I have a paid app on Google Play, and I want to give a copy away for free for someone to try it out and review it. How would I do that? Can I simply take the signed APK and email it to them? Or should I make an unsigned APK? Or, is there a way to let them download it from Google Play without having to pay for it (like some kind of discount code or something)?
Unlike Apple, Google Play does not offer this service (unfortunately to all of us...).
You can send them the signed APK as long as you didn't use any licensing service checks that would cause this not to work. This will allow them to test the app, but not to review it.
The only way to review an app is to download it through Google Play...
What you can do, however, is have them buy the app, test it, review it and then you can use the Google Checkout console to refund their purchase later...
Related
I hope everyone is having a good new year so far.
I'm a first-time developer of an android app. The application is free but has an in-app subscription purchase. I've created a release in the Internal Testing track within the Google Play Developers console and, from what I've gathered, my implementation of the Billing library should work, but I'm writing to ask if there's anyway to test the feature here and now, or will I have to wait for google to review the app and send it back for testing (I'm the only tester listed in the test track).
If there isn't any way to test the full in-app purchase feature without Google having approved the app (which I would understand), would someone be willing to explain the general process to me as I haven't been able to find too much information online.
Will I (as the only tester listed) receive an email prompting me to test the app, at which point I'll be able to download a new APK which will be able to communicate with Google Play?
How long does the approval process really usually take?
I apologize that this question lacks code, but it really is a "Google processes" question more than an android or java one.
Thank you.
I've created an application which only purpose is to download the real full-featured application from a server of mine, ask the user to accept the permissions and install it.
I know that there are some regulations for the Apple App store about this kind of "downloader" applications, so i was wondering if there is any sort of policy or term of use that might be violated if i decide to upload this app to the Google Play store.
Thanks
Check out: https://play.google.com/about/developer-content-policy.html
I believe what you are doing is ok, but would most likely be frowned upon by Google, as they want people to use the Play Store.
Quote from the article:
Malicious scripts and password phishing scams are also prohibited on
Google Play, as are apps that cause users to unknowingly download or
install apps from sources outside of Google Play.
As long as your are informing the user of the download, and not trying to make money, you're good.
I have an application that I want to release for $x amount to the public, however, I want to allow the Google Developer Console Alpha/Beta APK to be downloaded for free. I want the testers to be able to download it for free? How do I do that?
Thanks in advance,
PS. I could swear I found the link on Google, but I can't seem to find it again.
Here is my conclusion (in short, no solution):
1- (Edit: unfortunately this point is not correct, you wont get the updates unless you download directly from the store.) The only issue is delivering the first APK to the testers, as they wont be able to download the application from the Play Store, however, downloading updates from the Play Store is doable and okay, (delivered APK must be signed with same key as Play Store APK).
2- If the application is never publicly released yet, testers must have some sort of a direct link to the application on the Play Store, as searching for it will never show up (even with package name: com.example.application). But after having the first APK, you can just look through the 'My Apps" section in the Play Store and find it.
3- Google sucks for not making this easier, especially given the triviality of the concept and the need for it.
Thanks everyone for your suggestions. But considering none of them were the answer, because there is no answer, I had to sum up my findings here.
Cheers.
After discussing this with a Google representative I found that there is a round-about way of offering the app for free to testers. The tester must initially pay for the app. However, it turns out that refunds initiated by the developer actually behave differently than those initiated by Google.
Google refund: License is revoked and the user will no longer have access to the app.
Developer refund: License is NOT revoked, the app will remain fully functional IF you are only testing for license response. If you verify Order IDs it will fail since the order status will have changed (this would be a custom implementation). For developers who implemented the recommended license verification example this would effectively yield a free app.
Caveat: I haven't tested this yet as my app is a couple months from release, but here's my chat:
me
Ok can you please explain the refund then. As I understood it a refund would deauthorize the user's license, so I assumed you meant refund outside of the Google payment system.
Artemis
If you yourself initiate the refund, the user will not lose access to the app in their library.
Unless you have designed your app to constantly check the order ID's status to trigger the revoke action or the like.
If a user initiate's a refund through Google, yes, they will no longer have the app in their library and they will lose access to the content.
me
OK, since I only check the license response from the server any refund I initiate will yield a fully functional and free app in the user's library?
Artemis
Well, I am unable to validate your app's code or what you have done in its design.
I am only able to confirm that if you refund a user's purchase for an app, that Google will not revoke the app from their library or their access to the app's content.
me
Excellent, perhaps I missed the documentation on this somewhere, but I searched quite thoroughly and most information states that the developer can NOT offer the app for free to testers.
This would be great information to add to the developer console help and the testing pages.
Artemis
That is true, you cannot offer the app as free to testers.
The app must be paid for, no matter what.
However, as with all apps, alpha, beta, or production, you are welcome to refund your users however you would like.
The google play developer console now give developers the chance to provide promotion codes offering a free app or free in-app purchases, perfect for providing a free app to Alpha and Beta users:
I would like to distribute the beta for my Android App to 10,000 specific people that signed up for the prerelease via the Play Store for free. Keeping in mind that the app will eventually be a paid application, is this specificity possible?
If your app has licensing enabled, you can add the people who should get it for free in a "whitelist" with their google play account , so that the app would appear as bought from the market. (i know it is possible but never did it... just google it)
After that you can distribute the apk through email (try http://thebetafamily.com/supersend/ )
and for the previously added accounts the licensing check will pass, and for other users the licensing check will fail if they did not bought the app from market.
This was just a suggestion, never had to do something like this , but thought this might help !
It's not possible. Google Play does not allow paid application to be given away for free (minimum price is ~$1).
You can do it other way:
Publish your application free
For premium features request some in-app payment
Implement in your application some piece of code to unlock premium features to specific users.
I have found a library for it: https://code.google.com/p/remoteunlockerlib/ But not sure if it works at this moment :)
i am new to android development i created one android application and i want to test this application in all aspects before submiting to the play store. I don't know the play-store approval process. please let me know the play-store approval process and also tell me how to test my application without any bugs(that will be rejected by play-store) and against to playstore approval process.
There is not much of approval process in play store, certainly not much like apple used to do. You just need to make sure you read this and your app is okay on all points.
tell me how to test my application without any bugs
Well there is no short cut for that. Do your testing.. Google won't do it for you.. If your app is good, then only user downloads it.. It is not only Google that you have to consider..
There is no play store approval process. They run some automated tests for malware and you'll be on the market in a few hours. So just do enough testing that you feel happy with the quality.
You're responsible for testing your own app. Google won't. There are just a few basic rules you need to follow, and your app will be approved:
You can't sell in-app content unless you use Google's in-app purchasing. You CAN sell physical goods using other payment methods.
You can't make your app free and then change them to paid later. Once they're free, they're always free.
You can't do anything racist, criminal, hateful, etc... and you can't do anything you don't disclose -- i.e. steal the user's contacts and upload them to your own server for malicious purposes.
Be very attentive to testing. If your app has bugs, users will quickly complain and down-rate your app.
There is no "bug policy" for google play store. Even if your app contains bugs, google will still publish it. Develop your app keeping user in mind.