How do I package/export my app from eclipse for consumption? Where can I upload it other than android marketplace?
I've done all the programming but have no idea what to do next.
You should check out this excellent talk given at Droidcon uk last year
http://skillsmatter.com/podcast/agile-testing/how-to-run-a-private-beta-on-the-android-market
Read about publishing here. The process isn't too bad. You must:
Create a signing certificate
Build and Export for publishing
Sign
Distribute
If you just want to distribute to testers, you can sign with a debug certificate. Those who want to install the debug app on their phones must go to Settings->Applications->Unknown Sources. From there it's as easy as using adb install <path to APK> or uploading the app to a web server and having the target phone navigate to its URL using Android's browser.
As for other marketplaces, there are a lot these days, with Amazon's the closest second to the Android Market. Even WalMart has jumped in!
The biggest pain is setting up your signing credentials, but it's not a big deal. Just read the dev guides and you'll be publishing in no time.
Depends on if you are going to hold a private or a public beta. First things first though.
You need a signed .apk in eclipse, click File->Export and then open the Android Folder and click "Export Android Application"
It will walk you through signing your .apk. If you are going to do a private beta you could use a different key than the one you plan on using for the android market if you wanted.
If you are holding a private beta you can put the .apk out on dropbox or another service like that and send your beta testers the link. You will want to make sure they have checked "Unkown sources" in there settings.
If you are holding a public beta you can publish it to the market and just let everybody know it is in beta.
I have done it both ways... Having a public beta may discourage certain users from downloading the app but you will establish your place in the market. On the flip side you could be affected by ratings. It will depends on if your app is really ready for beta or is in more of an alpha stage.
Hope this helps.
I suppose this part of the documentation could help. It describes the specifics on how to publish your .apk file outside the standard Android Market channel. In fact, the whole "Publishing" section of the doc gives you a quite complete overview of what is possible to do, and how to do it.
Good luck your your app!
Related
I'm developing an android app that won't be downloaded via the Google Play store but instead through an APK listed on my website. I was looking for a way to update this app.
I've done some research and I think the best way would be to run an API at the start of the app that checks the downloaded app's version against the version of the APK listed on the website (at the time of app launch). If the version of the website APK is higher, then I prompt the user for an update. Ideally the API would get the APK itself without the user needing to go to the website.
I have some doubts about this that I hope someone can answer however:
First - Once I download the new APK does the old one get deleted or do I have to do that?
Second - How do I keep User Preferences?
If this isn't the right way to do it I'd appreciate any tips.
If it is the right way and you know of some good resources to build an API like this I'd appreciate those too!
I am installing security software/hardware into a couple different school districts. The application is at it's final stage, however I will need to send updates to users periodically. For example, a general password will be changed for the application every 6 months.
Installing an .apk is considered an "update" after the initial application is installed, correct?
I just have a feeling that there should be some easy way of doing this. I don't really want to give people an .apk. Someone could get smart and tear it apart to find the contents. That, and some others might not understand how to install files on their phone.
What are your ideas? Maybe a web link a user can go to that starts the install for them?
You have multiple misconceptions how updating, APKs and keeping keys secure work.
You have to host your APKs somewhere. Github releases is a pretty common way (but slow), but you could also use google drive, dropbox or your own server.
Your app has to fetch the server regularly and check if a new APK is available (pull-based). Second option is to use push notification in some kind e.g. FCM (push-based). Then you download the APK and let the user install it. Your app cannot start a installation by itself, it has to be done by the user.
But you can redirect the user to the installation menu with that APK, so he just has to click "Install". "Install from unknown sources" has to be enabled for that, if not the user will get an information about that from the OS with a way to enable.
There are apps like "APK extractor" which get you the APKs from google play without root, so there's nothing wrong about giving out the APK. Your APK should never contain secure keys which the user isn't allowed to see. It's easy to reverse engineer those keys, it's just a matter of time.
I have distributed my app through posting the link from google drive where the users can download the .apk file.Now that I haven't published my app in google play how to know how many installs or how many people have installed my application.Is there a way I can increase the count variable in the server or something like that?
Unless you went through the App Store or integrated some third party analytics tool like Fabric you would need to have implemented this in the application with a request to a server with a unique identifier to keep track.
