I published several free and paid app in the Market. I recently get
several complains from customers about not finding my app in the 2.1
Market. Even if they have bought them before, they can't find it in
the market or their download list after updating to 2.1.
Can anyone tell me what the problem is? My apps only require minimal SDK 3..
Thanks a lot!!
Update:
It looks like that they are not shown because they have copy protection enabled. Is this a bug in the Market?
I am having this difficulty also using my ROM OpenEclair (www.openeclair.org)
This only occurs on 2.1, but if it is a custom ROM - they may run into the trouble that the dev is using a Market from 1.6 instead of 2.1
Another possibility is using a 2.1 Market from a diff phone (such as the Droid Eris's Market on a Dream/Magic)
I think I found the answer and it has to do with recent changes in Google market filters on Jun 1st, 2010. Take a look at the following link:
http://developer.android.com/guide/appendix/market-filters.html
I found in my case that the app was hidden in some phones since I had included the following entry in my manifest:
It is because copy-protection is depreciated. Every build or release needs to be whitelisted by google as secure enough to have copy-protected apps. That way they can "ensure" it wont be copied.
From:
http://developer.android.com/guide/publishing/licensing.html
"Replacement for copy protection
Android Market Licensing is a flexible, secure mechanism for controlling access to your applications. It effectively replaces the copy-protection mechanism offered on Android Market and gives you wider distribution potential for your applications."
Use the licensing instead in order to hit a larger audience or customer base.
Related
So far, I used the regular SDK in most projects, and used Google API SDK only when the project will utilize some of Google's feature.
I am now wondering is there a good reason I should NOT always use Google API SDK?
There are devices without Google services installed. In this case the Google API is not available. By not using the Google API SDK, your app can still run on these devices.
E.g. consider the Kindle Fire, it doesn’t have the Play store installed, as well as various low-budget tablets and Chinese phones. Custom builds from the open-source code such as Cyanogenmod also don’t have the Google apps installed (although many users add them manually).
Although Android itself is open-source, the Google apps require the vendor to get a license from Google. I know this because custom builds were asked by Google to not include their apps. Also having their own store instead of the Play Store is attractive for some manufacturers because then they get a share of the revenue instead of letting Google have all the profits. This is why not all devices have them.
One potential reason is this: why should you include something if you aren't using it? When you write a new class, do you import the entirety of the Android framework? No, you wouldn't, because at worst it could cause problems in your code, and even in the best case it takes up extra space in your resulting APK.
I'm not sure how much additional space would be taken up in memory/storage by building your app using the Google API SDK, but I can't imagine it's 0, and in mobile development you can't really afford not to be judicious with resource usage.
I understand how multiple APKs work on Google Play, but so far I've supported a single APK for V7 (2.1) and up. I'd like to start using Android 3.x-4.x+ features that could be more difficult to make backwards compatible, and I wouldn't mind not having to build in that growing compatibility library. But I still want to make the product available to Android 2.x users, even though that version will be "frozen" and not receive future product enhancements.
So how should this best be done? I could use the basic multiple-APK approach, but then users of 2.x devices might see things in the product description that are not in the APK that they would be installing. But would the version number show up correctly based on the APK that matches the user's device?
Any other ideas from someone who's done this?
I am an Android OS developer. I have a tablet in development that I'm in the process porting Android ICS to. Now I want to install Android Market or Google Play. This system is under development, not distributed and not licenses / approved by Google yet.
I see plenty of Q & A about how to install Android Market on an emulator. I'm pretty sure I can use that same procedure to install Android Market on my development system. But that's not my question exactly.
I have a hunch, and I can see others have speculated as much, that installing (side-loading) Android Market without Google's permission is not legal. My question is, as a developer, how do I apply for or obtain or get approval from Google to download and install Android Market or Google Play on my development system? Believe me, I've searched around the Android development website aplenty.
installing (side-loading) Android Market without Google's permission is not legal
Correct.
how do I apply for or obtain or get approval from Google to download and install Android Market or Google Play on my development system?
Quoting the documentation: "Google Play is only licensed to handset manufacturers shipping devices. For questions about specific cases, contact android-partnerships#google.com".
I am also developing a tablet, got the same form but no response from Google, I'm interested in hearing if you got any.
What is happening right now, I decided to implement Slide Me as the end user app store, it is possible to brand it with your name and icon.
It works well on my test devices so I recommend it if you're just looking for a market application, give it a try.
Though, there are a whole lot more markets (and cheaper one too) out there.
On the Android Compatibility page it is stated that:
Once you've built a compatible device,
you may wish to include Android Market
to provide your users access to the
third-party app ecosystem.
Unfortunately, for a variety of legal
and business reasons, we aren't able
to automatically license Android
Market to all compatible devices. To
inquire about access about Android
Market, you can contact us.
Does anybody know what the actual procedure is to get Android Market on you own device, assuming the CDD is followed and the CTS is passed. Specifically I would like to hear from someone who have experience on licensing the Android Market?
Also, I hear that Google has relaxed the restrictions on licensing the Android Market after version 2.3, but I cannot find any sources supporting this statement. Does anybody have additional information on this?
Thanks
It's very easy, on the page you linked to (http://source.android.com/compatibility/index.html), there's a Contact Us link on the left side. You will find all the contacts information at http://source.android.com/compatibility/contact-us.html
Good luck!
Has anyone seen that their applications built against Android 2.0 (minSdkVersion="5") are not showing up at all in the market for 2.2 devices? Does anyone know a workaround (aside from building for 2.2).
Thanks,
Craig
Here's a good explanation of why this is happening:
"When an app is copy protected it causes this kind of behavior. Here is why. When an app is placed on the market the developer has the option to apply “Forward Locking”. This prevents the app from being pirated, and also prevents the app from being installed on a developer phone or an unreleased device.
Since Android 2.2 is not an “official” release yet the market gets a little unhappy because it doesn’t know what this OS/Device is that is trying to connect and thus applies the copy protection on these apps."
http://androidheadlines.com/2010/06/froyo-preventing-access-to-certain-apps-in-the-market.html
I think that protected and some paid app are not showing in 2.2
See Paul (ModaCo) twitter:
"It's entirely possible Google haven't 'flicked the switch' on the FRF50 build.prop yet, hence no paid apps until they do!"
edit: and I guess that protected app's are linked too.
There is a signature key for each Android build out there, including each manufacturer's inclusion of it in a device.
When you access the market, it checks this signature to see which applications you have permission to view.
In this case, Google have probably not enabled that signature to see certain applications, such as apps which are paid, protected or perhaps built for certain versions.
They still haven't enabled HTC Desire to view protected apps and it has been out for nearly two months -- there's even a bit of a furore over it on the internet, but Google don't seem to mind.