Android App built with PhoneGap Build doesn't show up in Google Play on Tablets

Question

I built an app with PhoneGap Build and submitted it successfully to Google Play. Successfully means it's available trough Google Play on my Nexus S and other Smartphones running Android (with Android 2.2 and above).

But the app doesn't show up in Google Play on any android tablet device I gave a try (ASUS/Google Nexus 7 with Android 4.2.1 and a Samsung Tablet with Android 4.0.1).

If I am going to download the .apk from Hockey App, the app installs and runs as expected.

My PhoneGap Build config.xml looks like that (extract):

<!-- Multi-Platform -->

<preference name="phonegap-version" value="2.2.0" />
<preference name="target-device" value="universal" />
<preference name="fullscreen" value="false" />
<preference name="orientation" value="default" />

<!-- iOS -->

<preference name="webviewbounce" value="false" />
<preference name="prerendered-icon" value="false" />
<preference name="stay-in-webview" value="false" />
<preference name="ios-statusbarstyle" value="black-opaque" />
<preference name="exit-on-suspend" value="false" />
<preference name="show-splash-screen-spinner" value="true" />
<preference name="auto-hide-splash-screen" value="true" />


<!-- Android -->
<preference name="android-minSdkVersion" value="8" />


<!-- Icons -->
<icon src="icon57.png" width="57" height="57" />
<icon src="icon72.png" gap:platform="ios" width="72" height="72" />
<icon src="icon114.png" width="114" height="114" />

<icon src="icon54.png" gap:platform="android" gap:density="mdpi" />
<icon src="icon72.png" gap:platform="android" gap:density="hdpi" />
<icon src="icon114.png" gap:platform="android" gap:density="xhdpi" />


<!-- Splash Screens iOS -->
<gap:splash src="splash/ios/Default.png" width="320" height="480" />
<gap:splash src="splash/ios/Default_at_2x.png" width="640" height="960" />
<gap:splash src="splash/ios/Default_iphone5.png" width="640" height="1136" />
<gap:splash src="splash/ios/Default-Landscape.png" width="1024" height="768" />
<gap:splash src="splash/ios/Default-Portrait.png" width="768" height="1024" />

<!-- Splash Screens Android -->
<gap:splash src="splash/android/ldpi.png" gap:platform="android" gap:density="ldpi" />
<gap:splash src="splash/android/mdpi.png" gap:platform="android" gap:density="mdpi" />

<gap:splash src="splash/android/hdpi.png" gap:platform="android" gap:density="hdpi" />
<gap:splash src="splash/android/xhdpi.png" gap:platform="android" gap:density="xhdpi" />

<!-- Permissions -->

<preference name="permissions" value="none"/>

<feature name="http://api.phonegap.com/1.0/camera"/>
<feature name="http://api.phonegap.com/1.0/file"/>
<feature name="http://api.phonegap.com/1.0/geolocation"/>
<feature name="http://api.phonegap.com/1.0/media"/>
<feature name="http://api.phonegap.com/1.0/network"/>

<!-- Global Domain Access -->
<access origin="*" />

From my point of view it seems to be directly related to the screen size/tablet format. But I have no idea why Google isn't listing the app on large screen devices.

Answer 1

It seems currently not possible to get it running with PhoneGap Build, because there is no dedicated support for some options of AndroidManifest.xml.

So I decided to build the app the default way with Eclipse (see http://docs.phonegap.com/en/2.4.0/guide_getting-started_android_index.md.html#Getting%20Started%20with%20Android).

By adding

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

I was able to increase the number of supported devies. But I also had to add

<uses-feature android:name="android.hardware.camera" android:required="false"/>
<uses-feature android:name="android.hardware.camera.autofocus" android:required="false"/>

to get my mentioned tablets supported.

Instead of 1.836 supported devices before there are now 2.341 listed.

Answer 2

If you log into the play store, you can go to your APK and see if any devices are excluded. You can also click "Show details" under the version code to see all the properties.

My guess would be something to do with the "screen layouts" or supported dpi values is the problem and you'll need to amend the manifest appropriately.