How do I restrict my Android app to non-tablets?

Question

I have seen this link which show how I can restrict download to only tablets, but I am looking the other way round.

How can I restrict my app to only download on mobiles and not on tablets? (It's the requirement from the client.)

score 5 · Answer 1 · answered Apr 13 '12 at 14:31

5

Add a <compatible-screens> element to your manifest, outlining the specific screen sizes and densities that you support.

answered Apr 13 '12 at 14:31

CommonsWare

thanx cant use this though as I am on version 8 – Nik Apr 13 '12 at 14:42
1

@Raj: Change your build target to API Level 9 and use it. – CommonsWare Apr 13 '12 at 14:43
Sorry can't ... As per the requirement – Nik Apr 13 '12 at 15:02
3

@Raj: You act as though you have a choice, and you do not, other than to not ship your app or to allow it to work on all screen sizes (including tablets). Your build target does **not** affect what devices can use your app -- you can have a build target of 9 and still ship to API Level 8 devices (or even API Level 1 devices, if you wish). – CommonsWare Apr 13 '12 at 15:06
1

Thanks for all the help... I can't set as if the app is installed on 2.2 android device the features which are only supported from 2.3 will crash the app. apart from that ... I would like to stick to 2.2 as 20% of my app was downloaded by 2.2 devices.. which hell lots of market... – Nik Apr 16 '12 at 15:00
I have finally used the following... But I dont know if this will sove the issue... – Nik Apr 16 '12 at 15:01
1

@Raj: "I can't set " -- I never told you to set ``. That has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with your build target, and your build target is what controls whether you can use ``. "But I dont know if this will sove the issue" -- it certainly will not "restrict my app to only download on mobiles and not on tablets". – CommonsWare Apr 16 '12 at 15:48

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered May 17 '14 at 00:16

1

Another possible solution you could use is to add the following to manifest:

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

This will restrict the apk to being installed on devices that the ability to make phone calls(i.e. non-tablets).

answered May 17 '14 at 00:16

Brent Hronik

1

What about tablets that can make phone calls? :) – SlashG Feb 18 '15 at 04:46
But wouldn't that just make it a really large phone? ;) – Brent Hronik Feb 18 '15 at 22:31
1

I would still consider it a tablet, though. Your point being undeniable. (Y) – SlashG Feb 19 '15 at 11:04

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Apr 13 '12 at 15:45

0

CommonsWare's Answer is 100% correct.

You have other options also, Use

Or Manually filter the tablet devices in Google Play. This will be tedious task.

answered Apr 13 '12 at 15:45

San

2

`` can filter out smaller sizes, but not larger ones. – CommonsWare Apr 16 '12 at 15:47
what about: It would restrict the app to non-xlargeScreens devices, wouldn't it? thus hiding the app from tablets? – omega Nov 27 '12 at 16:27
It would not. It makes larger devices user scaling on apps layouts – Lubos Horacek Apr 06 '14 at 21:17

3 Answers3