I'm working on a project now which requires a lot of apks.
I need to download APKS from android markets (not limited to Google Play) using my computer.
I found this post that might help me, but im still looking for other tools/website(which will allow to download FREE apps in the desktop) that can solve my problem.
Im also targetting apks that can be dowloaded(was made) in Europe and or other continent except Asia. Could you give point the market which contains these kinds of APKS?
What I need to do is to make a system that will analyze each apk. tell if the app is consuming too much resources (battery, memory usage etc.)
The extension you linked is based on a reverse engineered Android Market client. You can easily find the sources. There are also PHP and Python ports. However, it is using the old Market/Play protocol and some apps may not be accessible. See their Google group for details.
Generally, to do this, you need to pretend to be the Google Play client and use the same protocol it does. Additionally, downloading too fast will get you banned, so you will need to rate limit your app and/or use multiple Google accounts.
And of course, you can simply get a device with a lot of memory, install a bunch of apps, and then pull them off the device for analysis.
Found these articles that enumerate app stores and some of them allow user to download apk's in PC
http://www.ilovefreesoftware.com/04/featured/download-apk.html
http://mobiputing.com/2011/06/17-places-to-download-android-apps/
you can visit apk search engine such as http://apkdroid.in you can find any apk file and download it directly to your PC
Related
Big company X provides its employees with Android phones. Those employees don't necessarily own a Play Store account (gmail address required AFAIK).
At the moment, my alternative is to send a link to our .apk file, however the installation procedure might be quite complicated, not even mentioning the updates.
What's the best way to deploy my app to these phones?
Uchiha Madara is right, but it's not very convenient. They can also subscribe to Google Apps for Business ! Besides, if phones are Lollipop phones, you can very easily enable Android For Work, with pretty useful features to controll mass-hardware !
However, it's not the unique solution. You can self-host your apk file as you do, make a webservice and make your app able to communicate with to check updates ! The only problem is to teach users how to allow install from unknown sources (in security settings), which may be hard if they aren't very confortable with Android phones.
Other solution, some companies offer whole turnkey solutions, like PushLink
You could try HockeyApp to allow the users to install the application and know them about the updates.
http://hockeyapp.net/features/
My guess is you will have to use DropBox and they can download it as long as there is Wi Fi of course and ro to the settings > security and check Unknown sources so that it can install the apk from the internet, they can then go to their downloads folder and see the apk there, then install it onto their phones. Hope this helped!
Source: http://www.cnet.com/how-to/how-to-install-apps-outside-of-google-play/
I think the best way to achieve your requirements is using Microsoft Intune.
Microsoft Intune is a cloud-based service that focuses on mobile device management (MDM) and mobile application management (MAM). You control how your organization’s devices are used, including mobile phones, tablets, and laptops. You can also configure specific policies to control applications. For example, you can prevent emails from being sent to people outside your organization. Intune also allows people in your organization to use their personal devices for school or work. On personal devices, Intune helps make sure your organization's data stays protected and can isolate organization data from personal data.
I port my android apps for making bb10 builds . Since now from bb10.2.1 update blackberry has introduced a new concept wherein apk's can be directly installed and can be installed in BB10 devices if the manage apps in settings menu of the phone is made ON. My question is that I wanna restrict my users from doing so and not installing the apk's into bb10 . And take download my app only from appworld.
Has anyone faced and has fixed this issue kindly tell me on how to solve the same.
Based on the Android behaviour, I don't think you can restrict users from doing so.
I haven't tried it on BlackBerry but from what you say, that option sounds analogue to the Unknown sources setting under Security settings on Android. If the user enables the installation of applications from unknown sources on their phone, there is now way to prevent the direct install of the apk (by adding something to your apk or any other way).
There is no way to restrict it to BlackBerry World only. If they get the APK, they can load it directly this way. There may be other ways around it though.
If, for example, your app is for sale and people are side loading a pirated copy, you could change your app to be free, and put some advanced functionality in your app behind an in-app purchase. That way they'll be forced to go through the storefront at some point to pay. This takes bigger changes to your app though, and the IAP implementation is likely different between BBW and GPlay.
