DoggCatcher missing from Android Market on Sprint Hero
There was a firmware update last night for the Sprint Hero that fixed a ton of issues and made the device much better. However, now after the update several apps (with majority being purchased or paid apps) have disappeared from the Android Market on the Sprint Hero. This includes DoggCatcher! I luckily have the beta installed so I can continue to use it but it doesn't show up in My Downloads and searching for it doesn't work either.
It's just gone. I don't know if this is specific to the Sprint Hero and this update or something more general.
Any chance you can check this out or contact Google about this?
I just published a version with copy-protection OFF. The title of the app is 'DoggCatcher testing'.
You should be able to see it.
Ok, i just turned copy protection on. Can you search again and see if it's still there?
Thanks.
Oh, and don't install it
There was some talk in one of the google forums about copy-protected apps being hidden from the Eris. I don't know if it's fact or not, but worth mentioning.
There's a related post on why copy-protection is still on if you are interested.
Seeing that the copy protection issue goes back the better part of a year, and it's only going to get worse as more devices come online, and your user base grows, it would be nice to fix something sooner rather than later.
What about pushing an import/export feature into the copy protected version that could dump to opml, then turning off the non copy protected bit. Then you could recover reasonably.
I would like DC to be available to as many users as possible.
The import/export you mention already exists in DC in the form of backup/restore. The problem though is that if DC backed itself up, then I turned off copy-protection, every user that upgraded their application would have it crash on them when it tried to start. The only option at that point is an uninstall, install, and restore.
That's really why the problem is so significant...there's nothing that devs can do to workaround it. Flipping the bit, and upgrading, results in a corrupted installation.
I don't think people will (or should) tolerate purchasing an app and then no longer having access to it after an OTA update. For people that need to wipe their phone or switch to a different phone, app purchases should remain as long as you use the same google account.
I'm sure sprint is aware of the problem...we should here something soon.
The DC manifest, which is where we declare which android version the app supports, hasn't change in over 5 months...it is set to run on anything android 1.1 and above.
I have an old version of a DC in the google market that I can experiment with tonight if someone with a hero has time to work with me. It's not published at the moment but I can publish it, and turn copy-protection on/ff while you are searching to see if that is related.
Let's try that.
Go for it.
Do you wanna try clearing the app cache again?
This is a sprint hero issue not being able to find copy protected apps in the market. I suspect it's the same reason the verizon eris cannot see DoggCatcher either. Maybe this sprint OTA update get the sprint hero caught up to the same hero revision that the eris has...which already had the problem.
This problem would mean that any sprint customer that purchased a copy protected app would not be able to upgrade the apps or reinstall them if they wiped or switched their phones.
I don't think there's anything google can do here. I wish I could flip off the copy protection but that would break installations for existing users.
Once this comes to the surface, I'm sure sprint and verizon will have to address it.
Thanks for all your help narrowing this down...I didn't have the devices to do it myself.
It's possible that the reason advanced taskkiller (which I reeaaally like) wasn't showing in the market for another reason. Some issues can be addressed by changes to the manifest.
It's also possible to have multiple version of applications because there are some technical limitations when packaging applications that make this much harder than you would think.
I just sent an email to a guy I know over at AndroidGuys.com. Maybe he can help to raise awareness on this issue, because surprisingly, there isn't much chatter on the topic now.
Hey guys, my name is Scott and I am the editor at AndroidGuys. I have recently started pulling double duty and writing for CNET's AndroidAtlas website. I am writing an article on this subject and will do what I can to get it the exposure it needs! Hope it helps.
I just went to a Verizon Store near me at lunch and looked for Doggcatcher on 2 Droid Eris (HTC Hero) and 2 Moto Droids. It was not found on the Eris but was found on the Droid. It seems there's some issue with the Android Market on Android 1.5. Seems the 2.0 Market still works ok.
At least we know it's not related to the Sprint Hero update. Hope Google fixes it soon.