[android] Google Play, F-Droid and Huawei AppGallery apps are not compatible

[LaurentGrenet]

I have installed OM from F-Droid a quite long time ago (in replacement of Maps.me, at this time....)

Since some time (but I cannot say exactly how long ?), Google Play Store ask to update it (while I never installed it from Play Store). While in the past, it was not the case, and never proposed such, even when my OM version was outdated. And if I let play store to update it, the update eventually fails...

Moreover, the version proposed by Play store is said "November 17".... while currently installed version is 2023.11.17-17-FDroid.... ie. apparently the same....

Question 1 : Do you know why Play Store now propose to "manage" OM while it was not the case in the past ? Q 2 : Is there a way to avoid it (because, since update fails, Play Store continue to propose the update indefinitely... that is not "blocking", but nevertheless a little bit annoying) Q 3 : BTW, is there any difference (and if yes, which one(s)) between FDroid version and Play store version ?

Thanks in advance for answers.....

System information:

• Operating system and its version: Android 7
• Organic Maps version: 2023.11.17-17-FDroid
• Device Model:Samsung Galaxy A3-2016 (yes, quite old, I know !)

[rtsisyk]

Google Play, Huawei AppGallery and F-Droid have different signing keys. Android doesn't support updating apps using different keys. Installing from F-Droid and updating from Google Play and vice versa is not possible. This is a fundamental restrictions of Android, not our.

Good news is Google Play now supports custom keys. F-Droid also recently implemented so-called “Reproducible builds” which also can support custom keys. I plan to explore these two new features to switch to common signing keys in the future.

[rtsisyk]

Q 3 : BTW, is there any difference (and if yes, which one(s)) between FDroid version and Play store version ?

The only difference is that F-Droid version doesn't have a proprietary Google Play Location library because of F-Droid restrictions. This library is needed to access so-called “high-precise” or “fused” location. The thing is that even on ungoogled phones where this feature is remapped to Mozilla Location Services (MLS) you still need the Google library to access MLS in MicroG. Androids 12+ (API 31+) provide a new system API for “high-precise” that works without Google Library. However, I don't see this API working on CalyxOS.

[rtsisyk]

Please be patient and wait until we implement common keys for F-Droid and Google Play, if it works at all.

[LaurentGrenet]

Thank you for detailed explanation.... that explain why update by GooglePlay fails.

But do you know why GooglePlay now proposes to update OM, while it was not the case in the past ? And is there any mean to avoid it ?

[rtsisyk]

Try to disable automatic updates for Organic Maps in Google Play.

[LaurentGrenet]

Automatic updates are already "globally" disabled (and then are disabled in particular for OM : I checked it). So there is no "automatic" update for OM, but nevertheless OM is proposed every time I look for pending updates as a candidate to update, among all other pending apps. And If I choose "update all", I have to manually un-select OM. Or let it to fail in update, but this is after having downloaded the apk.

What is really strange for me is that it is a quite recent behaviour. In the past, OM was never proposed to update by G-Play.

[UmBottesWillen]

Automatic updates are already "globally" disabled (and then are disabled in particular for OM : I checked it). So there is no "automatic" update for OM, but nevertheless OM is proposed every time I look for pending updates as a candidate to update, among all other pending apps. And If I choose "update all", I have to manually un-select OM. Or let it to fail in update, but this is after having downloaded the apk.

What is really strange for me is that it is a quite recent behaviour. In the past, OM was never proposed to update by G-Play.

I came here to confirm this report. Since a few weeks ago, Google Play tries to update my F-Droid version of Organic Maps. It fails every time, as already stated, yet Google Play tries anyways every time.

[licaon-kter]

But do you know why GooglePlay now proposes to update OM, while it was not the case in the past ? And is there any mean to avoid it ?

This has been reported as happening for a while now... better ask Google why. Why they try to update apps that clearly have different keys and why they are overriding the "installed by" property of apps.

[rtsisyk]

What do we think about changing applicationId to avoid collisions with Google Play? Like for Web version: https://github.com/organicmaps/organicmaps/pull/7359

[licaon-kter]

So Google Play not enforcing or respecting the Google rules is... F-Droid's fault you mean?

Yeah, sure, change appid, no problem... be sure to announce that to all your users so they don't get stuck on years old maps...

[riQQ]

Google Play, Huawei AppGallery and F-Droid have different signing keys. Android doesn't support updating apps using different keys. Installing from F-Droid and updating from Google Play and vice versa is not possible. This is a fundamental restrictions of Android, not our.

Good news is Google Play now supports custom keys. F-Droid also recently implemented so-called “Reproducible builds” which also can support custom keys. I plan to explore these two new features to switch to common signing keys in the future.

What's the status of this?