This is not a programming question but I feel SO is the right place to put it in.
There is an android app in the market. Our job is to upgrade the app in a huge way. There is so much to change to the point where we decided to start a new project from scratch.
My question is: in order to be able to replace (upgrade) the existing app in the Play store, What should we do? Keep the same package name? or the sign key is enough? or both? or what?
Thanks for your help and sorry if this is not the right place.
You must have both the same package name and the same signature key. Also, if it has any sort of intents/actions that can be launched from other applications, you may want to keep those the same (in case a user has setup a shortcut to them).
Package name is how the Play Store determines one app from another. They have to be unique for each app. You can't change it after you've uploaded the original if you're wanting to upgrade the existing app.
The signing key is how the Play Store verifies that you are the original developer. If you ever lose or change this key you will absolutely not be able to update the original application!
in order to be able to replace (upgrade) the existing app in the Play store, What should we do?
You need both "same package name and the same signing key"
Or if you want to change any of this, You always have option to unpublish your application from Play store.(From developer console you can unpublish it)
and then u can upload a new app.
Related
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
to clarify my question, and What I'm trying to do. I have an app at google play and it has been a very long time since I did update for it. What I want is to create a new project with same package name as my app in Google Play. However, I'm not sure if it will get accept by Google Developer Console, since I changed the original package.
Thank you in advance,
P.S. I know that can do the update within the original project but I don't want to because my last update was in 2015 so you could imagine what am talking about :)
Name doesn't matter you should not upload the app with old package name, if you do so, it should match the same SHA-1.
I have an android app from a long time ago, and I remade it from scratch. I lost the original keystore so I cannot update the app on play store? What is the best way to proceed? Create a new one and delete the old? Keep the old one with a link to the new one in the description?
You can't update the original application without the keystore. I would recommend that you update the Play Store page for your original application and link it to your new one so that you can keep some of your existing users. Make sure to make it clear in both the title and description that the application is outdated and not being updated. Delete the old one after you feel like you've rebuilt your user base.
I had the same problem and ended up finding my key. You cannot update the app at all in play store. you can't even use the same package name. email yourself the keys next time to have them in a safe place.
I'm burning my eyelash with this issue.
As everybody know (and I learned it for sure) Android doesn't allow to recover the keystore. So the only option that we have is to generate a new one, as Scoober answer here.
So far so good, but the problem is that we can't replace the actual app inside the play store, for the new one, because this doesn't have the keystore as we know.
So the question is: is it possible to unpublish/remove the app from play store, and upload the new one with the same name and package?
In other words: is it posible, after all the necessary steps, put the app with the same name or package or both?
I know that 3 year ago, it wasn't possible, but now? google and the developers console changed a lot. so maybe it's.
Hope anyone helps.
Thanks in advance.
From this answer:
You can create a new keystore, but the Android Market wont allow you
to upload the apk as an update - worse still, if you try uploading the
apk as a new app it will not allow it either as it knows there is a
'different' version of the same apk already in the market even if you
delete your previous version from the market
Do your absolute best to find that keystore!!
When you find it, email it to yourself so you have a copy on your
gmail that you can go and get in the case you loose it from your hard
drive!
No you will not be able to upload an app to the Play store with the same package, and signed by a different keystore.
You CAN use the same name, for sure not same package.
Same package must always be signed with the same keystore.
I have a very stupid problem. We created an application in Google Play, filled with all required information - translations, screenshots, etc.
Now for testing reasons, we uploaded the first .apk with a different package name (another already existent app).
The question: How can I delete this .apk!?
It seems not to be possible! I only find an option to delete the application, but I guess that this will delete the whole thing, the descriptions, screenshots, etc.
When I try to upload .apk with the correct package name, it says, I can't, because the package name has to be the same.
Thanks
Just read more carefully in future.
Please note that package names for app files are unique and permanent,
so please choose wisely. Package names cannot be deleted or re-used in
the future. Keep in mind that if you've lost your keystore, you'll
have to publish the app with a new package name and a new key. You
should also update the description of the original app and unpublish
it.
https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/113469?hl=en
You can Only Unpublish your applications which will make it invisible to the people on google play but it will be still visible to you in the developer console