From 4d7bc65538c7cd9fbb1fbbcf22d1da47fcee1219 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Dirk Dougherty Android Market and Android Market filters the applications that are visible to users, so
+
+ Google Play and Google Play filters the applications that are visible to users, so
that users can see and download only those applications that are compatible with their
-devices. One of the ways Market filters applications is by feature compatibility. To do this, Market checks the
+ To do this, Google Play checks the
By specifying the features that your application requires,
-you enable Android Market to present your application only to users whose
+you enable Google Play to present your application only to users whose
devices meet the application's feature requirements, rather than presenting it
to all users. For important information about how
-Android Market uses features as the basis for filtering, please read Android Market and Feature-Based Filtering,
+Google Play uses features as the basis for filtering, please read Google Play and Feature-Based Filtering,
below.In this document
-
<uses-feature>
elements<uses-feature>
elements<uses-feature>
elements in each application's manifest, to
-establish the app's feature needs. Market then shows or hides the application to
+establish the app's feature needs. Google Play then shows or hides the application to
each user, based on a comparison with the features available on the user's
device.
Declared <uses-feature>
elements are informational only, meaning
that the Android system itself does not check for matching feature support on
the device before installing an application. However, other services
-(such as Android Market) or applications may check your application's
+(such as Google Play) or applications may check your application's
<uses-feature>
declarations as part of handling or interacting
with your application. For this reason, it's very important that you declare all of
the features (from the list below) that your application uses.
<uses-permission>
Android Market filters the applications that are visible to users, so that +
Google Play filters the applications that are visible to users, so that users can see and download only those applications that are compatible with -their devices. One of the ways Market filters applications is by feature +their devices. One of the ways it filters applications is by feature compatibility.
To determine an application's feature compatibility with a given user's -device, the Android Market service compares:
+device, Google Play compares:When the user launches the Market application, the application queries the +
When the user launches Google Play, the application queries the Package Manager for the list of features available on the device by calling {@link android.content.pm.PackageManager#getSystemAvailableFeatures()}. The -Market application then passes the features list up to the Android Market -service when establishing the session for the user.
+Store application then passes the features list up to Google Play +when establishing the session for the user. -Each time you upload an application to the Android Market Publisher Site, -Android Market scans the application's manifest file. It looks for +
Each time you upload an application to the Google Play publisher site,
+Google Play scans the application's manifest file. It looks for
<uses-feature>
elements and evaluates them in combination
with other elements, in some cases, such as <uses-sdk>
and
<uses-permission>
elements. After establishing the
@@ -253,17 +253,17 @@ application's set of required features, it stores that list internally as
metadata associated with the application .apk
and the application
version.
When a user searches or browses for applications using the Android Market +
When a user searches or browses for applications using the Google Play application, the service compares the features needed by each application with the features available on the user's device. If all of an application's required -features are present on the device, Android Market allows the user to see the +features are present on the device, Google Play allows the user to see the application and potentially download it. If any required feature is not -supported by the device, Android Market filters the application so that it is +supported by the device, Google Play filters the application so that it is not visible to the user and not available for download.
Because the features you declare in <uses-feature>
-elements directly affect how Android Market filters your application, it's
-important to understand how Android Market evaluates the application's manifest
+elements directly affect how Google Play filters your application, it's
+important to understand how Google Play evaluates the application's manifest
and establishes the set of required features. The sections below provide more
information.
"true"
), or whether the application prefers to use the feature
if available, but is designed to run without it ("false"
).
-Android Market handles explicitly declared features in this way:
+Google Play handles explicitly declared features in this way:
<uses-feature android:name="android.hardware.camera" android:required="true" />
<uses-feature android:name="android.hardware.camera" android:required="false" />
android:required
attribute, Android Market assumes that the feature
+android:required
attribute, Google Play assumes that the feature
is required and sets up filtering on it. In general, if your application is designed to run on Android 1.6 and earlier
versions, the android:required
attribute is not available in the
-API and Android Market assumes that any and all
+API and Google Play assumes that any and all
<uses-feature>
declarations are required.
Note: By declaring a feature explicitly and
including an android:required="false"
attribute, you can
-effectively disable all filtering on Android Market for the specified feature.
