I've recently posted my Android app to Chrome Web Store using ARC Welder, and wondering about how I can make it a paid app.
Currently, for Android, I have a free version and an "unlocker" as a separate app on Google Play. The user installs the free version first, and then if he/she decides to "go pro", he/she purchases and installs the "unlocker" which talks to the free versions and activates it into "pro" mode.
So my questions:
When packaging an Android app with ARC, it runs on its own, so there is no way to have a second app ("unlocker") running in the same Android "sandbox", correct?
Is it possible for an Android / ARC app to access "purchased" state via Google Play APIs, say for checking if the user purchased the "unlocker" app on Android?
I assume that the answer is "no", at least for now:
https://developer.chrome.com/apps/getstarted_arc
Since ARC is in Beta, it doesn't support all of Google Play Services yet.
However, here are some available APIs:
Auth (OAuth2)
GCM
Google+ sign-in
Maps
Location
Ads
I don't see licensing APIs here.
I found these links on monetizing Chrome apps:
https://developer.chrome.com/webstore/money
https://developer.chrome.com/webstore/payments-iap
Even if this also applies to Chrome OS (not sure), it seems to require JavaScript coding to talk Chrome Webstore APIs. Is it possible to access those from inside the Android ARC sandbox?
Are there better options that I'm missing?
None? Should I just wait until Android ARC is fleshed out more and hope that it includes support for paid apps?
The direct answers are:
1) You can bundle up two APKs so they both run in the same sandbox. But only one of them is launched as "your app". It is free to then launch or otherwise use the second APK as it sees fit.
2) But as you noticed, there is no way to easily check for a purchase/license right now.
Your best bet may be to wait for the Google Play Services license APIs to be implemented.
Related
I'm using Google Play Store to distribute an app.
For a certain issue, I would like to install an OLDER version of my app to one of the client's device.
I'm struggling to do so, is there any way to do that?
No matter how and which "testing" method I apply, Google Play automatically shows the HIGHEST version of the app which is the "release" version ignoring the old test versions.
Creating an APK would be NO way because I need Google Play's own signature in the apk to make things work (to test the things we would like to)
Is there any way at all to distribute my OLDER app version from Google Play store?
(By the way Google's testing methods are inexpressibly unusable even apart from this problem. You never see what really happens, you cannot really manage the testing channels the GUI is miserable the notification email is late the testing is slow and painful you don't see the version number in the Google Play Store, there are like 3 methods to do so and the difference between them is not self explaining, I give 1 start to the developers who made these parts of Google Play I hope they read this.)
Thanks in advance.
From Google Play Console go to App bundle explorer
Then choose the version you want to install
Go to Downloads tab
click on Copy sharable link
install it from you device using this link
Note: the device's Google Play account should be an internal tester and enable internal testing from Google Play on this device.
I've searched for examples of iOS app clip & Android instant Apps but could not find more than few examples.
I am looking for released apps in App Store/Google Play or open source examples.
good examples could make developing these new features easier and gives developers new creative ideas to use these wonderful tools.
Do you have an app that utilizes App clip or instant app?
How did this affect your app?
What is the challenges you have faced?
Note: I know this is not a typical question but it need to be asked in a community full of great developers who love to share knowledge with others, and I don't think there is a better place than here.
Intro
I know it's been 10 months since you posted the question but I just stumbled upon it now... I've developed an app called ARShades for both iOS and Android that allows the user to try glasses on via Augmented Reality and I'm still in charge of development. The app supports both Instant App and App Clip, although I'm facing troubles making the the app banner show for the App Clip.
Firebase issues
As far as I can tell developing App Clips is a tad harder than develeloping Instant Apps, I'll tell you why. The main apps for both systems make extensive use of Firebase Firestore and many other features. This isn't a problem on Android where sockets are supported across the board, while on iOS they are only supported in the main app, so I had to use REST API to read and write data on Firebase when developing the App Clip, it's been a nightmare since it was the first time for me dealing with REST APIs (I just finished yesterday and published the update).
App Size
Another issue I faced is related to reducing the app size. On Android I had to remove all the unused images and compress the remamining ones. On iOS I had to separate the asset catalogues between: used only by the main app, shared, and used only by app clip. And of course I went through some compression works there too. I forgot to mention that I developed a new app as Instant App on Android, while you cannot do the same on iOS since it must be in the same project.
