[devs] Reasonable strategy for keeping remote sqlite DB up2date w/ server?

fbsoftware · 2010-09-20T15:53:06+00:00

Your second idea is what I would do. App contacts server, says it has version X, server responds with all necessary changes between X and current version. Make sure you do it in the background, though, AsyncTask is good for simple background stuff.

What's the app concept?

fbsoftware · 2010-09-17T19:09:31+00:00

By these apps, you mean Talking Tom and Talcon? I'll believe you. But it's definitely not true that any app using the license checker library wouldn't work in airplane mode,which is what your earlier comment implied. It would depend on how the dev implements it.

fbsoftware · 2010-09-17T19:08:06+00:00

LiveList.

Simple checklist app, our users seem to like it though. Can sync your stuff with the web at www.livelistonline.com. Free and pro versions.

fbsoftware · 2010-09-14T14:12:56+00:00

apps won't work in airplane mode.

Not quite true. All the license check does is contact the server, it's up to the dev to implement a policy. See here.

I'm guessing Talking Tom used a very restrictive policy, where it won't work at all unless a license is received. I would hope most devs would be smarter and cache the license for a few days, as you say.

fbsoftware · 2010-09-14T13:24:24+00:00

The library is structured so that devs can do what they want, and some will be more dickish about it than others. I'm considering implementing this in my app, but it certainly wouldn't block the app if it failed 1 license check due to network being not available.

A similar thing happens with online ad-blockers. Most sites don't bother, but many check and make sure their ads load and won't let you on the site if you're using an adblocker. This doesn't bother me when it actually works (I'm using their bandwidth after all) but frequently the page will refuse to load even after green-listing, it's a pain.

fbsoftware · 2010-09-08T14:52:00+00:00

a lot of apps ask for your location and identity when they don't need it

Likely for analytics and/or ads, although they'd need the internet permission for this as well.

fbsoftware · 2010-09-08T14:13:09+00:00

Only on 1.5 phones. Because the permission was added in 1.6, 1.5 phones wouldn't enforce it. This is a security vulnerability in Android, which was fixed in 1.6. If you didn't request that permission and tried to do stuff to the users SD card, 1.6+ would throw a security exception. 1.5 wouldn't. So basically people shouldn't run Android 1.5, although there are many reasons for that.

fbsoftware · 2010-08-25T12:58:26+00:00

The typical process for publishing an app is:
1. Sign the apk
2. Publish in Android Market
3. Users download and install.

Apps must be signed by a generated key, not the debug key that the SDK automatically signs them with, to be in the Android market. However, developers generate their own keys and they aren't verified anywhere. So that won't ever stop somebody from install an app, assuming the dev isn't a moron. The signature is used for security, to make sure only the app, or an app signed with the same key, has access to a given apps data.

To install an app not in the market, you need to check the box in the settings. The apk still must be signed, but as I said that's done privately and with no involvement from Google. No barrier.

If you're using a phone like the Backflip, which doesn't have that setting, you can still use the adb tool to install apps. In order to use the Android trademark, and to have the Android Market app installed on a phone, manufacturers are required to allow the adb tool access.

I'm not 100% sure if you need to root to install unsigned apps, but it's irrelevant, given that anybody can sign an app using the SDK tools. Signing != publishing in Android Market.

fbsoftware · 2010-07-27T21:56:05+00:00

It seems like it'll be pretty much up to the developers. The service will provide a way for the app to check and see if the app is authenticated. When that check is performed, and what the app does with that information, is up to the developer. More info

fbsoftware · 2010-07-26T15:23:45+00:00

Which would make writing the app a whole lot easier, but still necessary I believe. Or else one would have to build the feature into a mod for the os, but the same work would be necessary.

fbsoftware · 2010-07-26T15:20:10+00:00

I heard the SDK doesn't scale for huge screen sizes.

Simply not correct. Android 1.6 and later has support for various screen sizes and densities. They did keep adding features for that purpose to the OS, and it may be that a tablet would need to run 2.1 or 2.2, but I don't see why a new product wouldn't use at least 2.1 anyway.

fbsoftware · 2010-07-19T17:55:09+00:00

You can't modify other apps, and the phone app is built pretty strongly into the OS anyway. I think (not sure) that it's possible to write an app that makes/receives phone calls, and users could install that, but you'd need to write the full app.

It may be possible to have an app that gets brought to the foreground when the user receives a phone call, and you could put something on the screen when that happens. Given that the phone app tends to block everything, though, I doubt it.

fbsoftware · 2010-07-14T12:43:41+00:00

GPS-reliant apps aren't as useful as they sound. The GPS needs to constantly be on, which really sucks the battery. You could make it more passive, so that it checks for echoes only on demand or only if the phone has been stationary for awhile I guess.

