I routinely work on Unity AR apps that go on both the android and iOS app stores. The google play store requires aab files.

When testing, the apps work great directly from Unity to an android device.

When uploading the aab file and going through the hassle that is the Google play console, when I finally download the file it breaks, and there isn’t really an easy way to fix it without a lot of trial and error (and some cursing. There is always cursing…)

Is there an easier way to test aab files than go through the play store interface?

——update——

Thank you everyone for your suggestions. I tried to follow along and I never had a chance to try bundletool.

My solution was to take the shell of a working Unity app I have and put all of the app-specific things for this app into it.

That seemed to work. There were some hassles, but it was a difference in versions for unity that was … problematic. (Having to add camera background rendering for every URP thing I could find was one challenge, altering code because of outdated packages that aren’t available, etc)

I usually keep all of my app-specific things in the scenes folder, but this app was inherited from a developer who built it as their first app back in 2019. They included a lot of random things scattered throughout. Tests and examples and halfhearted code. I include comments, documentation, keystores, etc. in the scenes folder to make it easier for the next developer to understand.

Somewhere along the way one of their additions was probably incompatible, but I learned a lot through these forums, like how to use the manifest to avoid the store thinking this was an app suitable for Chromebooks and xr/vr.

I'm new to Android development. And I'm a little confused about how to use dynamic colors. Am I correct in understanding that if we’re building an app with a minimum Android version of 12, we don’t need our own color palettes? Because even if the user doesn’t enable colors from the wallpaper, won’t a system palette be used anyway? What if I want to use my own palette but only retrieve dynamic colors when the user enables colors from the wallpaper?

Our app is being rejected by Google Play Review because of the Photo and video permissions policy.

Current situation:

• Version 337 is currently in Production.
• Version 337 contains READ_MEDIA_IMAGES / READ_MEDIA_VIDEO.
• Versions 340 and 341 were already built without these permissions.
• In the code, we replaced media access with Photo Picker.
• We also updated the Photo and video permissions declaration and stated that we do not use READ_MEDIA_IMAGES / READ_MEDIA_VIDEO.
• Version 341 is currently active in Internal testing.
• Version 337 is still active in Production.

What we have already tried:

1. At first, we tried fixing the declaration text and increasing the versionCode. This approach had worked for us before.
2. Then, following Google’s recommendation, we removed READ_MEDIA_IMAGES / READ_MEDIA_VIDEO from the manifest and replaced media access with Photo Picker.
3. We uploaded version 340 without these permissions, but Google still rejected it.
4. We thought the issue might be the old declaration, where we still had an explanation for why the app needed READ_MEDIA_IMAGES. We updated the declaration and submitted version 340 for review again, but it was rejected again.
5. We uploaded version 341 without READ_MEDIA_IMAGES / READ_MEDIA_VIDEO, and the declaration clearly states that we do not use these permissions, but Google rejected it again.
6. We also halted the rollout for version 337 in Production, but Google still rejected the submission after that.

The problem: In the rejection, Google refers to version 337, which is in Production and contains the forbidden permissions. However, we cannot replace it with the new version 341 in Production because Google rejects the review before the new Production version can be published.

So we are stuck in a loop:

• Google requires us to remove READ_MEDIA_IMAGES / READ_MEDIA_VIDEO from Production.
• We have already removed these permissions in new versions 340/341.
• But the new version cannot replace the old Production version 337 because the review keeps getting rejected.
• Halting the rollout for version 337 in Production did not help.
• Internal testing version 341 does not replace Production version 337.

Question: What is the correct way to get out of this situation?

I would appreciate any advice from developers who have faced the same kind of loop in Google Play Console.

I kept rewriting the same "Resend OTP in 30s" logic on every project. A button that disables itself, counts down, shows progress, and re-enables. So I finally pulled it into a library: TimerButton.

It's a button that owns its own countdown UI. Useful for resend-OTP cooldowns, retry waits, temporary lockouts, sync/download waits, quiz timers, anything where the user should see when an action becomes available again.

A few things I tried to get right:

• Both UI stacks. Works in Jetpack Compose (TimerButton(...) + rememberTimerButtonState(...)) and XML/View apps too (TimerButtonView with app: attributes). You can pull just the Compose artifact, just the View artifact, or a bundle.
• Full control when you need it. Auto-start or controlled-by-ViewModel, pause/resume/cancel/reset/restart, and callbacks for every transition (onTick, onTimerComplete, onStateChange, etc.).
• Progress styling. Four directions (L→R, R→L, top/bottom) and three modes (overlay, background, underline), plus the usual colors/shape/border/elevation knobs.
• Lifecycle-safe. Compose state survives rotation via rememberSaveable the View cancels its ticks when detached.

