CODEWITHSUNDEEP
androidandroid-manifest
Addev
Addev

Reputation: 32273

How to exclude your app from Android TV devices

I want to exclude my app from beeing available in Android TV devices.

What should I add to my Manifest to filter those devices?

Tried 

<uses-feature 
    android:name="android.software.leanback"
    android:required="true" />

but it does just the opposite thing (app only available for Android TV)

Upvotes: 3

Views: 902

Answers (2)

Tom Tsagkatos
Tom Tsagkatos

Reputation: 1494

Although M. Prokhorov answer is more accurate, I'd like to add some more info about this.

If you are interested in uploading for the Google Play Store, you can go to Google Play Console-> Release Management -> Device Catalogue. From there you can exclude devices from seeing your app. You can pick devices one-by-one from "all devices" or you can apply some filter like SDK version or screen size.

This is however only a "visibility" feature, which means in theory a device you have excluded can "fake" its features and download your app. Actually, if I'm not wrong, I think on the Play Store you get a pop-up saying "your device does not support this app, continue anyway?".

Upvotes: 2

M. Prokhorov
M. Prokhorov

Reputation: 3993

<uses-feature> is about what your app needs or uses, so it is a positive selector rather than negative.

You cannot say "I want only devices that do not have this".

As for Android TV, it may be possible to filter them out if we take into consideration that most TVs would not have Touch controls. Which means that if you set in your manifest:

<uses-feature 
    android:name="android.hardware.touchscreen"
    android:required="true" />

Then your app will not be shown on at least majority of Android TV devices.

Upvotes: 3

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