CODEWITHSUNDEEP
androidgoogle-playsideloading
cream-corn
cream-corn

Reputation: 1840

Transitioning a side-loaded android app to play store

is it possible to reuse the application id from an app that was not made available via google play?

scenario:

customer side-loads my android app and they have been using it. if I transition my app to google play (retaining application ID and signing certificate) if that customer then downloads the app from google play.

will that customer now have 2 apps on their device or will it override the original side-loaded app they had been using previously.

Upvotes: 0

Views: 297

Answers (1)

user14678216
user14678216

Reputation: 3373

Android sees different applications using the package name and signing certificate.

  • The package name differentiates different apps
  • The signing certificate shows if the app is from the same source (Developer) or build type (Debug/Release)

If both of these are the same, the user will have their side-loaded app update automatically from google play.

If the signing certificates are different, then the user will have to uninstall the side-loaded app before installing the one from the Google Play store, as otherwise Google Play will encounter an error, and refuse to install as the certificates do not match.

If the package names are different, Android will see them as different apps.

Upvotes: 1

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