Just for the fun of it, I've read all the answers here. And Rob H. is the one deserving my +1 ;) Still, the idea of your solution is good, but it is even easier to pirate your app. This is because the in-app purchase system is flawed an has already been broken. It is enough for any user to have a well-known app installed (not going to tell you it's name here though), which emulates the Google Play Store. When a user touches to purchase more levels, he will pay $0.00 in the emulated store, and the store will report back success in your app, which will start downloading from your server. Now to counter this, your server will have to check with Google Play if there really has been a purchase from that user before you provide the downloadable content. This is one extra step, but really an essential one. If your app gets really successful, somebody will write an emulator of your server, and again it was all for nothing.
So, basic point taken here for anybody who reads this: Don't waste your time on copy-protection. Have a free, ad-supported version in the store so user's won't have to start looking for pirated versions. And be happy if people start pirating and distributing your app, as this will get your app even more popular. And don't sue the pirates. Microsoft did that with Windows XP. Made many poor people pay a lot of money and resulted in bad PR for MS, so they stopped that. MS is successful because so many people want to use their stuff, not because they are so successful in conquering pirates. Am Donnerstag, 7. Februar 2013 18:55:42 UTC+1 schrieb Rob H: > > I think if you're interested in protecting your app from piracy the best > way to do it is via the in-app purchase system. If you're making a game, > put it up there with level 1 for free. Thousands of people will check it > out. If they want to continue on to the other levels, well here's an > in-app store where you can decide how much you want to pay for the app (the > more you pay the more content you get). Then you make your content > DOWNLOADED from your server, not from unlocking something in your existing > APK file. This combined with a system that communicates with your server > similar to the iOS receipt auditing system means that a user is only going > to get the downloaded content if they go through the purchase process. > Yes, pirates could buy everything on one device, then bundle all that > content up and modify your APK to say that all the content is unlocked, > however the work involved makes this highly impractical. They're only > going to do it if your game is so popular that everyone wants it badly, and > in that case you'll be making enough money where piracy almost becomes a > positive thing for you because it helps get the game in people's hands and > at this point your game is so good more people seeing it means more people > buying it. -- -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Android Developers" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/android-developers?hl=en --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Android Developers" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
