I have 2 unrelated questions in one so please bear with me.
I want to know if an Android device absolutely requires a simm card inorder to execute all things Location Based Services.
And ...
I would like friends of mine to download my samlpe app. Is there anyway to put my app online where friends can download and help me test and not put my beta-code on Market place?
For the second question, take a look at this question and answer: Signing an app, but not publishing on Android market
You'd be publishing as an "unknown source" and your friends' would have to change a setting on their phones. ATT doesn't allow this on some phones I think.
Related
This is a bit specific but let's say :
I just got a thousand of tablets. I want to install my app on these ones only.
I want nobody else to have the app and I want updates to be as smooth as possible.
I would also like to avoid using a third party server as it's more work and it might not even be possible (I don't think there's an Android permission allowing to delete and install apps on a device).
Is there a faster way than manually creating a gmail adress for every single one of them and restrict publishing to a google+ group that all these accounts are subscribed to ?
Is there any kind of script or option to have this done ? My googling was resultless so far.
In short how to manage update for a single purpose app ?
EDIT : I've found this : https://developer.android.com/work/cosu.html#locktask
but no update feature is mentionned
EDIT 2 : I believe it is a pertinent question as it's unanswered here : Update Android app in COSU device
EDIT 3 : I've found the "google private channel" but it doesn't seem to quite answer the problematics I face yet
First you have to login with your publisher account and
open publish apk deshboard.
Click on See List.
One Pop up will open and you can restrict the device from there.
I saw sites like rhogallery (http://rhohub.com/), testflightapp.com helping developers to test their app before it goes for app store or marketplace.
I would like to know whether Apple/Android allows (with legal permission) us to setup our own Repo like this?
Our need is to host and serve mobile apps while we dont want that to be made publically available on App store/Marketplace.
Old question now but would be useful for somebody searching for this. From what I know, you can install third part apps from places other than the app stores but by enabling that particular setting from your phone
Is there anyway of deploying an app on android market without letting people download it ? Something like the Apple Store behavior of blocking the download of the app until the release date or owner's will.
Thanks.
It filters market results based on the type of device you have. Maybe you could set some of the things in the manifest in such a combination that a device that meets those requirements doesn't exist yet. That might filter your app out of all of the market search results. But I don't even know if that is possible, and when you wanted to "activate" it so that people could download it you'd have to upload an update with a new manifest. So it seems like you might as well just not upload it until you are ready. Why are you interested in having it set up this way?
Here's the scenario i am trying to achieve:
Publish/have an app in the Android app store
However - i do not want it to be searchable through the android market search, etc.
The only way people can access the app is if i give them an explicit link to download
Is above possible? If so - how? All FAQs/instrucitons i have seen publish & make it searchable for the whole world - but i want it only accessible through #3 above.
Thanks.
Try this site https://www.push-link.com/, you can upload apk on your private account and only can be accessible thorough automatic generated link and QR code. This service contains user notification on new versions and bug reports.
Two things that are problematic with the link to an APK approach:
Some of the devices out there (I m only aware of the Motorola Atrix) don't have the "Unkown Sources" option, meaning that this won't work on them.
You loose the ability to auto update the app if you want.
I would recommend adding a login process where only your users will have access to the actual application. This way, you still have the Market advantages and only those people can activate the application.
The main disadvantage is that the application will be open to search in the Market, but as far as I know, this won't be a problem since people will immediately uninstall it since they won't be able to activate it.
In your case, what I do is, I dont upload the application to the Market and distribute it from my server.
I mean this is simple, sweet and it also saves my $25 for the market account...
Don't do this. Just publish the APK to your own website, then give the users the URL to the APK, they can download and install it directly. The only thing they'll need to do is ensure that Menu-Settings-Applications-Unknown sources is ticked.
AppBrain has a fantastic new app that lets you automatically install applications on your phone using your web browser. Similar to the Chrome push. In their case, they are using it to let you install apps without a prompt directly on the phone. Engadget has a good video demonstrating their system.
http://lifehacker.com/5582169/appbrain-upgrade-installs-android-apps-instantly-from-the-web
My question is: What mechanism are they using to avoid asking for a prompt on the phone and to do the installation directly?
The reason I'm asking is that have a couple hundred android phones that run some custom software, the users have to manually update the software by clicking through the install process. And ideally I'd prefer to be able to do push updates without having to prompt people (in exchange for a free phone+service you have to run the software, so 'you shouldn't do that' doesn't invalidate the question of how do you do that). The biggest problems are that if you're doing rapid development/testing it's a pain to get everyone up to the right versions and it's hassle for people.
What AppBrian does sounds like a perfect fix to this problem, but how does it work? The only permission the AppBrain fast installer asks for is access to your accounts and network access. Now, there was the interesting development about Jon Oberheide's REMOVE_ASSET and INSTALL_ASSET which he says uses the GTalk service to imitate prompt-less installs. The interesting this is that AppBrian's FastWeb installer works on a 2.01 Droid but does not work on a 2.2 Nexus One (maybe one of the last round of Froyo updates disables AppBrain's access to the INSTALL_ASSET intent).
http://jon.oberheide.org/blog/2010/06/25/remote-kill-and-install-on-google-android/
Can anyone shed any light on this? I know auto update is coming for the Market but I'm not sure if this would be a usable workaround. I'm fine with saying 'you need to click to install this once', but having hundreds of people waste their time clicking 'ok' is a waste.
I personally think that this is something Google should support for Enterprise users in the future with the Device Administrator features. If I went with Android and could easily stage and keep people up to date with apps it wold be pretty useful.
So I think I have a reasonably good idea on how app brain is able to work its magic. I have found a couple of links you might find interesting and then you can always refer to the discussion on this other question.
Link 1: Here is a link on how the first app that was built by a researcher shows how a person with malicious intent can easily use two commands that google has put in for "our" convenience for silent install and uninstall...!!
Link 2:Here is how the exploit works and you could use it...