APK Availability

I know you only support tablets, but when the app briefly worked on my phone it seemed to run with no problems (since the update it is no longer available). Given that there is a bit of a blur between tablets and phones these days (screen sizes are getting bigger and even if it's a small screen most higher end phones these days run at 1920x1080) I'm just wondering what the likelihood is of you making the APK available for users to download and install directly - obviously with the proviso that it's not officially supported. The only issue really is that when you did a new build you'd ideally need to make an updated version of the APK available - it could easily be a sticky up on here, or just made available in the mentors forum if you prefer to restrict it.

Riley D. said: I'm not really familiar enough with the Android ecosystem to know a lot about this -- can anyone do that on their device? Or is that something you only do if you've "rooted" it? Just curious. In System Settings > Security & Screen Lock (at least, that's the location it's been on my last two phones), there is a check box for "Unknown Sources // Allow installation of apps from unknown sources". Checking this allows you to push APKs to the device over USB. It makes development and testing of Android apps very simple! No rooting required.

Hey Riley, you don't need a rooted device. There's a single tickbox in the Android settings (I'm about 90% sure that includes Kindle devices as well) that lets you install apps from outside the Play store (if you have an Android device and want to test it then it's Settings > More > Security > Unknown sources). This is how things like Humble Bundle and other third party stores install apps. I get that you're probably frantically updating things at the moment as you find and fix bugs but once you have a stable version this would be a nice way to deal with people complaining that they can't install it on their device: "we can't offer official support but you can download the APK from here and install it on your device. Let me know if you need anything else.

Ninja'd by Brian... However, I'll add that you don't need to push the APK over USB (although that's the norm for development), you can just click a link and it'll run and take you to a normal installation screen. Other than finding and ticking that setting box it requires zero technical knowledge or additional equipment.