Hacker News Reader

Comment by ben1040 | Hacker News Reader

As someone with a couple apps on the Market, I wish I could also issue promo/gift codes for those apps (iTunes lets you generate promo codes).

I could send someone the APK file, yes, but then they'd need to sideload it. And, they wouldn't get updates from the Market from it, so I'd have to keep sending them new copies of the package. That isn't really a tenable solution.

View on HN

This was probably the single biggest reason why I didn't participate in the last Humble Bundle. Having to sideload APKs of updated games is a huge timesink that I'd rather not have to deal with.

Really? I was able to open my Humble Bundle download link on my phone, which took me to a mobile-formatted page with direct links to the APKs. I just had to tap on them, open the "finished download" notification, and tap Install.

Yes, but every time they release an update you have to go to that page again and redownload the APK. You can't just open up the market and click "Update all".

And that's even if you hear about the updates. I've never seen any email from them after I've purchased a game telling me about new updates; you have to hear about that stuff through Twitter.

My understanding is that all you need to do is make sure your app is signed by your market key and it's version code is lower than the update you'd release on the market next and those people will get a proper update from the market. This really shouldnt be an issue. Ive done this on my android phones.

No. This doesn't work. At least not for the Humble Bundle games. The market shows an update available for Osmos, but when I click the update button it says it couldn't download the update because I haven't purchased the app.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com