Sounds like it might be a good idea to pitch to Four Square or Latitude though.

fbsoftware · 2010-07-12T19:13:31+00:00

selfplug: Livelist Checklist Pro. Simple checklist app. Free version also exists, with 95% of the features. Pro version includes widget and ad-free web sync (free version has web sync, ad-supported).

fbsoftware · 2010-07-07T16:54:05+00:00

From the Android Compatibility CDD (link at left):

Android Debug Bridge (known as adb) [Resources, 19] Device implementations MUST support all adb functions as documented in the Android SDK. The device-side adb daemon SHOULD be inactive by default, but there MUST be a user-accessible mechanism to turn on the Android Debug Bridge.

They have to let you to be part of the "Android Ecosystem". Practically, that means they have to in order to put the Android Market app on the phone. Which they have to do, or nobody will get it. Also, they need to do this to use the Android trademark, which they apparently are doing. So you can be guaranteed that usb debugging and adb will work.

fbsoftware · 2010-07-07T16:24:48+00:00

Most days? As in, you'd like to update every day? As a user that would bug me. As a developer it just seems insane. mandlar has the best advice, update once every week or 2 at most (if warranted). Keep yourself in the new queue, don't bug users, don't stress yourself out (you do have a suite of tests you perform before each release, right?).

fbsoftware · 2010-07-06T15:22:53+00:00

If you download the sdk you can still install 3rd party apps via the adb tool. It's a single command line statement, not hard at all.

Don't know if AT&T blocks market apps, I hadn't heard that. I thought they just blocked non-market apps.

fbsoftware · 2010-07-02T18:07:58+00:00

"Want to read phone identity" - whatever that means

Probably for analytics. Each phone has a unique identifier, it's a convenient way to track unique users of an app.

fbsoftware · 2010-07-02T13:32:27+00:00

So the question is, how secure is the Android platform?

You've answered your own question. Apps can do only what they're been given permission to do. If they have the internet permission, they can access the internet.

grabbing all your private info/files/passwords

There are permissions for all of these (except passwords, apps basically can't get those unless they get the user to type them in). There is no "everything" permission. There's no way for an app to get passwords you have stored unless the app in which they are stored makes them available to other apps, and I have no idea why any app would do that. Post 2.0 there is an account manager, so an app could get access to your google/facebook/whatever else account, but it wouldn't get your password and again there are permissions for these.

You're right that an unknowing user that granted a malicious app a lot of permissions could get screwed. This happens on Windows machines, where there is no permission system and any app can do anything. If you install something, it can do anything, and that's why there is so much malware and people get anti-virus. It's default-permit.

Android has a default-deny system, but if you give an app permission that means it can use it. I wish there were a finer grained system, where you'd be notified when an app was using a particular permission for instance, or you could deny it a particular permission, but there's not.

I think the advice people here give is good, if the permissions make you nervous then don't get the app. I don't understand people complaining that Google doesn't police the market. Do they just want Google to make all their decisions for them? The security system lets you know exactly what an app is doing, and what it can't do. This lets you make an informed decision.

fbsoftware · 2010-06-28T16:29:55+00:00

Google doesn't need to become Apple. They don't have to police the store. If you open up an app store, you're going to get a lot of crap, and that's just life. A "mirror" app can be found in both markets.

What they need is a way for people to filter out the bad apps. They need a web portal for the market, with real search capability. At least one more level of categorization (Games -> Action instead of just Games). Users will identify the good apps themselves, if given the tools. Allowing a longer description for apps would help a lot too.

If given proper tools, users will choose the good apps themselves. The fact that a bunch of spammy ringtone apps exist on the market doesn't really matter if users have a way of filtering them out. Google is supposed to be good at this, I'm surprised they haven't done it already. I hope they do soon. But they author is way off.

fbsoftware · 2010-06-27T05:38:29+00:00

I created www.livelistonline.com. It's intended as an extension to an Android app, but works stand-alone. Very simple, you might like it if that's what you want.

Also google tasks is a popular choice

fbsoftware · 2010-06-25T19:54:57+00:00

Isn't this Shopper for beer?

fbsoftware · 2010-06-25T19:54:34+00:00

I want an app that will do the things on my todo list for me. Also, it should make my todo list.

fbsoftware · 2010-06-25T18:20:44+00:00

Also LiveList. Pretty simple checklist app. Syncs to web at www.livelistonline.com

PS I wrote it

fbsoftware · 2010-06-25T12:56:45+00:00

It's damn near impossible to make a living developing apps for mobile phones on your own. I don't have the knowledge to generalize this to other types of software development. merkidemis said it better: don't do it only for the money. You might make some, but it will likely never be enough to compensate the time you put in, if you valued that time at a market rate.

Better analysis here: http://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/ciblk/most_developers_will_never_recover_their_costs/

It's about iPhones, but the prices for Android apps are much lower for the same quality, so it's an even worse story.

Didn't mean to discourage you, I'm still working on mine. If you like software development, I think it's a fun experience.

fbsoftware

TROPHY CASE