I'll be publishing an Android application to the market for the first time .
I have already posted all these questions on the Android Market help website but no one answered , hence posting the question here though I know this is a developer forum , since I dont know of anyother option of getting answers to this question.
I have the following queries:
1> I want to publish the application in my organisation's name , so do I need to visit the http://market.android.com/publish & create a mail Id in my company's name ?
2> Do I need to provide an authorisation letter in my organisation's name , if I am publishing the application in my organisation's name ?
3> Is there any separate licence for a developer publishing an Android application & an organisation publishing an application?
4> Is there any renewal policy of the licence?
5> I want to use the application from an enterprise perpective , so want to know is there any rule for the same.
I went through the developer site of android , but didn't find any information about publishing an Android application in Android market in the name of the organisation. Everything mentioned there seems for an individual developer perspective.
Kindly provide me your inputs. Sorry if I posted it at wrong place.
Warm Regards,
CB
Publishing an Android app has very little restrictions. Briefly:
1> Yes, you need to create an account and pay a $25 fee. It's makes sense to have the email address reflect the company name, but it's not necessary.
2-4> No authorization letter is required nor is there any special license that's granted, so there's no renewal required.
5> There's nothing special with regards to enterprise use. However note that once you publish on the market, anyone can install and run your application (within the geographic and device capability limits specified when you publish and in the manifest).
Note, for enterprise use, you may want to consider not publishing to the market and simply installing the .apk from a local file server. This is pretty straight forward. You just need to enable "Unknown sources" in the Application settings and download the .apk using your browser (or you can get use a QR code and a scanner app).
Related
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 have developed a android application which I want to publish to market. I have developed the app using Eclipse IDE I have gone through the publish related checklist and documents.
Here I have few doubts :
The certificate mentioned in the checklist, is it the same which I have used while exporting my app from Eclispe ?
I am a individual developer. Do I need to give the Company name ?
How much time it takes to activate once I publish the app ?
Any help is appreciated.
Regards,
Shankar
Yes. (I am assuming you followed the instructions at http://developer.android.com/guide/publishing/app-signing.html)
You can give your name as the company name.
It is active immediately. :-) . There is no approval process or moderation.
I have recently published my sms scheduler app "In Time SMS". During the final days I face
same state as of you now. So, I think, I may can provide some answers to your questions.
For your queries:
It is the same certificate that you used during exporting app in eclipse. Save your keystore elsewhere.
You do not need a company name. You can publish your app as individual.
Normally it takes 15min-2hrs depending upon the published version distribution in several
servers of Google.
FYI:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.in.time.sms
http://intimesms.wix.com/reminder
I want to upload an app in android market. I need to know the legal installations on devices. So is there any information available to developers to know who has downloaded their apps from market. Because, one thing i am sure is that a person can not download an application unless he is not signed in.
you need to use licensing
http://developer.android.com/guide/publishing/licensing.html
Not specifically a programming subject, but if your application is for sale you can log into the Android Market publishing site and then click on the link to your Google Checkout account: every individual who has paid for your application will have an order entry with full details about who they are in the Google Checkout orders page.
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.
I am about to write an App which is customized to Macau, a city in Southern China. I am experiencing some uncertainties and would like to seek help from the fellow developers.
I have checked with Android Dev Guide and found out that we have gotta sign the App with self-generated key or a digital certificate issued from Certificate Authority. May I know whether there are any differences in the user experience when downloading and using the App for self-generated key or digital cert from CA? I heard that Symbian Apps would display alert message like "This App is untrusted" if the App is not formally verified. I do not want this to happen in my App, and I am worried about other tiny differences.
Moreover, I would like to ask about the requirements for digital certificate for signing the App. Is there any specification? Must the key be a .keystore file for signing? I am thinking about applying one from the Post Office for signing, but am worried whether it works.
From the Google Dev Guide, it says we need to plug the Android device to the computer using USB and run the App and perform testing using the computer. May I know more about the testing procedures from the experienced? After this debugging process how can I test the App on a standalone Android phone just like using the App normally? Can I simply sign the App with debug key in the debug mode and use it on the device? Must the device be developer device or Nexus One for performing testing?
If I publish the App to the Web server, i.e. users can download the file and use my file, would my source code be leaked out and get accessed by other people?
Last but not least, as I am developing the free App in Macau, I was stuck when I saw that Macau is not on the developer location list. I wonder whether I can publish my App on the Android Market. When I settle the Google Checkout payment, which option should I choose as my location, as neither China nor Macau is on the list. Should I choose "Hong Kong", my neighbouring city, or simply click "US" for convenience? Can the Android users in Macau download my App from the Android Market? (I cannot see Macau on the supported distribution location list...)
I would really appreciate it if you could kindly answer my loads of questions. Thank you very much!
That's way to many questions for one post, but I'll take a shot at a few.
You must sign your app using a keystore. It should be one you created, but hey, that is your choice. Any app not downloaded from the market is considered "untrusted" and users will receive that error upon installing it.
As far as debugging, you can debug on an emulator and/or a device (phone). Most people will recommend both. Information about how to get started can be found on the Android Development website. More specifically, you can try this
or this.
You can sign the app with a debug key if you setup USB debugging on the phone.
You publish apps as .apk files, which is complied code, not source. Even then it is hackable, just like anything else.