an update is available for them from Google Play?
I currently have apps on both the google play market and Amazon market and have not come across any of the issues you have mentioned above. I am using ecplise and created the apk file using a certificate and used the same apk file for both Android markets.
As they are seperate markets and as you mentioend Amazon has its own authentication meaning google play updates are not an issue and therefore need to be done on both Markets.
Google Play vs Amazon Appstore
Finally, things to look out for is if you have any links referencing the play market you need to change these to the Amazon market, as Amazon will fail it otherwise (upload to Amazon market can take several days), hope this helps.
When you submit the android apk file to the Amazon app store it signs itself and publishes the app.
I uploaded by debug build (not even any signed apk) and amazon accepted it and the app is now in their app store. Amazon might have some sort of automated signing the application.
Make sure you've not implemented anything related to Google play
store.
Good luck!
I am writing an app and face the same situation, I found the best solution was to make your app into a library project and import it into two separate projects for release.
These separate projects would have any changes necessary for launching from a specific store but the bulk of your code would be in one library. That way any updates you do to the library will be carried across to both releases automatically on the next build.

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