App to site linking
Another insidious part was the linking of the site to the apps. I managed to do it on Android by making changes to the manifest and specifying the host, while I can't seem to find a way to link the App Clip to the site in ay way. I've done everything the documentation says. I've put the apple app site association file in the .well-known folder but nothing, no banner shows up. I'll keep working on that.
Edit: Everything is now solved.
Conclusions
So, to sum up, I've found Instant Apps better on the developing and hassle side of things, the support sockets, hence the full suite of frameworks the full apps have. I hope I kind of answered your question, although I think you have documented yorself elsewhere in these past 10 months XD
Links to Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=it.spaarkly.arshades&hl=en_US&gl=US
Link to iOS: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/arshades-demo/id1586661818
Link for trying Instant App / App Clip
My employer uses InTune to manage company mobile devices. As yet, we have not deployed any apps using InTune.
However, we have developed an app for internal employee use, for iOS, Android and Windows Phone 8.1 and 10).
I was trying to test the roll out myself (I don't have access to the Corporate Outlook Admin account) so I set up a 30 day trial of InTune.
I have a few questions :
It looks like I would need a Enterprise Mobile Code from Symantec to apply to the Windows Phone app before I can delpoy with InTune? (I think I will have to skip this as I can't spend $300 on a test!)
Also, I believe both Android and iOS apps need to be 'wrapped' to be able to deploy to such devices?
Having wrapped them, can I then distribute them to devices using the trial InTune?
Do Windows Phone apps also need wrapping, or can they be distributed as is?
The purpose of this exercise is to prove apps can be rolled out through InTune, and what steps need to be taken to do this.
Note : the app is for employees only and should not therefore be available on the public app stores.
Thanks in advance,
Yes. A Enterprise Mobile Code Signing Certificate is required before you deploy this app to users. You will need this certificate to generate an Application Enrollment token (AET) and sign company apps. Please refer to this guide here for more details.
I think you may have some misunderstanding here. There're two kinds of tools called Intune App warpping Tool and Intune App SDK. They are used for enabling the MAM (mobile application management) features to your app. In other words, you still can deploy your app via Intune even the app hasn't been wrapped or developed with SDK. However, in this case the MAM features like restricting copy & paste operations to the un-managed apps.
Note that the Intune App Wrapping Tool and Intune App SDK only support Android & IOS platforms. It depends on your needs to choose from these two tools. Simply to say, using Intune App Wrapping tool you don't need to access the app's source code but it supports less MAM features compared with Intune APP SDK, it also does not support warpping the apps on the public app store. Click here to know more detailed introductions about these two tools.
Yes of course.
No, as note above. The MAM policies only support IOS and Android devices at this moment. You can only use the feature called Windows Information Protection (WIP) to achieve the similar functions on Windows 10 desktop and mobile platform. More details here.
I've noticed while I'm out and about (specifically at HyVee and Walmart) that the Continuity prompt (bottom-left corner of the lock screen) shows the App Store. When I open it, it takes me to their respective apps to be downloaded.
I thought that Continuity only shared to other devices with your Apple ID, so how are they advertising their apps? Are they receiving App Store links from nearby iBeacons? Various Google Search terms haven't turned up any information.
This is the new Suggested Apps feature of iOS 8. This is an AppStore feature that uses geofences (not beacons) to find apps relevant to your location. The description of this feature in settings says:
Leaving this option turned on will allow iOS to offer suggestions for App Store apps that you do not already have installed. These can be based on what you already have installed or what people near you find interesting.
Apple's mechanism for suggesting apps is undocumented. Perhaps it is based on an algorithm (other folks regularly using an app in the vicinity), a database (known locations of major retailers), or paid marketing (e.g. Starbucks pays Apple to suggest their app when near one of their shops.) It could be a combination of all three.
I know that this technology is not based on beacons (at least not exclusively) because I received an app suggestion for Starbucks (without having the app installed) and then I immediately used a non-iOS-based beacon scanner that verified no beacons were in the vicinity.
I am interested in developing an app for Windows Phones, and was wondering if they support the concept of limited/beta releases for their app developers? By this, I mean the ability to deploy a beta or demo version of my app to a limited/restricted audience, such as business partners, customers, external beta testers, etc. Nothing in their SDK documentation indicates either way. Thanks in advance!
You can create a Beta App submission in the Dev Center, and by adding certain Live Ids, limit the access to your application and make it available to your Beta Testers. See the following for more information :-
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windowsphone/help/jj215598%28v=vs.105%29.aspx