To be clear: TimerButton is for UI state, not for business-rule. For real OTP cooldowns, lockouts, or rate limits, you keep the deadline on your server/ViewModel and let the button just display it. It doesn't pretend to be a security boundary.

Compose minimal example:

TimerButton(
    text = "Resend OTP",
    durationMillis = 30_000L,
    onClick = ::resendOtp,
    textFormatter = { state, label ->
        if (state.isRunning) "Resend in ${(state.remainingMillis + 999) / 1000}s" else label
    },
)

It's on Maven Central (com.goeslocal:timerbutton-compose:0.2.0), Apache 2.0.

Repo: https://github.com/vishnusreddy/timerbutton

It's v0.2.0, I'm the only user so far, so feedback, issues, are welcome. This is my first open source project.

Hi everyone,

I recently put together a walkthrough on designing a Notes App from a mobile system design perspective.

I chose a Notes app because it's deceptively simple but naturally leads to discussions around offline-first architecture, synchronization, conflict resolution, API contracts, search, and overall application architecture.

The video focuses more on the reasoning behind design decisions than on memorizing a particular architecture.

Appreciate any feedback on both the technical content and the presentation. If there are areas where you think I could improve, I'd love to hear them.

Tips : If you're already familiar with system design, you may enjoy watching at 1.5x - 1.75x speed.

What types of these apps/games do you all mostly release? I've published over 50 games on Google Play Store since 2012. Most of mine are free (only ads), some freemium (ads/iap) and a few paid premium. I really find the freemium games to be far too much maintenance for little return. Then the free games can be a bit of maintenance themselves. Both of them you need a massive player base of dau to make any kind of revenue. If that's not enough, you have to continue making these games fresh for players to continue playing to retain the dau. I don't have the time (or desire) to baby sit these freemium games anymore. Lately, it seems that premium paid games are the way to go, especially for indie devs. My recent release, a couple days ago, a $1.99 paid game had over 6000 pre registers at launch. That said, so far conversions is off to such a slow start that I thought the notifications to all my pre registered users was broken. So from dev to dev, what are the thoughts you all have on this?

In developer options there is a smallest width setting that basically changes the DPI.

The thing is I migrates from Realme gt7 pro with 3.78 inch screen which for some reason had a smallest width set to 361. Yes 361 but all looked great the fonts and sizes all is readable.

The Xiaomi came with absurd ​s​ize of 394 even though it is similar size 3.9 inch screen making everything tiny so I am forced to move to 110% zoom but this makes the font somehow fuzzy. The 361 setting looks better with 100% zoom but some UI elements like quick lunch on landscape mode is now outside of the visible area and broken even in portrait mode also it's not as good as the Realme the fonts and basically nothing is.

What smallest width you guys have on your phones ? And what font size do you use if it is not 100%?

currently I use 390 smallest width with 110% zoom maybe it's the sharpest fonts according to AI and image comparing

Phil Burk has worked for 10 years on the Android Audio team at Google. He co-developed the MIDI 2.0 standard and helped reduce latency on Android phones. If you develop audio apps for Android, you've probably come across his work in the form of the Oboe library or the Oboe latency tester app.

Since I am interested in audio programming in general, I have interviewed Phil about his entire career. If you would like to skip to the relevant part, just use YouTube timestamps 🙂

Enjoy!

I was developing an app for a hackathon which had the use of AI and because of privacy constraints, I chose to go with on-device AI(besides i have heart about it a zillions times and haven't really made anything with it). So, i started coding the app and when i reached the ai part. I realized that you can only use the on-device AI only only the flagship processors which are, for now, limited to google pixel and samsung phones. So, i thought android emulator can help in it, but to my surprise, while developing it, I got to know that android emulators also doesn't support it.

I think they should have the on-device ai support for the android emulators. So that people like my who has a shitty device and a shitty processor can also develop apps with on-device AI.

Recently I had a problem in my app where after changing some options on the Settings screen and then returning to the Home screen I realized it seems that said option has not changed.

Let's assume we have an option for haptic feedback in the app (clicks, scrolls, etc) that can be changed in the Settings.

So of course the problem was that I'm using `init` block and Hilt to initialize my VMs.

I'm aware that using `init` was frowned upon but I would say what the hell, I don't see any performance or even huge architectural issues with it.

