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I built an app with PhoneGap Build and submitted it successfully to Google Play. Successfully means it's available trough Google Play on my Nexus S and other Smartphones running Android (with Android 2.2 and above).

But the app doesn't show up in Google Play on any android tablet device I gave a try (ASUS/Google Nexus 7 with Android 4.2.1 and a Samsung Tablet with Android 4.0.1).

If I am going to download the .apk from Hockey App, the app installs and runs as expected.

My PhoneGap Build config.xml looks like that (extract):

<!-- Multi-Platform -->

<preference name="phonegap-version" value="2.2.0" />
<preference name="target-device" value="universal" />
<preference name="fullscreen" value="false" />
<preference name="orientation" value="default" />

<!-- iOS -->

<preference name="webviewbounce" value="false" />
<preference name="prerendered-icon" value="false" />
<preference name="stay-in-webview" value="false" />
<preference name="ios-statusbarstyle" value="black-opaque" />
<preference name="exit-on-suspend" value="false" />
<preference name="show-splash-screen-spinner" value="true" />
<preference name="auto-hide-splash-screen" value="true" />


<!-- Android -->
<preference name="android-minSdkVersion" value="8" />


<!-- Icons -->
<icon src="icon57.png" width="57" height="57" />
<icon src="icon72.png" gap:platform="ios" width="72" height="72" />
<icon src="icon114.png" width="114" height="114" />

<icon src="icon54.png" gap:platform="android" gap:density="mdpi" />
<icon src="icon72.png" gap:platform="android" gap:density="hdpi" />
<icon src="icon114.png" gap:platform="android" gap:density="xhdpi" />


<!-- Splash Screens iOS -->
<gap:splash src="splash/ios/Default.png" width="320" height="480" />
<gap:splash src="splash/ios/Default_at_2x.png" width="640" height="960" />
<gap:splash src="splash/ios/Default_iphone5.png" width="640" height="1136" />
<gap:splash src="splash/ios/Default-Landscape.png" width="1024" height="768" />
<gap:splash src="splash/ios/Default-Portrait.png" width="768" height="1024" />

<!-- Splash Screens Android -->
<gap:splash src="splash/android/ldpi.png" gap:platform="android" gap:density="ldpi" />
<gap:splash src="splash/android/mdpi.png" gap:platform="android" gap:density="mdpi" />

<gap:splash src="splash/android/hdpi.png" gap:platform="android" gap:density="hdpi" />
<gap:splash src="splash/android/xhdpi.png" gap:platform="android" gap:density="xhdpi" />

<!-- Permissions -->

<preference name="permissions" value="none"/>

<feature name="http://api.phonegap.com/1.0/camera"/>
<feature name="http://api.phonegap.com/1.0/file"/>
<feature name="http://api.phonegap.com/1.0/geolocation"/>
<feature name="http://api.phonegap.com/1.0/media"/>
<feature name="http://api.phonegap.com/1.0/network"/>

<!-- Global Domain Access -->
<access origin="*" />

From my point of view it seems to be directly related to the screen size/tablet format. But I have no idea why Google isn't listing the app on large screen devices.

cacau
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asp_net
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2 Answers2

2

It seems currently not possible to get it running with PhoneGap Build, because there is no dedicated support for some options of AndroidManifest.xml.

So I decided to build the app the default way with Eclipse (see http://docs.phonegap.com/en/2.4.0/guide_getting-started_android_index.md.html#Getting%20Started%20with%20Android).

By adding 

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

I was able to increase the number of supported devies. But I also had to add 

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

to get my mentioned tablets supported.

Instead of 1.836 supported devices before there are now 2.341 listed.

asp_net
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  • I found this comment that might explain things: – Elia Weiss Feb 14 '14 at 06:40
  • Please see this example at how to do it with Phonegap: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/29434321/phonegap-make-android-feature-optional – Nukey Jul 03 '17 at 13:50
  • Additonal Comment: Be sure to specify android, as shown here: https://stackoverflow.com/a/31218168/1218136 – Nukey Jul 03 '17 at 14:43
1

If you log into the play store, you can go to your APK and see if any devices are excluded. You can also click "Show details" under the version code to see all the properties.

My guess would be something to do with the "screen layouts" or supported dpi values is the problem and you'll need to amend the manifest appropriately.

James
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  • Interesting- if I check my own app (which does appear on tablets) I get supported devices: 2204. I'd see if you can check your AndroidManifest.xml for anything unusual – James Feb 18 '13 at 17:47
  • Currently I am building the app via PhoneGap Build, which is an online build server. It doesn't give me the chance to configure the androidmanifest.xml by myself, so it seems to be better to switch back to manually building the .apk. Thanks for your info. – asp_net Feb 18 '13 at 20:11
  • I've not tried phonegap i'm afraid, but it looks to be a problem other people have found before too: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/11160871/how-to-deploy-phonegap-app-to-android-tablet-market?rq=1 – James Feb 18 '13 at 20:21