You could also put in a version check: when your app launches, it checks a special file on your web server to see what the latest version of the app is. If they don't have the latest version, it doesn't let them use the app until they upgrade. This won't prevent side loading or piracy outright, but you can put out updates often enough to make side loading very annoying. When they are roadblocked and told to get the new version, you can link directly to the storefront to encourage them to get the latest version there.
Thirdly, and lastly, if you port your app to a BlackBerry 10 native, cascades, or WebWorks app, the app file is fully protected and can't be pirated or extracted from BlackBerry World (since the platform is secure). That will 100% protect you from piracy on BlackBerry 10.
I hope this helps!
I am developing a paid app that I will be placing in the google play store, but I want to give away some copies of the app for free to reviewers, for promotions, etc. I know that I can just link to the apk file but that is not secure as anyone could then copy and re distribute it. My question is, is there a way to distribute an application outside of the google play store but in a secure manner? Are there other services that allow you to upload your apk and distribute the app to specific individuals?
If you're concerned about people redistributing your APK, anyone who can install your app can retrieve the APK from their phone and then make that APK available to others, if they wish.
A dedicated android app distribution service might have useful Play-Store-like features, but if that's not essential for you then you just need a non-public file distribution method.
Some possible means of distributing a file to a named set of individuals:
Email it directly (depending on the size of your apk)
Send it using a web-based file hosting + distribution tool (e.g. sharefile.com)
Host it on a website with logins that you control.
As I'm currently facing a similar task, I looked into Zubhium and HockeyApp. However, I haven't evaluated their potential, yet, I just browsed through the website. Maybe you can start from there.
I have already published android app on Google Play. It is desired to distribute the application even offline as .apk file directly. My app is completely free and we wish it should spread to as many people.
I am not sure what could be advantages and disadvantages of providing .apk file?
Questions are :
Will Google play count direct .apk installation as a download, when connected to internet ?
Will users with direct .apk installation get any update published later ?
To answer your questions:
Yes, you will get a download prompt if you click on an .apk in Android. When you go to open the completed download, it will offer it up for install (see caveats below)
If you offer your .apk up for direct download outside of Google Play you get no "update checking" -- you have to do that yourself. Not entirely sure what happens if the .apk is available in the play store and via direct download.
It is easier to talk about the disadvantages for the approach of distributing the .apk yourself.
You have to do all the tracking yourself, if you publish to the play store you get some statistics
Similarly, you have to do all "update checking" on your own (either via writing it in your app or some other way.)
No secure way of distributing your application. The built in Android browser does not support downloads over HTTPS streams that require authentication **
Easier for users to get the source code of your app. They can download the .apk from your site, open it in 7zip (or similar) and have at the underlying class files. Whether or not this is a concern is really for you to decide.
The most important reason
Your users will have to check "Allow installation of packages from unknown sources". Your average person might not know how to do this, and may be hesitant to do so. So, it may limit your ability to gain a a wide market share.
So, in summary, ask yourself if not being in Google Play/Android Market is really worth the hassle that comes for both you and your users.
** Not sure if this is true with Chrome on Android -- it is certainly true with the older default browser
Google play collects statistics of Apps only installed through Play Store , with a Google account logged in. Read Documentation on App statistics.
Newer version of Play Store app can auto detect if any of installed app is also available on play store, and will notify for the update.
Also, there are numerous third party app markets other than Play Store. You can upload your app there too (auto update is not available with all of them).
Seems no, correct me if I am wrong :)
Yes, provided that the package name is the same and the version code of the apk file you've uploaded to google play is larger than the one installed in the device.
I build an android application but I want that when I give it for testing then user can not copy it and that apk should not be installed on other devices?how is it possible .can I protect that apk?
Get the device ids of the devices you are going to test and just check to see if the current device is one of the devices you want.
There are online services that provide you ability to upload application and use it via browser, for example appsuffer.com. Also HP provide ability to upload application to the real devices in they network and test your apps online on remote devices. I thinks this is one of solutions if you don't want to share you code with testers.