Update Android Application Outside of Google Play

Question

I have been digging through the web looking into being able to update a Google Application Outside of Google Play. I haven't really found anything other than some articles on Facebook doing this and somewhat irritating Google. From what I read, Facebook did this on select users who were devs. They recieved beta content and activities. I have drawn the scenario out and would love to implement it but I am not sure how I could do this with Android. According to Googles Policy, an update cannot overwrite the APK installed on the device from Google Play.

The scenario would be that you have 2000 customers. Each customer has an application that is the same except for one screen(Splash Screen). Other than that, everything is the same except for maybe some logos etc. Each application is loaded into Google Play as an individual application. What if you had a minor update? You would need to build and publish an update for each customer. That would be time consuming.

I am thinking that a solution to this would be to publish the "Splash Screen Activity" as an application on Google Play and store the "Actual Application which is the same for all" on your server. Once the SplashScreen detects either an update is present or the "Application APK" doesn't exist on the device then it will download it and launch it. Would it be possible to Deploy an APK downloaded on the device through a Google Play Application without having to have those who download it enable "Unknown Sources"? I am thinking of something similar to what Android Game Developers do. You basically download an application that allows you to start but as you progress you are required to download "packs".

Is this so mething that could be done and if so, where can I find some information on this?

Answer 1

See this link... Hope it helps.. Try it..

It says that we have to create mechanism, that calls the server and checks for newer versions..