+effectively disable all filtering on Google Play for the specified feature.
To account for the cases above, Android Market attempts to discover an +
To account for the cases above, Google Play attempts to discover an
application's implied feature requirements by examining other elements
declared in the manifest file, specifically,
<uses-permission>
elements.
If an application requests hardware-related permissions, Android Market +
If an application requests hardware-related permissions, Google Play
assumes that the application uses the underlying hardware features and
therefore requires those features, even though there might be no
corresponding to <uses-feature>
declarations. For such
-permissions, Android Market adds the underlying hardware features to the
+permissions, Google Play adds the underlying hardware features to the
metadata that it stores for the application and sets up filters for them.
For example, if an application requests the CAMERA
permission
but does not declare a <uses-feature>
element for
-android.hardware.camera
, Android Market considers that the
+android.hardware.camera
, Google Play considers that the
application requires a camera and should not be shown to users whose devices do
not offer a camera.
If you don't want Android Market to filter based on a specific implied +
If you don't want Google Play to filter based on a specific implied
feature, you can disable that behavior. To do so, declare the feature explicitly
in a <uses-feature>
element and include an
android:required="false"
attribute. For example, to disable
@@ -366,30 +366,30 @@ the feature as shown below.
It's important to understand that the permissions that you
request in <uses-permission>
elements can directly affect how
-Android Market filters your application. The reference section Permissions that Imply Feature Requirements,
below, lists the full set of permissions that imply feature requirements and
therefore trigger filtering.
Android Market applies slightly different rules than described above, when +
Google Play applies slightly different rules than described above, when determining filtering for Bluetooth.
If an application declares a Bluetooth permission in a
<uses-permission>
element, but does not explicitly declare
-the Bluetooth feature in a <uses-feature>
element, Android
-Market checks the version(s) of the Android platform on which the application is
+the Bluetooth feature in a <uses-feature>
element, Google
+Play checks the version(s) of the Android platform on which the application is
designed to run, as specified in the <uses-sdk>
element.
As shown in the table below, Android Market enables filtering for the +
As shown in the table below, Google Play enables filtering for the
Bluetooth feature only if the application declares its lowest or targeted
-platform as Android 2.0 (API level 5) or higher. However, note that Android
-market applies the normal rules for filtering when the application explicitly
+platform as Android 2.0 (API level 5) or higher. However, note that Google
+Play applies the normal rules for filtering when the application explicitly
declares the Bluetooth feature in a <uses-feature>
element.
android.hardware.bluetooth
feature.android.hardware.bluetooth
feature (including
older releases).The examples below illustrate the different filtering effects, based on how -Android Market handles the Bluetooth feature.
+Google Play handles the Bluetooth feature.<uses-feature>
element.<manifest ...> @@ -439,7 +439,7 @@ declares a Bluetooth permission, but does not declare the Bluetooth feature in a
android:required="false"
attribute.You can use the aapt
tool, included in the Android SDK, to
-determine how Android Market will filter your application, based on its declared
+determine how Google Play will filter your application, based on its declared
features and permissions. To do so, run aapt
with the dump
badging
command. This causes aapt
to parse your
-application's manifest and apply the same rules as used by Android Market to
+application's manifest and apply the same rules as used by Google Play to
determine the features that your application requires.
To use the tool, follow these steps:
@@ -529,7 +529,7 @@ densities: '160'The tables below provide reference information about hardware and software -features and the permissions that can imply them on Android Market.
+features and the permissions that can imply them on Google Play.<uses-feature>
system.
-To prevent those apps from being made available unintentionally, Android -Market assumes that certain hardware-related permissions indicate that the +
To prevent those apps from being made available unintentionally, Google
+Play assumes that certain hardware-related permissions indicate that the
underlying hardware features are required by default. For instance, applications
that use Bluetooth must request the BLUETOOTH
permission in a
-<uses-permission>
element — for legacy apps, Android
-Market assumes that the permission declaration means that the underlying
+<uses-permission>
element — for legacy apps, Google
+Play assumes that the permission declaration means that the underlying
android.hardware.bluetooth
feature is required by the application
and sets up filtering based on that feature.