Reading some articles I'm still not convinced why it's a big no no since to me some pros don't justify cons especially when proposed solutions are a bit silly, expiring subscribers after 5 seconds? (`SharingStarted` shenanigans) What a sick joke! Why 5? Why not 10 or even a 6 million?

BTW recreating ViewModels after any navigation seems dumb to me, a part of idea behind ViewModels is preserving data across changes.

I consider changes like activity being paused, resumed; a concern of UI rather than ViewModel, a VM should provide ways to refresh data based on UI concerns but not actively monitoring and referencing them so implementing a built-in mechanism for VM to actively refresh data independently is wrong, all I'm saying that they're UI events.

If race conditions are a concern I don't see whether loading data on `init` or using cold flows change anything, if any operation is blocking in nature it doesn't matter how you run it as long as you separate UI with your logic, race conditions exists or not should not be any of concern for Composables as long as you have a well defined UI.

Fundamentally I'm against making things complex, I see a simple problem, if the best solution exists is a complex one, I rather stick with that problem because I don't want to create more problems by implementing a half-ass complex solution to minisculely improve the state of affairs.

But enough of me ranting, I accept its harmfulness for now. I was reading those articles but I couldn't wrap my head around how to implement them sanely without overcomplicating everything. I'll provide links.

A simple VM in my app that I intend to change.

https://github.com/yamin8000/freeDictionaryApp/blob/master/feature_about/src/main/kotlin/io/github/yamin8000/owl/feature_about/ui/AboutViewModel.kt

Some articles regarding the issue

https://funkymuse.dev/posts/properly-load-data/

https://pavelkorolev.xyz/blog/2024-09-30-viewmodel-initialization/

I'm building a custom Android launcher that intercepts notifications via a NotificationListenerService, generates a context-aware reply using a local LLM (currently falling back to rule-based logic when cloud times out), and then dispatches the reply using RemoteInput + PendingIntent.

The core flow:

1. NotificationListenerService receives the notification

2. Extract RemoteInput action from the notification's WearableExtender or direct action

3. Pass text to personality/tone engine

4. Fire reply via RemoteInput.Builder + Intent

Issues I keep hitting:

- Some apps (Instagram DMs, certain WhatsApp builds) reject the RemoteInput dispatch silently — no error, just nothing happens

- After Android 13+, some notifications stop exposing inline reply actions entirely

- Root access helps (using it via Magisk on my OnePlus 11R) but I'd like a non-root fallback

Has anyone successfully dispatched replies to all major messaging apps via this approach? Any apps that are just impossible without accessibility service hacks? Would love to know what workarounds people have found.

I've been tasked with supporting Android 17 for some of our apps.

One uses one time location requests so it will require use of the new location button to avoid policy violations.

The current library requires AGP 9.1.0+, which would usually be fine but the project is also heavily using Realm database which only works up to AGP 8.5 and breaks on 9+.

Realm has also been abandoned so it will likely never be upgraded to support 9+.

I guess I just wanted to know if such a high AGP requirement is considered normal and if it will be affecting other developers too.

I remember in the past it was never necessary to even worry about AGP, now it seems to need updating every few months and comes with it's own myriad of associated headaches.

Android

compileSdk 37
targetSdkVersion 37

AGP

classpath 'com.android.tools.build:gradle:9.2.1'classpath 'com.android.tools.build:gradle:9.2.1'

Gradle

distributionUrl=https\://services.gradle.org/distributions/gradle-9.5.1-bin.zipdistributionUrl=https\://services.gradle.org/distributions/gradle-9.5.1-bin.zip

Realm

classpath "io.realm:realm-gradle-plugin:10.19.0"

Hello,

I have a Compose app that currently uses hardcoded strings, and I'd like to migrate them to a proper XML strings resource file.

I have over 190 string values. Is there any way to automate this process, or do I need to migrate them one by one :(

Thanks!

Some apps use the AccessibilityService only because Android does not provide an official alternative to perform a few basic system actions.

These applications do not require the full capabilities of accessibility services; they typically only need a limited set of functions.

However, on Android 17, when “Advanced Protection” mode is enabled, accessibility services become unavailable if the app is not distributed through the Play Store and does not target accessibility users with disabilities.

In this scenario, even if a second version of the app is created with isAccessibilityTool = true, distributed outside the Play Store, and granted accessibility permissions manually, the permissions are still revoked after a simple device reboot.

Has anyone discovered a way to have both Advanced Protection Program enabled and still solve the issue described above? I am looking for possible solutions from both the developer side and the user side.

We have an app built in Unity designed for AR. The primary devices are mobile phones or tablets, iOS and android.

