Knowledge Base: Distributing Your App

  • Why it's important to upload your app to Google Play before sharing it

    If you've created an application that you plan to publish to Google Play, it is strongly recommended that you upload it to Google Play before you share the app with anyone else. Otherwise, you run the risk of having someone else publish your app to the market as their own creation, preventing you from publishing it yourself. While this may not often occur, it is something to be aware of.

    Apps in Google Play are identified by their package name. Each package name can only be used by a single app; no two apps in the market can have the same

  • Google Play: You can't charge for previously published free apps

    If you've decided that you'd like to put your new application in Google Play, you'll need to decide whether you're planning to make the application free, or charge for it. This initial decision is fairly important given the rules of Google Play.

    If you publish your application and make it free, you cannot at a later date start charging for the same application. This is one of the rules of Google Play. If you would like to start charging for the application, you need to create a new project in Andromo that contains the same information, and upload that to

  • How to take screenshots of your application

    If you plan to publish your application to Google Play, you will be required to take at least two screenshots of your application. Following these steps will allow you to take screenshots of your application on your phone or tablet.

    Android 4.0 and Up

    Getting setup to take screen shots for the first time on older versions of Android was a pain, but as of Android 4.X it got much easier. Now you don't need to install anything onto your computer instead you just need to press a few buttons:

    1. Press and hold the Power button and the Volume-Down

  • Making Kindle Fire apps with Andromo

    The Kindle Fire, a 7 inch created by Amazon was announced on September 28, 2011. The device shipped with an Operating System (OS) based on the Android OS and locked the users of the device to the Amazon Appstore for all of their apps. Since then the device (according to data from October 2012 ) has gone on to sell over 7 million units making it number two in tablet sales behind Apple’s iPad.

    Given the data the Kindle Fire and the Amazon Appstore represent an Android market that Andromo developers should explore. After all the Kindle Fire runs and OS based on the

  • How to update your app in Google Play

    IMPORTANT NOTE: Since you're not signing the app yourself, you should not enroll your app in Google Play App Signing.

    This article describes the process of updating an existing app in Google Play. If this article doesn't answer all of your questions, please reference Google Play's Updates article for further information.

    Increment your Version

    Every time you build your Andromo app, its 'version code' is incremented. Google Play uses this value to determine whether it's a new build of your app. This however differs from the version string. The version string is what you and your users will see to identify the

  • How to put your app in Google Play

    IMPORTANT NOTE: Since you're not signing the app yourself, you should not enroll your app in Google Play App Signing.

    If you're creating an application that you want to distribute to the public, the best way to do so is to upload your application to Google Play. Google has help specifically aimed at developers, so if you have any questions not answered by this article, it’s a great reference: Google Play for Developers Help. There is also a very useful document entitled: Publishing Checklist for Google Play that discusses what is required to publish to Google Play.

    For an in-depth walk