CODEWITHSUNDEEP
androidgoogle-play
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Reputation: 8425

Set application price based on criteria in Google Play

I have just created a developer account at Google Play. Now I got to upload the application but I have a few doubts:

  1. Can I add more then one android APKs for different applications?
  2. Is it possible to upload an application for a testing and after that set the price of the app?
  3. Is it possible to set such criteria where first 500 users get a free download and then the app will be paid?
  4. Is it possible to delete an app and re-upload it if something gets wrong while uploading?

Upvotes: 1

Views: 546

Answers (2)

saschoar
saschoar

Reputation: 8230

  1. Multiple APKs for one application:

    Multiple APK support is a feature on Google Play that allows you to publish different APKs for your application that are each targeted to different device configurations. Each APK is a complete and independent version of your application, but they share the same application listing on Google Play and must share the same package name and be signed with the same release key.

    Besides that, with your developer account you can create multiple application projects and provide your APKs for them of course.

  2. No. After you have released an application for free you can not introduce a price for it. You'd have to create a new app project with a different package name.

  3. This is not naturally supported by the Google Play Store. But you could implement this by writing a counter function that synchronizes over the web. You could also crawl/scrape your app page in the Google Play Store to get the install number. There are various ways.

  4. After you upload your APK, there is some kind of sanity check integrated in the Play Store routine. This should prevent that anything goes wrong during the upload. Anyway, you can also upload a new APK, replacing the previous. That's how app updates work.

Your case overall sounds like you could use In-App-Billing to let your users access most functionality in your app for free, and after a certain time period has passed, offer them the full functionality after a payment.
Keep in mind that it is not a good practice to promote your app for free in the Play Store but then hide everything behind a payment wall inside the app.

Updated answer:
You need to have different package names (i.e. different app projects in your developer account) if you want to offer a free and a paid APK. It's actually a common practice and you'll find many apps in the Play Store that have a "free" and a paid "premium" version.

Very often, it would be easier for you to maintain and to update your app if the premium version only functions as a key (i.e. without actual functionality) that unlocks certain features of the free version. Therefore, you can check in your code if the user has installed the premium version.

Still, it would be more elegant to not "pollute" the Play Store with a dummy premium app and by implementing this with an In-App-Purchase of your premium functionality. Here is a good tutorial (besides the Android guide that I have linked above).

Upvotes: 2

Gabe Sechan
Gabe Sechan

Reputation: 93542

1)Yes, your account can have multiple applications. Or did you mean for the same app multiple apks?

2)No, once an app is free it can't have a price added to it later. If it has a price you can change what it cost though

3)No

4)You can always upload a new version, which seems to be what you want here.

Upvotes: 0

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