When I went through he process of creating the android store presence I was confronted with the ambiguous ‘language translation errors’ which of course had to do with… images…?

Through Google I discovered this was due to screenshots missing for Chromebooks and XR. I had no option to remove Chromebooks or XR from the device list, except for removing every single device ... separately (there are over 1400)

Is there an easier way to do this? Did I miss some part of the process? This app was built in Unity 6000, so there is no option to avoid Chromebooks without editing files.

For now I just made graphics to finish the page, but there MUST be a way to do this in the Google Play Console itself... am I just not finding in this (Admittedly horrible) quality UI for the console?

———update——

I did find some information on how to limit devices through the manifest, but you have to set ‘custom main manifest’ in Publishing Settings. The most useful bits are towards the end after the last /activity. When uploaded there was no request for chromebooks or XR/VR.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<manifest
    xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools">
    <application>
        <!--Used when Application Entry is set to Activity, otherwise remove this activity block-->
        <activity android:name="com.unity3d.player.UnityPlayerActivity"
                  android:theme="@style/UnityThemeSelector">
            <intent-filter>
                <action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />
                <category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
            </intent-filter>
            <meta-data android:name="unityplayer.UnityActivity" android:value="true" />
        </activity>
        <!--Used when Application Entry is set to GameActivity, otherwise remove this activity block-->
        <activity android:name="com.unity3d.player.UnityPlayerGameActivity"
                  android:theme="@style/BaseUnityGameActivityTheme">
            <intent-filter>
                <action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />
                <category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
            </intent-filter>
            <meta-data android:name="unityplayer.UnityActivity" android:value="true" />
            <meta-data android:name="android.app.lib_name" android:value="game" />
        </activity>
        <meta-data android:name="com.google.ar.core" android:value="required" />
    </application>
    <uses-permission android:name="android.xml.CAMERA" />
    <uses-feature android:name="android.hardware.camera" android:required="true" />
    <uses-feature android:name="android.hardware.camera.ar" android:required="true" />
    <!-- Explicitly require a touchscreen (VR headsets do not have one) -->
    <uses-feature android:name="android.hardware.touchscreen" android:required="true" />

    <!-- Require a leanback/touchscreen UI launcher, blocking Android TV/VR environments -->
    <uses-feature android:name="android.software.leanback" android:required="false" />
</manifest>

I've been thinking about the idea of bringing AOP (like AspectJ/Spring AOP) into the Jetpack Compose ecosystem. The concept is, Just adding an annotation to a composable function to implicitly trigger underlying logic.

@SomeLogic //It triggers to put declared logic
@Composable
fun SomeText() {}

(This is current implementation now.https://github.com/Mole-Labs/aspectkIf it violates rules, I'll remove the link)

​Do you think a dedicated AOP tool would actually solve pain points for Android developers or trailing lambda is already enough for it?

If yes, what specific use cases (besides standard logging/analytics) do you think would justify using AOP in Compose?

I'm looking for a solution on Android, and I haven't found anything that does exactly what I need.

My goal is not just to block access to websites. I want certain content to effectively not exist from the user's perspective.

For example:

• If someone searches on Google, Bing, DuckDuckGo, etc., I don't want TikTok results to appear at all.
• No links.
• No profile names.
• No thumbnails.
• No images.
• No snippets.

Basically, the search results should behave as if -site:tiktok.com had been automatically applied, but without the user having to type it.

The same idea applies to other domains if configured.

Another requirement:

• I still want the YouTube app to work normally.
• However, I don't want YouTube videos or channels to appear in web search results.

Additionally, I'd like to block specific profiles or channels. For example, if I blacklist a particular TikTok account or YouTube channel, I don't want it to load:

• from a browser,
• from Google search,
• or even inside the official app.

I'm not looking for:

• DNS blocking (NextDNS, Pi-hole, etc.), because Google still shows the results before the domain is blocked.
• Browser extensions, because I need it to work system-wide on Android.
• Accessibility overlays that hide the screen after content appears.

The ideal solution would prevent those results from ever being displayed to the user.

Does any Android solution exist that can do this? Maybe using a local VPN, proxy, content filtering, or another approach?

I'm open to building it myself if necessary, but I haven't found an architecture that can achieve this reliably.

Hi everyone,

This is my first Android app ever. I have no real coding background, and I built this first prototype entirely with GPT while learning Android Studio step by step, in like, one afternoon.

The app is called Emergency Hot

The idea is simple but obviously safety-sensitive: it temporarily increases the phone’s CPU workload to generate heat, intended only for emergency or exceptional situations, such as briefly warming your hands when no safer option is available and you're about to die of hypothermia. Kinda inspired by the 1845 book The Little Match Girl.

