Android 12: 3rd Party App Store Revolution Details Are Available

Android 12: 3rd Party App
Android 12: 3rd Party App Store Revolution Details Are Available | Image (c) pixabay.com

Google has announced more details on how 3rd party app stores outside of Google Play will work for Android 12.

Last September, Google announced that 3rd party app stores will make it easier to run on Android phones from Android 12 onwards. This move from Google came in response to Epic Games, which criticized the closed nature of the application ecosystem. Thus, Google, which allows companies to expand their applications, did not give a specific explanation on how to do this. Of course, this was because Google had not officially announced Android 12.

Google officially introduced Android 12 with the Google I / O event it organized recently, and thus had the opportunity to share more information about this new operating system. Third-party app stores have also been confirmed to work better with the new platform starting with this new release.

What application developers should do is explained on the XDA-Developers pages. Application developers will be able to access a new parameter called require user action when using the REQUEST_INSTALL_PACKAGES permission. Currently, whenever you install an app from outside of the Play Store, you have to give the installer permission to install apps, even if an existing app has an update, and then approve each install individually. However, when applications are allowed to install packages with this new parameter, no user action will be required to confirm each installation.

However, there are a few requirements for this to work. First, the required user action parameter must be set to "false". Next, the app that is installed needs to target the 29 API version that is Android 10 or higher. The application that is installed must be either an update in the installer itself (i.e. in the app store) or an update of the application originally installed by that particular installer. Finally, the app store should report the UPDATE_PACKAGES_WITHOUT_USER_ACTION permission.

When all these requirements are met, app stores can more easily install updates to existing apps. Of course, the easiest method in Android 12 will be to distribute applications to users via the Play Store.