Apps not appearing in the Android Market on the Samsung Galaxy Tab

Question

Some of my apps do not appear in the Android Market when viewed from the Samsung Galaxy Tab.

I've noticed this is happening to many other apps from other devs as well. If I compare the "Just in" for a category in the Market on a Nexus One to the Galaxy Tab, there are a lot more apps appearing on the Nexus One. So I don't think this is an issue specific to my apps.

What's strange is that I can't figure out what is different between my apps that do, and do not, appear. For instance, in my Android manifest for an app that does appear, I have this:

<uses-sdk android:minSdkVersion="3" />

<!-- Prevent shoeboxing on Tab -->
<supports-screens android:largeScreens="true" />

which shows the app in the Android Market, and the app displays full-screen on the Tab.

But for several of my other apps, with the same settings, I can't browse or search to find the apps listed in the Market. It's as if they simply are not in the Market.

FYI, I can run the apps fine on the Galaxy Tab AVD emulator. I've also tried min SDK of 4.

Thanks!!

Answer 1

Android Market filters out applications based on the values specified in the AndroidManifest.xml file. The 7” inch tablet is a “large” screen. So, for applications which have minSDKVersion=3, define support-screens tag explicitly as:

<supports-screens android:largeScreens="true" android:normalScreens="true" android:anyDensity="true" />

http://innovator.samsungmobile.com/galaxyTab.do#03

Example 2

The manifest declares <uses-sdk android:minSdkVersion="3" android:targetSdkVersion="4"> and does not include a element. Result: Android Market will show the app to users on all devices, unless other filters apply.

http://developer.android.com/guide/appendix/market-filters.html

Answer 2

Could it be the copy protection feature on the Market?

Answer 3

Apparently Samsung devices have a 30MB cache limit, so they won't let you download apps that are over that size. Check your APK sizes, as that could be the problem.

Are some of your apps using telephony features? By default the Market won't offer those apps to wifi-only devices, unless you set this value in your AndroidManifest.xml:

  <uses-feature android:name="android.hardware.telephony" android:required="false"/>   

Have a look at my answer here for more information.

You'll need to make sure your code copes gracefully when those features are not available.