Android App not appearing on Google Play for certain devices, why?

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I have two clients who can't download my app. I can see and download it perfectly but for them it either doesn't appear, or says that the device is not compatible.

Things that I've tried: - Cleaning the project and rebuilding each time - Asking the client to clear their Android Market cache - Updating my Android SDK's so I have everything up to 4.1 - Removing the minSdkVersion attribute entirely - Removing the uses-sdk node entirely

Here's my settings:

<android xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
        <tool-api-level>16</tool-api-level>
        <uses-sdk android:minSdkVersion="7" android:targetSdkVersion="11"/>
        <manifest android:versionCode="15" android:versionName="1.25" android:installLocation="preferExternal"/>
</android>
I'm not sure and can't find it in any documentation what effect the tool-api-level number has on device compatibility.

In Google Play it says the following under the Supported Devices section, although I haven't put any particular declaration like this in Tiapp.xml:

This application is only available to devices with these features, as defined in your application manifest.
Screen layouts: SMALL NORMAL LARGE XLARGE
Required device features
android.hardware.camera
android.hardware.camera.autofocus
android.hardware.location
android.hardware.location.gps
android.hardware.location.network
android.hardware.touchscreen
android.hardware.wifi
This application is available to over 1064 devices.

— asked 10 months ago by Mark Henderson
3 Comments
  • I think we need to know a bit more about the other devices as well.

    — commented 10 months ago by Stephen Feather

  • Hi Stephen, the devices are both Samsung Galaxy Tablet (2's) I've got one device version number: Samsung GT-P7510 - effectively I want the app to work for all devices above 2.2.3 >

    — commented 10 months ago by Mark Henderson

  • I have the same problem, and I have exactly the same screen layouts and required device features... Have you found something?

    — commented 9 months ago by Lluis Gerard Lopez

1 Answer

When you use something like GPS or camera, Google Play takes this as a needed feature to use the application when maybe your app can run even if you don't have GPS on your device, so, you can exclude all or some of these features adding these lines between the <manifest> </manifest> in the tiapp.xml:

<uses-feature android:name="android.hardware.location"         android:required="false" /> 
            <uses-feature android:name="android.hardware.location.gps"     android:required="false" /> 
            <uses-feature android:name="android.hardware.location.network" android:required="false" />
            <uses-feature android:name="android.hardware.touchscreen"      android:required="false" />
            <uses-feature android:name="android.hardware.camera"           android:required="false" />
            <uses-feature android:name="android.hardware.camera.autofocus" android:required="false" />
            <uses-feature android:name="android.hardware.wifi"             android:required="false" />
These way, you are telling them that these features are not needed in order to use the app. Be sure then, to control this inside your app, for example, if you don't require camera, maybe you should check for it before using it and things like that.

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