CODEWITHSUNDEEP
androidgoogle-play
Matt Wolfe
Matt Wolfe

Reputation: 9284

No activity found to handle market:// URI

I have a bugsense account which I use to track crash reports from my company's android app. Our application requires a seperate application (which is service) to be installed or else the application will not function. We handle this by checking if that other app (service) is installed, and if not we direct the user to the maket page where the application can be installed, and we do so like this:

Intent market = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_VIEW,
                Uri.parse("market://details?id=com.mycompany.appname"));

startActivityForResult(market, REQUEST_INSTALL_APK);

Ocassionally I get an error on this line message saying: 

android.content.ActivityNotFoundException: No Activity found to handle Intent { act=android.intent.action.VIEW dat=market://details?id=com.mycompany.appname }

I see that the last time this happened it was from a samsung galaxy player, which we have some in house and they have always worked fine for us. Does anyone have an idea why this might happen in some cases? I haven't yet heard any complaints from customers yet but seems like this might be a problem.

I thought somehow the user may have rooted the phone and uninstalled the play store but I highly doubt that (our customers are police officers and highly non technical). I'm wondering if there isn't a setting or something on the phone that could cause this to not work? Or perhaps they have an old version of the market that hasn't been upgraded and it doesn't support the method I'm using of directing the user to the market/play store.

Also note that we only distribute this application in the play store now and the version that this crash came from is the most recent release which definitely didn't get out into the public anyway except the play store. Based on GEO IP of the ip address in the crash report it wasn't from anyone internal to the company that had a copy of the app not distributed in the market (only 3 people). This isn't a game or anything a regular user would ever care to use but for a specific purpose so its not some game that script kiddies and hackers would have on underground sites.

Upvotes: 4

Views: 2581

Answers (1)

CommonsWare
CommonsWare

Reputation: 1006724

Does anyone have an idea why this might happen in some cases?

The user does not have the Play Store. For example, they might be running a modded ROM.

I'm wondering if there isn't a setting or something on the phone that could cause this to not work?

Not generally, and the device probably would not qualify for the Play Store if they tried.

Or perhaps they have an old version of the market that hasn't been upgraded and it doesn't support the method I'm using of directing the user to the market/play store.

market:// URLs have worked since 2009 IIRC.

the version that this crash came from is the most recent release which definitely didn't get out into the public anyway except the play store.

If your app is not available on 100+ pirate sites, I will be stunned.

This isn't a game or anything a regular user would ever care to use but for a specific purpose so its not some game that script kiddies and hackers would have on underground sites.

Oh, they absolutely will have it on "underground sites". Piracy is automated. As Scen noted, bots monitor the Play Store for new arrivals and grab anything they can. And, some of those bots might even run your app (e.g., via the Test Monkey).

Upvotes: 6

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