To my way of thinking, a preinstalled app can not be removed unless the device is rooted. If your app is preinstalled in this way then perhaps you can also arrange to have a special shared preferences xml file that serves only as an indicator of the preinstalled status. You say that the preferences can be cleared at any time by the user but this is done by your app right? So you clear only the real prefs and leave the preinstall status one alone.
On Tue, Jul 9, 2013 at 4:38 PM, user123 <[email protected]> wrote: > I need to identify certain builds of my app permanently. The reason is, > that these will be pre-installed in certain devices and they need some > different tracking parameters. > > I don't want to create a new app for this - the app has to be the same as > the "normal" one, which can be downloaded from Google Play. > > Before any app update, the solution is clear - just create 2 different > builds, with same package name and signature, one goes directly to be > preinstalled on the devices and other to Google Play. > > But the preinstalled apps have to receive updates, and AFAIK, all > differences will be overwritten. > > Possible solutions which come to my mind: > > - > > Pre-installed build saves a preference. Problem: the user can clear > the preferences at any moment. This has to be reliable. > - > > Server side identification. Problem: the app doesn't require user > login to be used - so there would be only left the IMEI, which has to be > sent to the server the first time to say "I'm preinstalled", but this would > need server changes, which are unwanted + not sure about legal implications > of sending IMEI (maybe a hash - but still, this isn't nice). > - Identify the app through the place it's stored. But I don't know > where people will store these pre installed apps. I assume they go in the > same place as normal apps. They are not system apps / firmware. So I guess > this is also not a possibility. > > > > - Different settings in the manifest: The whole manifest, as well as > the code, seems to be overwritten on updates, so I guess this is also not a > possibility. > > > Is there any other way to identify my installation subset. Maybe I'm > missing something very basic. Or what do you advice, generally? > > Thanks in advance. > > -- > -- > 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. > > > -- -- 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.

