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.
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we posted the program on the google play market. Now you need to almost completely change the design and add a lot of new functionality. The question is, if we write this program again (cleanly), keeping the package name and signing it with the same key, will Google accept it when we update, or do we need to edit this version and rewrite it? There are so many changes that it is easier to rewrite everything, including the logic.
Yes google will accept it, google does not care about logic or functionality.
You have to make sure that you respect the Developpers Policies and also you have to republish the application with the same account that you used the first time otherwise there will be a conflict of package names
I have already a published application in Google Play and I would like to change its name?
Is this possible and how?
if you are referring to the application's unique package name as defined in the manifest, no, it's not possible.
this is how the play store, other stores like amazon's, and devices agree to identify an app. if you change it, the stores could no longer understand that the app in the store is the same as the app on your device. well, i suppose they could support some sort of aliasing, but they do not.
You can change the name that is shown under the icon on the device but you can't change the package name. The package name (com.example.android.etc) is how the Google Play Store tells the apps apart so it would think that they are two completely different apps and would not allow you to upload that as an update.
Can Andorid Apps have same name - public name.. or they need to have different names..
i want to ensure that if i create an app and post on google play... someone else sld not copy the app and host it elsewhere with the same name..
please advise if apps can or cannot have same public name..
Your question is about apps having the same name, but your actual concern is about the theft of your application. These are two separate issues.
If someone did a straight copy of your APK and attempted to post it to Google Play, then they would be unable to do so if you had already posted that same APK to Google Play yourself. The reason they would be prevented from posting it, however, would be due to its package name being the same as an existing app, not because of its name.
A more sophisticated thief might be able to change your package name, and if they could do that, then they could also probably (even more easily) change your app's name. In that case, they might be able to post the resulting app to Google Play. You then would might decide to complain about this to Google and ask that the infringing app be taken down. There is a form for this kind of complaint here:
http://support.google.com/googleplay/bin/request.py?contact_type=takedown
I don't know what kind of results you might obtain from such a complaint, but Google has recently become much more focused on preventing infringing apps of this kind, so you might get a good response.
If you're talking about other app stores, outside of Google Play, then you have to look at the policies of those stores. But certainly there is nothing preventing an app that has been posted on Google Play from being posted on these other stores, provided that it meets the policies of the other store. Developers do this themselves (post on multiple app stores) all the time. And of course it can have the same name and the same package.
Regarding the more general question of whether two apps on Google Play can have the same name:
In the past it has been the case that two apps could have the same name on Google Play.
However, in August, 2012 (since you posted your question) Google announced new Developer Program Policies that state that
"Apps must not have names or icons that appear confusingly similar to existing products, or to apps supplied with the device (such as Camera, Gallery or Messaging)."
The full policies can be found here:
http://play.google.com/about/developer-content-policy.html
It may still be possible to post an app that has the same name as an existing app, but if someone did that, there is at least some chance that Google's (somewhat inscrutable by design) automated detection process will flag that app for the above reason. This could lead to a letter from Google and, if the app's name were not changed, an eventual takedown.
These policies are relatively new, and probably nobody, even Google, knows exactly how they are going to play out. How, for example, will Google resolve apps that are already similarly named? Will it go with the first app to use the name, or will it go with the most popular app having the name, or will it ask app owners to negotiate a settlement, or will it just allow the ambiguous names to be grandfathered in? I certainly do not know the answer, but for new apps, for sure, honest developers will avoid naming their apps in a manner that is similar to your app, and malfeasants who use the same name are likely to hear from Google.
Your package name must be unique (ex. com.example.mail.free) to publish an app on Google Play.
I nearly sure that the name is not important. You can have different names on different languages.
When developing an iOS app one can register or claim an app name by creating an entry in iTunesConnect and supplying placeholder descriptions and screenshots. Is there a similar process in the Android app store?
I'm not interested in squatting on app names. I'm just porting an iOS app to Android and I'd like to have an identical app name.
I dont think there is an equivalent in the android ecosystem. Here are a couple of suggestions which may not guarantee the name, but may help in some ways.
1) You can publish a bare minimum app with the correct package name (like com.company.appname). But I think the actual app name part will still be pretty open.
2) Another way may be to buy a .com domain for your app (if it is still available). It may sound far fetched but I believe (I may be wrong) people take that into account to avoid getting into trademarks & copyrights issues. If you have an app that is good enough for being published in multiple platforms, then buying a domain makes sense.
I've just finished making some updates for a company's Android app, only to realize that they no longer have the private key that was used to sign the original release that went to the Android Market. If I understand correctly, this means that these changes can't be released as an update to the original app. I think the best option is to pull the original app from the market (it doesn't have many downloads or reviews) and re-release the app signed with a new key. However, I'm worried that Android Market might not allow an app to be released which is practically identical to an app that has already been released (e.g. same name, same icon, mostly the same functionality, etc.).
Has anyone been in this situation before? Did google allow you to re-release as a separate app to the Android Market?
You are correct in that you will have to release this as a new application with a different package name. You will have to pull the other app from the Market as it will no longer be updateable and your users will have to redownload the new version of the app.
I don't see any reason why Google would have any issues with this, it's a known issue that some developers/companies can come across when they loose their signing key. Also, as far as I know, Google doesn't closely monitor incoming apps unless they are being flagged.
I've seen some apps that have 10 versions of the same app in the Market, just so that they can have more visibility, which is something that I think Google needs to look out for.
If you just forgot password.
https://code.google.com/archive/p/android-keystore-password-recover/
If you replaced the existing key file.
1.Rename your package name.
2.Generate new signed apk but this time keep copy of the key and never lose it if you want to update your existing app.
I had a similar thing happen, and we had to change the package name even after pulling the original application from the market. I assume this is to protect users from 'accidentally' downloading a malicious update to an application they already have.
As of about August of this year (2011), the Android market has had the capability of uploading multiple APK's for the same package name. You should be able to remove the original APK and substitute a new one with the same package name now using that mechanism.
I haven't tried it yet, but we were able to upload multiple copies of our different applications that targeted specific platforms and it worked like a charm.