CODEWITHSUNDEEP
android
MishaLee
MishaLee

Reputation: 179

How to privately publish Android apps over the net without giving away apk file?

I want to sell custom apps so I need to know how I can privately publish them over the net without giving away apk file. Is there a way that I can give the customer a password that he/she will use to install the app only once from a website without getting the apk file? After the installation the access to the download should be cancelled.

Upvotes: 0

Views: 194

Answers (3)

M. Reza Nasirloo
M. Reza Nasirloo

Reputation: 16614

If they have to install it on their devices, they have the apk already, and there is no need to root access though, you can retrieve the apk with ES File Explorer in a second. What is your concerns, your codes? Or something else?

Upvotes: 0

Nicklas Jensen
Nicklas Jensen

Reputation: 1474

You cannot install apps without using an APK file, unless the target device is rooted.

Even Google Play downloads APK files for applications. They are stored in /cache/download, which can only be browsed with root access. Once downloaded, they get installed in /data/app, which also requires root access to read.

Google Play alpha/beta testing

What you could do, as a workaround, is use the Google Play alpha/beta testing feature with a private Google+ Community. This will allow you to control who is able to download your application through Google Play, but it will not prevent them from rooting their device, and retrieving the apk.

You will get all the benefits of Google Play, and your customers wont notice any difference, once they've joined the Google+ Community.

Use alpha/beta testing & stages rollouts

Upvotes: 2

Dave
Dave

Reputation: 888

The only thing i can think of is have the first activity that starts up create a large random string from the device's id and then send that string to your server ( assuming you have one ). If this is the first time your server receives a code for this app, let them in and store the code, then return a response of "OK" to your app, if its not the first time, check if this is the code you stored previously, if not return "NO", if it is the right code return "OK". then have your app shut down if it doesn't receive "OK" back from your server. This of course adds extra cost and requirements to your app...

Upvotes: 0

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