9

I want to publish a paid-for app on Amazon app store as well as Google Play. I plan on doing two separate builds for my app, one with the Google Play Licensing library incorporated and enabled (for submitting to Google Play) and one with the Licensing library disabled (for submitting to Amazon app store; Amazon has its own Licensing facility). Other than this, the two builds will be identical (same package name etc). Does anyone know whether or not this strategy is a feasible way to go?

A worry I have in particular is app updates. If a user purchases my app from Amazon app store and I publish an update to Google Play, would the user receive a notification telling them that an update is available for them from Google Play?

Adil Hussain
  • 24,783
  • 20
  • 95
  • 134

3 Answers3

6

I currently have apps on both the google play market and Amazon market and have not come across any of the issues you have mentioned above. I am using ecplise and created the apk file using a certificate and used the same apk file for both Android markets.

As they are seperate markets and as you mentioend Amazon has its own authentication meaning google play updates are not an issue and therefore need to be done on both Markets.

Google Play vs Amazon Appstore

Finally, things to look out for is if you have any links referencing the play market you need to change these to the Amazon market, as Amazon will fail it otherwise (upload to Amazon market can take several days), hope this helps.

Raj
  • 2,558
  • 9
  • 33
  • 51
  • Thanks for the response. Have you used the Google Play Licensing library project to perform licensing checks or have you used the Google Play "Copyright Protection" mechanism instead (the radio-button which you turn on/off in your app's Publishing Options section)? Nice apps btw. Will check them out. – Adil Hussain Nov 12 '12 at 13:11
  • 1
    I currently do not use either (as I have not really required the need). However I would advice using the Google Play Licensing as, Google are depricating the functionality of 'Copy Protected'. If it is a free game I feel its better to remove any copy protection/ licensing as this increases your game being spread between friends. – Raj Nov 12 '12 at 14:38
  • Do you happen to know how updates work, i.e. if I update the Google Play version of my app (with a later `versionCode`) and not the Amazon Appstore version, would somebody who had installed my app from Amazon Appstore receive a notification telling them that there is an updated version of the app available from Google Play? – Adil Hussain Nov 13 '12 at 18:35
  • 1
    They are completly seperate and therefore you would not get updates from google play on Amazon installs. Maybe have a quick read of this article, very useful, http://www.broadbandgenie.co.uk/blog/20120903-quick-guide-amazon-android-appstore – Raj Nov 13 '12 at 21:06
  • @LandLPartners will upload to Amazon fail if the google play string is contained in your app, but turned off? For instance, I would like to keep the code for both rating providers in my app, but switch between them with a meta-data flag. – Sky Kelsey Mar 12 '13 at 00:37
  • Sorry, I am not entirely sure here. I image that Amazon will reject it if they see any code linking to Google play. Easiest way, I guess would be to try submitting the app and see what happens. Sorry I could not be of more help. – Raj Mar 12 '13 at 00:40
2

When you submit the android apk file to the Amazon app store it signs itself and publishes the app. I uploaded by debug build (not even any signed apk) and amazon accepted it and the app is now in their app store. Amazon might have some sort of automated signing the application.

Make sure you've not implemented anything related to Google play store.

Good luck!

Reaz Murshed
  • 21,071
  • 12
  • 69
  • 87
1

I am writing an app and face the same situation, I found the best solution was to make your app into a library project and import it into two separate projects for release.

These separate projects would have any changes necessary for launching from a specific store but the bulk of your code would be in one library. That way any updates you do to the library will be carried across to both releases automatically on the next build.

ScouseChris
  • 4,319
  • 29
  • 38
  • Hi Chris, seems a bit long-winded to have two projects given that very little will be different between the two. I have a simple boolean flag (defined centrally in one place) which I wrap around code (in an if-conditional) which is to behave different depending on whether it's a Google Play or Amazon Appstore build. Have you incorporated the Google Play Licensing library in your apps or are you using the Google Play "Copyright Protection" mechanism instead (the radio-button which you turn on/off in your app's Publishing Options section)? – Adil Hussain Nov 12 '12 at 13:18
  • 1
    I added the licencing library to my play store project, but not to my Amazon store project. It ends up making the Amazon store version smaller that way. I agree it is a bit of a hassle to setup but it works perfectly. – ScouseChris Nov 12 '12 at 14:16
  • Do you happen to know how updates work, i.e. if I update the Google Play version of my app (with a later `versionCode`) and not the Amazon Appstore version, would somebody who had installed my app from Amazon Appstore receive a notification telling them that there is an updated version of the app available from Google Play? – Adil Hussain Nov 13 '12 at 18:36
  • @AdilHussain - no you will not. Google Play and Amazon are completly seperate, therefore any changes that are made on Google Play will not reflect in Amazon Appstore. – Raj Mar 14 '13 at 10:45