0

I am developing an app specifically for my dad's phone which is in a different country than I am. So far, I have only run the app through Android Studio's GUI build and run buttons. But this only works for my local test phone, not for his device - since it's not physically in the same place.

What are my options? Obviously, I can publish it to the Play store and he can download from there, but this presumably involves a lot of overhead paperwork. So this is not ideal. Is there an alternative?

Do I already have a built APK that I could simply send to him in an email for him to install with a few taps? If so, where can I find it? Or what do I need to do to get there?

Alternatively, could I do wireless ADB install by connecting to the phone's IP as I do when I'm on the same WiFi network? Is this possible as long as the specific port is forwarded by the router? Or do I need to do anything else?

Martin Zeitler
  • 1
  • 19
  • 155
  • 216
Cornelius Roemer
  • 3,772
  • 1
  • 24
  • 55
  • Does this answer your question? [Android remotely install app](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/5481488/android-remotely-install-app) – Yunus Karakaya Dec 30 '19 at 20:46
  • Did you not find: https://developer.android.com/distribute/marketing-tools/alternative-distribution#email – Morrison Chang Dec 30 '19 at 20:51
  • @Yunas Thanks for the suggestion. Unfortunately I don't think it helps because I know that the play store exists. I'm asking about a simpler solution. – Cornelius Roemer Dec 30 '19 at 20:57
  • you can test your phone with remote control instead of creating apk every time – Yunus Karakaya Dec 30 '19 at 21:12
  • @YunusKarakaya What do you mean by testing with remote control? – Cornelius Roemer Dec 30 '19 at 23:33
  • @MorrisonChang I know that I can publish the app but I'm trying to find out the fastest way to get it up and running on a non-developer-phone without going through release preparations. For example, at this point, I don't know how signing really works, so if I could avoid that for now, that would be great. Do you get what I mean? – Cornelius Roemer Dec 31 '19 at 00:40
  • 1
    Either create a [release build](https://stackoverflow.com/q/18460774/295004), have your father [enable third-party installation](https://www.androidauthority.com/how-to-install-apks-31494/) and email/cloud share the APK OR have your father enable debug mode on the phone and install over adb from a PC [the debug build](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/17702053/where-is-android-studio-building-my-apk-file) `adb install -t your_debug.apk`. – Morrison Chang Dec 31 '19 at 01:55
  • You can install applications that control your phone remotely like TeamViewer. In this way, instead of installing apk every time, the application can be examined through remote control. – Yunus Karakaya Dec 31 '19 at 09:57

1 Answers1

1

Just setup an internal or closed test track; you don't have to publish these and newer versions would be automatically updated. With Crashlytics you can see the remote crashes... "Install from Unknown Sources " should also work with Crashlytics. I've recently setup Firebase App Distribution :

Firebase App Distribution makes distributing your apps to trusted testers painless. By getting your apps onto testers' devices quickly, you can get feedback early and often. And if you use Crashlytics in your apps, you’ll automatically get stability metrics for all your builds, so you know when you’re ready to ship.

Alternatively, you could share the code through eg. GitHub, Cloud Source Repositories, Bitbucket.

Martin Zeitler
  • 1
  • 19
  • 155
  • 216