Have created an Android app for a business that will be used by approx 10 users in various states. The app was initially set up on android tablets and sent to the users. I am currently trying to use Google Drive to distribute app updates to the users with mixed success. When sending an update, some users get the ‘Open’ button that will install the update and some users do not get this option - just a screen that says ‘No Preview Available’’… Have tried to Google for info on this but find the help for Google Drive very vague.
Has anyone had similar problems and can point me in the right direction to fix this problem OR are there better options to handle distribution of updates (but not through Google Store).
Hi Bill,
I have done something similar before during my Android development using Dropbox. Given that you only have 10 users then this may give a clue as to whether there is some permissions issue or even the app manifest image format.
The Dropbox app on your computer gives you a specific link to the file which allows download only to those with the link and according to Lachlan Dropbox takes care of all the certificate issues plaguing me.
I tried it and it seems to work. If you want to see which phones give the right response you could play with my revamped download page Download. Should all be Dropbox links now. You should probably not actually progress to actually install these apps but it will let you play without any work.
I believe DropBox is actually Google and I am concerned that the Dropbox Desktop app has added Google entanglement to my desktop but it does make uploading new packages so easy.