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back to article We've just unboxed our Google Android Wear. We're not appy

Google is already rifling through bug reports on its new product after an unpleasantly short amount of time: just two days after fandroids performed the great unboxening. Android Wear owners are now reporting that the devices won't install paid apps. The money-saving feature bug turned up at Android Police, which theorises …

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  1. Mark #255

    Paid apps tied to specific devices?

    Really? I've never encountered this.

    (Specifically: Minecraft, and a couple of other games I've bought from the Play Store are happily installed on 4 devices [stock Nexus' and a Moto G, if you were wondering]).

    I'd be mightily annoyed if an app I'd bought 'tied' itself to a single device.

    0 3 Reply
    1. Graham Dawson Silver badge
      Reply Icon

      Re: Paid apps tied to specific devices?

      I think the issue is a little less than that. I believe the app is encrypted to the device that downloads it when the download takes place in order to prevent someone downloading and redistributing the apk. You can download it to all your devices from the store without issue, but you can't sideload it from one device to another.

      The problem here seems to be that this is exactly what the Wear devices are doing. The phone sends the apk to the Wear device over bluetooth rather than the Wear device downloading the app directly. The apk is encrypted to the phone's device ID, the Wear device has a different ID, the install fails. If the Wear device could download the app directly it wouldn't be a problem, but unless I'm seriously mistaken, it can't do that.

      8 0 Reply
  2. RyokuMas
    Trollface

    "It seems the Android Wear install process runs into a road block with paid apps because it doesn't know how to extract the file of the encrypted apk almost no Android users are actually willing to pay for apps."

    TFTFY

    6 18 Reply
    1. AMBxx Silver badge
      Reply Icon
      Thumb Up

      Upvote

      Just because I don't understand why so many people are upset by your post.

      3 6 Reply
    2. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      'Free'

      Android users also fall for the sales patter 'free app' either not realising or understanding that 'free includes the harvesting of all your personal details including shoe size.

      Of course this information is never passed on to a third party or used and is kept confi...Cough....dential.

      0 1 Reply
  3. a53

    Android Wear FAIL took two whole days ........

    Maybe they need Apple to show them how to do it and what to copy ?

    (Humour)

    2 9 Reply
    1. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Android Wear FAIL took two whole days ........

      This is what happens when they release something before Apple has perfected it.

      1 2 Reply
  4. dotdavid

    Seems there's a workaround.

    1 0 Reply
    1. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      A better workaround

      3 6 Reply
  5. toadwarrior

    Do google test?

    Surely this is one if the things you'd test before releasing it or do google assume all their users are super cheap.

    4 1 Reply
    1. RyokuMas
      Reply Icon
      Facepalm

      Re: Do google test?

      Well, judging from the four apps I've attempted to launch on various Android stores...

      Amazon Android - two from four apps submitted. Three day wait, then one appears on the store, the other I get an email for stating that there are problems to fix before it can go out.

      Nokia X Android - all four apps submitted. Four day wait, one goes onto the store, other three get a QA failed email, plus a list of what I need to fix.

      Google Play - paid $25, uploaded all four apps, all on Play within hours, no feedback.

      ... I have since found that the bugs spotted by Nokia and Amazon also exist on the versions on the Play store. Do Google test? Not in my experience.

      2 5 Reply
      1. Boothy
        Reply Icon

        Re: Do google test?

        Why would Google test your apps for you? If you wrote them, you test them.

        Now Google not testing their own stuff, that's a separate issue....

        4 0 Reply
  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Swiss cheese OS from a company that cares more about robbing your data and sending you adverts than security.

    My Chromcast started showing me adverts when I was watching Youtube last night. Pretty sure ad-block used to handle those.

    3 6 Reply
  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    OK, that's a bit harsh.

    To be honest, I was expecting problems - it's exactly why I buy new gear after it's been out for about 6 months.

    This is a new device and new hardware - since when are you expecting a v1 of *anything* to work flawless? I'm no fan of the Android platform or Google, but I think everyone is being a bit harsh here - there will be some startup problems with this product. If that happens 6 months in it would be different, but the Wear kit hasn't really been out in enough volume to shake out issues.

    If you really want a v1 you should be prepared for the risk that comes with it, otherwise I'd advise holding your purchase for a few months.

    1 0 Reply

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