Supporting Amazon and Android Market (Google Play) Links Inside Application

How to support Amazon and Android Market (Google Play) links in same APK

Edit: At the time of this post, I wasn't aware of it, but there does exist getInstallerPackageName() but I'm not sure how reliable that is. I'm also not sure what it returns for Amazon / Market, etc. It might be worth looking at, but if it doesn't work, then the below method works for Google vs Amazon.

You will have to sign the application as normal, run on your test device, get the value of sig.hashCode() from your logs, then replace -1545485543 with whatever value you got for sig.hashCode() then export and sign again (WITH THE SAME KEY AS BEFORE) and then upload to Amazon and Market both - from the same APK.

Do it:

public static boolean isMarket(Context context){
    boolean isMarketSig = false;
    int currentSig = 1; // I just set this to 1 to avoid any exceptions later on.
    try {
        Signature[] sigs = context.getPackageManager().getPackageInfo(context.getPackageName(), PackageManager.GET_SIGNATURES).signatures;
        for (Signature sig : sigs)
        {
            currentSig = sig.hashCode();

    Log.i("MyApp", "Signature hashcode : " + sig.hashCode());
// This Log is for first time testing so you can find out what the int value of your signature is.
            }
            } catch (Exception e){
                e.printStackTrace();

}
//-1545485543 was the int I got from the log line above, so I compare the current signature hashCode value with that value to determine if it's market or not.
        if (currentSig==-1545485543){
            isMarketSig = true;
    } else {
        isMarketSig = false;
    }

    return isMarketSig;
}
public static void openStore(Context context){
    if (isMarket(context)){
        Intent goToMarket = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_VIEW,Uri.parse("market://d" +
        "etails?id=com.jakar.myapp"));
        goToMarket.addFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK);
        context.startActivity(goToMarket);  
    } else {
        Intent goToAppstore = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_VIEW,Uri.parse("http://www.amazon.com/gp/mas/dl/andro" +
        "id?p=com.jakar.myapp"));
        goToAppstore.addFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK);
        context.startActivity(goToAppstore);
    }
}

Basically, the hashCode() that you get from the app installed on your testing device will be the same one from the market. The hash code from the app store will be different because according to https://developer.amazon.com/help/faq.html, the app store signs the application with a signature specific to your developer account, so that will return a different value that what you actually signed it with.

And I put the isMarket and openStore methods in a different class called OtherClass so that I only have to code it once. Then from any activity where I need to open the proper link, I just call OtherClass.openStore(context);

Note: It works to open the market successfully, but I haven't yet deployed this method on the App Store, so I haven't completely tested it. I am confident it will work, but can make no guarantees, so if you use what I've suggested and it fails, please don't hold me accountable.

This was a big help in coming up with an answer so I could test which signature was being used.

Allow all 'market://' links from inside a webview to open Play store

Try this code,
It works for me.

webView.setWebViewClient(new WebViewClient() {
            @Override
            public boolean shouldOverrideUrlLoading(WebView view, String url) {
                if (Uri.parse(url).getScheme().equals("market")) {
                    try {
                        Intent intent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_VIEW);
                        intent.setData(Uri.parse(url));
                        Activity activity = (Activity) view.getContext();
                        activity.startActivity(intent);
                        return true;
                    } catch (ActivityNotFoundException e)
                    {
                        // Google Play app is not installed, you may want to open the app store link
                        // Link will open your browser
                        Uri uri = Uri.parse(url);
                        view.loadUrl("http://play.google.com/store/apps/" + uri.getHost() + "?" + uri.getQuery());
                        return false;
                    }

                }
                return false;
            }
        });

Submit Android app on amazon app store and android market?

As far as my understanding goes, the Kindle Fire is an Amazon-locked-in machine, sold by Amazon at a loss in order to bring customers to their e-book business.

As such, it would not make sense for them to "redirect to Android Market if app is in market also".

Therefore, the answer is no. Either your users get the Amazon dumbed-down version, either your app doesn't get on a non-tampered-with Kindle Fire, which will be mostly everyone with a Fire.

Questions about preparing an apk for the Amazon Android App Store

1. Yes. Amazon wraps your binary with code specific to their appstore that allows them to collect analytics data and enforce DRM. The app will be repackaged after that.

2. You should use the same package name. The Amazon distribution agreement currently has a number of provisos; e.g., that your app is not priced lower on another app store. They also do occasional checks to see whether the version of your app on the market is up to date. These checks are primarily done using the package name; changing the package name of your app could easily be viewed by them as a means to evade the terms of the agreement.

3. No. There may be good reasons why one would want to do this, but none that I can think of. By default, Amazon signs your apk with a signature that is specific to your Amazon developer account.

Other:

Read this. In particular, ensure that the app links correctly to the Amazon app store and not the Android market, or others. I don't have inside data, but I'd wager a fair amount that the vast majority of submissions that Amazon turn down fall afoul of that requirement.

Edit: Point 2 is no longer correct; see comment below.

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