Is there a way I can increase the count variable in the server or something like that?
Well that seems a bit shady. You don't want to lie to people, do you?
When you release an app on the Play Store, Google will keep track of how many users download your app, and update it accordingly. So if people use your app, then your downloads (listed on the Play Store) will reflect that.
To see your current downloads, you should be able to find that information on the "Google Play Developer Console." (I would imagine; I currently don't have access to the dashboard myself.)
Is it possible to run java app (jar) in my android application? Because I need to create PDF, the problem is if I generate PDF in android, only can show with small image, if it contains large image in many pages, it will be error. So I think, I can generate PDF in java and then included to android app.
Concernig the mentiones app JBED:
Well honestly, I could not find any credible source for this tools JBED, so I would really be very cautious (e.g. who is the developer?)
In the manifestfile (in Androidmanifest.xml, where every app has to state what rights it needs to run, see How to view AndroidManifest.xml from APK file?) there are many rights mentioned (what could be necessary, as the app wants to run as an emulator), so a java application might want to send an SMS, record audio, take pictures and place calls -- so the emulator would need those rights as well.
But then the app also registers the "android.intent.action.BOOT_COMPLETED" event (i.e. autostart after boot) and this would go against every description of the tool.
Ah yeah and giveaway: The apk has a folder "certs" that has some (root-)certificates. But those are not the real certificates of the authorities, e.g. Versign. If one installs the app and by that those certificates the trust you might have in https-connections is lost because those who made the fake certificates can create own, false certificates that your phone would trust.
I assume (or am pretty sure) this is a spy tool, but I could be wrong. The (rare) testimonials that claim the tool ran perfectly will probably be the same person that posted the tool under a different name.
Andreas
You can import java Third-party libraries into Android app, follow the steps here.
I am not sure whether it will work,but just try.
If your program is a console program, the answer is yes.
Install Jvdroid from Google play. Click terminal and then write this command: java -jar YourJarFileName.jar
The simplest way would be to some install terminal emulator and then install java and then you can run java apps on standard java. You can even install full Linux distro with x server without rooting the phone, then connect to it from x client and you have Linux desktop on android. Once I've even installed eclipse for java development on it and everything worked. I tested this setup last time in 2014, but I'm pretty sure you can do this nowadays as well. The app with Linux I get from play store as well app for the x client. The app I used back then was "Debian no ROOT" or smthg like this. You need to check what's currently available to make this setup in Google Play store according to your android version and your preferences. Last time I've checked there was a lot of different tools for this kind of task. Lastly I've even successfully installed TF and keras on my android phone using terminal emulator.
You can use JBED. JBED is an .apk Android application which run java games and app on your android Device. JBED is a java android emulator, by using
this application we can install .JAR/.JAD/Java/J2ME/MIDP app on android phones.
You can do it quite easily as there are many ways to run java apps on android. Specific application called Java Emulators can do it quite easily.
These are four most popular java emulators for android viz, JBED, PhoneME, Jblend and NetMite. These are arranged in order of their preference. You can use phoneme for non rooted device, however if your device is rooted try any of the remaining three applications.
I have recently started programming for the Android platform. I have a simple application which I would like to email to someone so that they can execute the application and check how it works.
I am currently using the Emulator in the Android SDK to execute my application but the person who I am emailing it to does not have Android SDK and it would be a mission to send the whole project folder.
Is there any way that I can send just one file such as an .exe or something that would allow the recipient to execute the application to see how it works.
Thanks so much for your help in advance guys
The "exe" for android is called apk. I suggest you to look at this question. You'll need to build the apk and sign it in order to be able to run it.
If you just want to send it to a user for testing purposes, you can enable the setting in the target android device to allow "unknown sources" (I don't know the proper english name, as I don't have an english android here at the moment). You can find this in the app settings.
In your development environment look for the apk file created by eclipse. Then connect your smartphone to the pc and copy the apk over. Start up a file manager and click on the apk and it will install just like any other app.
If you want to deploy it properly, you have to sign it and probably follow the procedures from google. Since I don't have a fully deployable app yet, I can't say what the procedures is for that, but the google site is very helpfull on all aspects about android programming.
Check the "bin" folder in your project path. There you will have a .apk that you can share with your clients.
If they execute it in an Android mobile phone the application will be installed.