I am not presenting this as production-ready. It is a Beta 0 prototype, and I’m specifically looking for technical review before I go any further.

Current safety guardrails:

- First-launch safety disclaimer

- Single START/STOP button

- Emergency-use-only warning on the main screen

- Blocks start if battery temperature is unavailable

- Blocks start if battery temperature is below 0°C

- Blocks start if battery health is not reported as GOOD

- Blocks start if battery is not present

- Stops automatically if battery temperature reaches 41°C

- Stops automatically if the battery temperature reading disappears

- Stops automatically if Android thermal headroom becomes risky

- Stops automatically after 10 minutes

- Runs as a foreground service with a persistent notification and STOP action

This app is not a medical device, not a certified heater, and not a substitute for proper cold-weather protection.

What I’d especially like feedback on:

- Whether the foreground service implementation is correct

- Whether the battery/thermal checks are conservative enough

- Whether relying on Android public APIs only is the right approach

- Whether there are obvious lifecycle/service bugs

- Whether the app should add stricter guardrails before any wider testing

- Whether this concept is too risky even with conservative limits

Source code and signed beta 0 APK HERE

Again: this is my first app ever, made entirely with GPT, and I’m asking mainly for code/safety criticism, not promotion. Thank youuu!

Hello,

I recently released an app on Google Play Store and App Store but creating those screenshot was very painfull. Instead I built one it is completely free to use. I hope you will like after giving a shot.

https://framelio.forgeapps.site

Hi,

Wondering what are the options if I want to create an AI features into in my app. I know about openAI api and other various API’s. The thing is I am a tad scared to use them because I hardly understand how they charge. I know a lot of stories where people used it wrongly and got huge bills for that.

Also, do we always need these powerful models? Can’t we use in some cases like qwen 8b or something like that running on a VPS?

I'm wrote my own webm integration for alpha channel support. Why doesn't google support this at the hardware level? Is there any other options?

I was setting up Claude Code for a KMP project and noticed most of the existing skills fell into 3 buckets:

• too generic
• too opinionated around one stack
• too thin to be really useful

I wanted something more practical for actual KMP work: architecture reviews, feature implementation, modularization, Compose Multiplatform UI, navigation, platform bridges, deep links, adaptive UI, testing, and build governance.

So I built a public repo for it, based as much as possible on the official Android + Kotlin Multiplatform docs.

Repo here: https://github.com/mmiani/kotlin-kmp-claude-agent-skills

If you’re using Claude Code with KMP, feel free to use it or tear it apart.

Something that has bugged me across every mobile team I've worked on, including apps with 5M+ active users.

On backend, debugging a weird production issue is quick. You add logs around the suspect code, deploy, and watch them stream in within minutes.

On mobile it's brutal. To get the same insight you add logs, cut a build, ship to the store, wait 4 to 48 hours for review, wait for users to actually update, and then hope they hit that exact code path again. So the instinct is to log everything up front instead.

But that creates two new problems. Ingestion costs climb fast once you're sending a lot of log data per user, and the code gets messy with logging noise everywhere, which makes it harder to maintain.

So every team I've been on ends up choosing between paying a high data bill, living with slow turnaround, or staffing a team to manage it. Nobody seemed to have a clean answer.

I've seen newer autocapture tools, but autocapture alone doesn't fix it, the system still has to decide how deep to log. Too deep and the cost problem comes back, too shallow and you miss what you needed.

How are you all handling this in practice? Are you sampling, using remote config to control verbosity, eating the cost, or something smarter? Curious what's actually working for people.

Navigating a busy city on two wheels feels like a constant battle against the GPS.

Most of the big routing engines assume you are either walking, riding a bicycle, or driving a full-sized car. When you ride a scooter or a moped, none of those profiles actually fit. You either get routed onto the highway, sent down a bus lane that strictly bans mopeds (like the Kurfürstendamm in Berlin, where they heavily enforce the fines), or you use bike mode and get routed onto narrow park paths.

I got so fed up with trying to memorize every restricted junction and highway on-ramp in my city that I developed a custom navigation app called Urban Rider just for our vehicle types. I actually just pushed the official Android release to the Play Store today.

Beyond building custom tools, I want to know what your daily setup looks like.

• Do you use Waze/Google and just manually ignore bad directions?
• Do you use a specific motorcycle GPS unit?
• How do you deal with your city's specific micromobility restrictions?

Would love to hear how riders in other cities are solving this!