So, I have an issue. One of the apps we already have published for a specific Google Play account is currently published in Australia and New Zealand (same APK in both countries). We have an update for that app, but from this point forward, we're going to have two separate apps for the two different countries. The two apps are sort of built from the same codebase but differ to cater to the two different countries. We want to make the upgrade process as smooth as possible, without requiring either Australian or New Zealand users to have to manually download a new app. So, based on the upgrade rules for Android, we have: A package name in the manifest for the new apps that matches the package name of the currently deployed app. A higher internal version code (the same for both new apps) than the currently deployed app. But is it possible to deploy these in such a way that users tied to the Australian Google Play store update to the new Australian app, while the users tied to the New Zealand Google Play store update to the new New Zealand app? I've looked over the Multiple APK Guidelines but it doesn't provide a good way of doing this. Maybe it's possible to assign the two new apps different internal version codes (maybe one apart from each other) and publish both at the same time, but in different countries? (Then from that point on each new release would push the version code up by two so the versions never run into each other.)

Reputation: 1103

Possible to deploy two DIFFERENT Android apps as upgrades to an app already deployed in two countries?

So, I have an issue. One of the apps we already have published for a specific Google Play account is currently published in Australia and New Zealand (same APK in both countries). We have an update for that app, but from this point forward, we're going to have two separate apps for the two different countries. The two apps are sort of built from the same codebase but differ to cater to the two different countries. We want to make the upgrade process as smooth as possible, without requiring either Australian or New Zealand users to have to manually download a new app.

So, based on the upgrade rules for Android, we have:

A package name in the manifest for the new apps that matches the package name of the currently deployed app.
A higher internal version code (the same for both new apps) than the currently deployed app.

But is it possible to deploy these in such a way that users tied to the Australian Google Play store update to the new Australian app, while the users tied to the New Zealand Google Play store update to the new New Zealand app?

I've looked over the Multiple APK Guidelines but it doesn't provide a good way of doing this. Maybe it's possible to assign the two new apps different internal version codes (maybe one apart from each other) and publish both at the same time, but in different countries? (Then from that point on each new release would push the version code up by two so the versions never run into each other.)

Upvotes: 3

Answers (2)

user692168

Reputation:

You cannot deploy different APK's to different regions. What exactly is different between these two APK's? I'm sure that whatever it is, you can implement in one single APK and make the app behave differently based on the locale the app is running on, or even (though not recommend it) based on its GPS location.

Upvotes: 2

ianhanniballake

Reputation: 199880

Region is not a feature you can use to distribute different APKs using the same package name. If you want to split the app into two separate populations then you will need to change at least one of the package names and upload it separately.

Upvotes: 3

Possible to deploy two DIFFERENT Android apps as upgrades to an app already deployed in two countries?

Answers (2)

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