Android application visibility on tablet in play store

Question

I use the following permission in my application

<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.SEND_SMS" />
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.RECEIVE_SMS"/>
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.READ_SMS" />
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.ACCESS_COARSE_LOCATION"/>
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION"/>
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.ACCESS_WIFI_STATE"/>

and i made a sample application which is not visible in play store for tablet devices.

So my question is, for which permission google is not showing the app for tab devices?

i know some tablet devices dont have sim, so sms permission could be it, but tab which has sim in it, also cant see the app in play store.

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/19537760/android-app-is-not-showing-for-tablet-users-of-google-play-store plz look at this it will help you — Syed Nazar Muhammad, Jun 15 '15 at 11:30

score 2 · Answer 1 · answered Jun 15 '15 at 11:28

2

Aside from minSdkVersion that may affect visibility, your Manifest may lack support-screens tag:

<supports-screens
    android:anyDensity="true"
    android:largeScreens="true"
    android:normalScreens="true"
    android:resizeable="true"
    android:smallScreens="true"
    android:xlargeScreens="true"/>

answered Jun 15 '15 at 11:28

Marcin Orlowski

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i dont have the support screens tag,but i dont think this is it,because i made another sample application without the permission ive included in my original qus. And that app is visible in tab.Only when i include this permission ,my app does not get visible in the tab devices. – Shofiqul Alam Jun 15 '15 at 11:30
@Shofiqul Alam Dont make an statement before trying, always give a shot first – Syed Nazar Muhammad Jun 15 '15 at 11:31
SmartPhone Developer ,no ill definitely try it.But all i said was,i built another application without the mentioned permission and it got visible ,and that app didn't have support screen tag either . so if this solution works,ill need to know why my previous app got showed even though it didnt have the supports-screens tag. – Shofiqul Alam Jun 15 '15 at 11:33
yeah thats another question, but the one who answered here is having a reputation of 29.3k that mean a lot of experience – Syed Nazar Muhammad Jun 15 '15 at 11:38
If you are unsucessful with my answer, update your question with your **whole** Manifest file – Marcin Orlowski Jun 15 '15 at 14:47

score 0 · Answer 2 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:31

0

@Shofiqul Alam If you add any permission in manifest file then forces that only those devices can use this application which have these abilities. In your case you have added permissions for receiving and sending SMS and for Fine Location

<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.ACCESS_COARSE_LOCATION"/>
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION"/>
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.ACCESS_WIFI_STATE"/>

So if the device have not the ability to provide FINE LOCATION then it can't visible on play store. So be sure the device must fulfill the requirement for location(Is device has GPS feature).

If this feature is not compulsory in your app then add the Line of code in your manifest

<uses-feature android:name="android.hardware.location.gps" android:required="false" />

It will not not force the devices to have GPS ability.

Also you may follow the link below:

GPS Manifest: GPS in App is optional, want to make it available to GPS less devices too

edited May 23 '17 at 12:31

Community

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answered Jun 15 '15 at 12:27

Profreak

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ok so the question is,if play store hides my device ,will it show while i upload the apk? i just tried to upload the apk,and found it supports every device,does this mean every device will get the app visibility on play store? or it supports every device,but google will decide later weather to show for a specific device or not? – Shofiqul Alam Jun 15 '15 at 13:14
@ShofiqulAlam yes it is decided later when you browse the playstore for that particular app(i.e., playstore decides to show app that is compatible to your device). Please mark it as answer if you are satisfied – Profreak Jun 16 '15 at 04:06
ill upload two application,one with support tag,and one with uses feature required false,and will observe the result and will choose the answer accordingly . – Shofiqul Alam Jun 16 '15 at 18:26

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Jun 15 '15 at 12:35

As far as I know, permissions do not affect the app's visibility in the Play Store. The <uses-feature> tag will limit visibility (depending if it is required or not).

Also for your app to be visible for tables you must upload some 7" and 10" screenshots.

One last thing, android checks the xml layouts for a tablet-specific file, it had happened to me once that I used the same layout file for both phones and tablets (I did some custom drawing) but I was getting a warning in the play store.

enter image description here

Android application visibility on tablet in play store

3 Answers3