CODEWITHSUNDEEP
androidgoogle-playgoogle-glassbeta-testing
aaronvargas
aaronvargas

Reputation: 14152

How to distribute beta apps for Google Glass

Is there an efficient way to distribute beta apps for Google Glass? Our current method is to email around apk files and then guide the tester through the shell commands... very painful. (Adb Chrome plugin helps a bit)

I've searched and don't see anywhere that the Play Developer console supports Glass apps, let alone distribution of beta apps.

I've reached out to 'Beta by Crashlytics' and am awaiting their reply. UPDATE 9/5/2014: They do not have Glass version at this time.

I've reached out to the 'Glass at Work' program and am awaiting their reply. UPDATE 9/5/2014: Not integrated with Google Play. Need to Submit Glassware to set up specific Whitelist. Google Group integration possible.

Any other options people have had success with? Something like...

  1. gradle plugin to push latest apk to Drive/Dropbox (easy for developer)
  2. tester plugs in Glass usb and double-clicks script to install known packages from Drive/Dropbox (easy for tester)

Any examples or ideas welcome. Thanks!

Upvotes: 2

Views: 192

Answers (2)

aaronvargas
aaronvargas

Reputation: 14152

The easiest way to do this if your app is not ready for submission is the following. (Dropbox used, Google Drive would be similar)

1) Add a gradle target to your build.gradle

// copy the apk file to shared dropbox
task pushBeta << {
    println "Beta copy starting..."
    copy {
        from("${buildDir}/outputs/apk") {
            println "Copying ${project.name}-debug.apk"
            include "${project.name}-debug.apk"
        }
        into("${System.properties['user.home']}/Dropbox/apk")
    }
    println "Beta copy complete"
}

2) Share the dropbox folder with your testers (install the dropbox sync app on yours/their local machines)

3) Add a script to dropbox folder for install:

Windows (install.bat)

adb install -r myapp-debug.apk
sleep 5

Mac (install.command) - First time, hold control key, click, and select "open". Subsequent double-clicks should then work

set -x
cd `dirname $0`
adb install -r myapp-debug.apk
sleep 5

4) Have your tester plug in Glass via USB. Double-click script. (They have to have adb installed and debug enabled, of course)

5) push new beta versions using gradle pushBeta or add a run config to Android Studio to do the same.

Upvotes: 0

Prisoner
Prisoner

Reputation: 50701

If you intend for this app to be distributed through MyGlass, your best bet is to do the following:

  1. Submit it for review as soon as you can.
  2. Once it is being reviewed, request a whitelist. This will let a few selected people to be able to access it via MyGlass.

This isn't quite the same as the beta channel through the Play Store, but it has some similarities.

Upvotes: 1

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