Is there any way to keep the database from a debug apk to use in the release apk?

Question

I have five people testing my app. It was signed with a debug key.

Now, i want to release it, so i signed it with my keystore. Android can't just upgrade the installation because of that (I tought i could do that), so i have to uninstall the debug apk to install the release version. Is there any way to keep the database from the debug apk to use on the release apk?

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Oct 07 '15 at 14:49

You could do this in very manual fashion by updating the debug version to save the database to a public location, then adding a function in your release apk to read from that file. Probably you should then update your release apk again to remove that function once all of your users have transferred to the release version.

I suspect there isn't a much better way to do this, because of how Android sandboxes apps signed with different keys from each other.

thanks, i'll do that as i already have a backup to the sd card method — avjr, Oct 07 '15 at 14:54

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Oct 07 '15 at 14:47

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In theory you can write your database to an external file and reload it in the release apk.

answered Oct 07 '15 at 14:47

zwebie

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score 1 · Answer 3 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:06

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You can try moving your db to the assets folder and then reload it with the newly signed app.

Sort of like a migration task

Here is a relevant answer for migrating db from assets to an existing app:

How to use an existing database with an Android application

edited May 23 '17 at 12:06

Community

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answered Oct 07 '15 at 14:48

AndroidEnthusiast

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Is there any way to keep the database from a debug apk to use in the release apk?

3 Answers3