Updating an application OTA

Question

I\'m developing an application that will be available from a website (market probably as well). The problem I\'m having at the moment is how to handle the updates to the app

Answer 1

Easiest is just to launch an Intent to open the download URL in the Browser. This will download the APK and the user can then install it by clicking on it in the download manager.

You are saying that this will handle OTA separate to the market so the user should already have disabled "Allow apps from non-Market sources" when they initially installed your app.

Answer 2

As everyone has said "Allow apps from non-Market sources" option could be a real pain for you as people other than beta testers or like them would not be intrested to check this option for varoius reasons. Try Testflight, it should help. https://testflightapp.com/android/

Answer 3

Just a note that this isn't likely to work well: most devices come with the "Allow apps from non-Market sources" option disabled (under Settings > Applications).

This means that when you launch the intent to install the app, the user will get a warning dialog and the install will fail.

While you can check against an external source for new updates (e.g. checking a text file on your server) and notify the user, I would redirect them to the Android Market itself to do the upgrade.