I want to rename my published app during next upgrade, will the Android Market treat this as just another regular upgrade and preserve the associated ratings and comments? The app will keep the same package name.
As long as the package name is same , it doesn't matter what app name you keep. I frequently switch my apps Title(in market) and also app_name . and everything remains the same
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I want to know is there any way to update a existing Android app in playstore with my new Android app?
Let me describe: I have a app published on playstore OK with any users. So now I have created a different app with same functionality With different package name and project name. So now I want to update existing app with new app without losing existing users. Is it possible?
What you are trying to achieve is not possible. You can't change the package name for an already published app. The best you could do is to drive your users to the new published app by adding a banner or link to the updated app inside the old one.
Google Play Store does not allow package names to be changed. It depends on a consistent package name to identify the individual listings.
For a user friendly solution you might add a splash screen to the old app with a link to the Play Store listing of your updated app.
Unfortunately you cant do that.
Thats because the package name is a unique identifier. So if you crate an app project in the PlayStore and upload an apk, this project is permanently bond to that package name.
Question: Was it necessary to change the package name?
If not, you could keep the existing packagename, change/relayout your app as you desire, and upload the new apk. Your users will then perform a regular update and everything will be kept (ratings, downloads, etc ...)
I have published an Ionic app to google play and it's working fine. But, I had to make a change to its package name and now when I try to reupload it, it says the package name should be the same as previous version.
Your APK needs to have the package name com.mypackagename.
You need to use a different version code for your APK because you already have one with version code 'myversioncode'.
I'm happy to take down the whole app and upload the newer version but I don't think google would allow me to do it.
How can I work around this? Should I update the version code as well?
Think of the packagename as kind of a unique id for you app. If you look closely, a playstore-link is always a combination of the url and your packagename, like https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=COM.YOUR.PACKAGENAME.
When you create a new app project in the developer console, and upload the first apk, this project is permanently linked to the given package name.
I think the reason for this is androids app update scheme. By comparing the package names it checkts if you have a certain app installed, and if the installed version has a lower versioncode then the one available, it detects that you could update it.
So basically you have two options:
A) keep the old package name and do a regular update
B) change the package name and create a new app project in the developer console. publish your "new" app. Keep in mind that this app starts at zero, so your previous downloads and ratings are gone
You can not update the same app with different package name instead disable the previous app and upload new app with a new package name.
I've published an app to the playstore. On the same time, I worked on an update, but the update has a different package name.
Like:
Release version 1.0 -> com.domain.packageOne
Release version 1.1 -> com.domain.packageTwo
Can I now add packagteTwo without problems to the production phase or will then, the device download both versions? The problem then would be, that the user would have two verions of my app.
Or do I need to change the package name in my project so it matches packageOne? Thanks!
When doing an update for an app, it should have the same package name, and should always be signed with the original signing certificate used when the app was first published.
If you upload your update with a different package name, the play store will treat it as two separate apps, I'm not sure whether or not it will allow the same application name, as viewing in app listings, to be the same, I don't believe it does so you would probably get an error anyway stating that an app with that name already exists.
If the actual application name is also different, then the play store will treat it as two different apps.
If you change your package name to be the same as the original package name, you can update the app as long as you use the same signing certificate as the original app.
Hope this helps.
if you want to make an update to your app it has to have the same package name. Just increase the application version
See this link on how to specify versions on your app
I am working in the 1.1 version of an app which first version (1.0) was made for a consulting company. That company published the app in Play using a package like com.thatcompany.mycompany. Our problem is that currently we want to deliver the 1.1 version as com.mycompany. As long as I know if we try to do that (change the package) our app don't be perceived for Play market as an upgrade of the last version but as a different application. Does exist some way to do package change and still being the same application on Play in order to the user be encouraged to update? Thanks.
As far as i know, you can't.
Your app is signed.
Signing uses your keystore and the package name.
If you change any of these the Play store will recognize it as a different application.
I believe it has something to do with security.
You cannot.
An application is uniquely identified in the market place with its package name, therefore you cannot change the package name anymore (the same goes with the key).
You cannot change either the package name or keystore used to sign your app.
To confirm what everyone else says, you CANNOT modify your package once your app has been published.
I am developing 2 android applications, which are clients for my server. I cannot install both applications on my android phone. I install the first app to phone, everything is ok. Then when I try to install the second app on the phone, I get the message that the application will replace another application (the first one), and then I get following error:
Application not installed: an existing package by the same name with a conflicting signature is already installed.
I mention that I have created one separate keystore file for every application, export them as in the android official signing application guide, then zipaligned them.
So the OS thinks that it is a single application? But in fact there are 2 different apps.
What am I doing wrong?
I think you are using the same package, which is not allowed for two different apps.
But for anyone who have the same error for installing another version on top of previously installed app:
I wanted to test released version of my app when the problem occured. I've had the app previously installed using eclipse, and than I wanted to install the same app but with released signature. I have even uninstalled the app using apps gallery, but the problem persisted.
The solution for me was to unistall the app using Settings->Apps->"the app"->top right corner menu->Uninstall for all users
I had the same error message, but these answers did not help. On a 4.3 nexus 7, I was using a user who was NOT the owner. I had uninstalled the older version but I kept getting the same message.
Solution: I had to login as the owner and go to the settings->apps... Scroll down to the end of the list where my old version was listed with a mark 'not installed'. Select it and press the 'settings' button in the top right corner and finally 'uninstall for all users'
Not sure what happens when you use the same signing key, because in all honesty, I never really tried it.
That being said, as Anand Tiwari, in his comment, has already simplified the answer, you cannot install two different applications with the same package name on one device. They, logically speaking, may be different to you, but for the OS, they are in fact, the same.
The problem also manifests itself when you try to upload the applications to the Android Market (Google Play). Google Play will simply not accept the second application. There is a short and simple explanation by Warren Faith here: https://stackoverflow.com/a/5788664/450534
As an example of how similar applications with a few changes are published to the Google Play store:
The free version of FriendCaster is: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=uk.co.senab.blueNotifyFree
The paid version if the same app is: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=uk.co.senab.blueNotify
Notice the ending of the package names. In this case, you will be able to install both the apps simultaneously on one device.
I think your problem is that both your files have the same package name. You can name both apps with similar packages, but they can't be identical. In fact, using the same package base can be used to communicate between applications ie. App1: com.mypkg.app1 and App2: com.mypkg.app2. However, they both can't be called com.mypkg.app - the package name is how Android identifies apps, and can't be identical.
You should be able to sign as many different apps (assuming their package is different) with the same key.
Make sure not to lose your signing certificate, if you lose it, you will not be able to upload a new app with the same package name. If you lose your signing certificate, you will be in big trouble.
Good luck.