Re: [android-developers] Demo/Full Game options on Google Play

I have an app that uses two apk's... One is the free one, and the paid one acts as a plugin to unlock features in the free one.  I developed this before in-app purchasing was available, but I don't know if I would have used in-app purchasing had it been available for use due to all the drama with patent trolls (you know who you are Lodsys)...

But what worked for me was this:

1. Put ALL functionality in the free app
2. Give both apps the same sharedUserId (there are some unintended side effects of this, and Dianne Hackborne often recommends you don't use it, but I think it is a good fit for my case).
3. Put all the LVL code in your paid app... When the license check happens, set a preference value (encrypted) indicating whether it succeeded or not
4. Create a service as part of the paid app that your free app can call to initiate the LVL check
5. In your free app, read the same (encrypted) preference that is set in the paid app to determine if you should run in free or paid mode

It seems like a bit of work but it wasn't all that hard to actually implement.  My paid app actually does nothing other than the LVL check through the service.  It has a launchable activity in case users get confused but all it does it launch the free app and quit.

On a side note... Does anyone know if anything has gotten resolved with the in-app purchasing fiasco with Lodsys?  I know Apple contends that their developers are safe because their license covers them... I haven't heard of anything official from Google though...

Thanks,
Justin Anderson
MagouyaWare Developer
http://sites.google.com/site/magouyaware

2012/4/11 Kostya Vasilyev <kmansoft@gmail.com>

And to add two more cents: in-app items don't show in the user's purchases list in Market... scratch that, Google Play application on the device.

Sometimes this raises questions about whether they'd have to be repurchased - even though they don't, obviously not every user understands this.

-- K

11 апреля 2012 г. 16:42 пользователь Latimerius <l4t1m3r1us@googlemail.com> написал:

On Wed, Apr 11, 2012 at 1:47 PM, Mark Murphy <mmurphy@commonsware.com> wrote:
> On Wed, Apr 11, 2012 at 7:39 AM, Iain King <iainking@gmail.com> wrote:
>> Everyone who releases a
>> free version seems to do it by releasing two different apps - I'd rather
>> avoid that if I can.
>
> Then use in-app purchasing. Only distribute the free app, and have the
> app upgrade itself to paid (e.g., unlocking features) if the user buys
> the upgrade through in-app purchasing.

Be aware though that in-app purchasing doesn't take care of content
delivery.  In practice, that makes it quite a different beast from the
two app model if you have content to deliver in response to purchase.

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