Do android devices come with google play installed?

Question

Apologies if this is a ridiculously simple question, but as someone who does not own a mobile phone, but has to develop for them I have to ask.

Currently developing an app that requires access to gMaps among other google play services. As far as I know any real Android i've tested it on, has been fine, I have error handling in place if the users device does not have google play, telling them it is needed.

Is it worth looking into a better way to handle this (i.e auto download everything required) or do all Androids phone ship with Play and it will be present unless purposely uninstalled by the user?

If that is not the case, any suggestions on the best way to handle such an issue would be appreciated.

Answer 1

As far as I know any real Android i've tested it on, has been fine

If you plan on distributing your app through the Play Store, then if your app is installed through the Play Store, the device will have Play Services (though possibly not the latest-and-greatest version).

If you plan on distributing your app by other means, there is no guarantee that the device will have Play Services.

I do not know what you consider a "real Android" to be. Certainly, Chinese users of devices from Huawei, Xiaomi, and others would consider theirs to be "real", as would users of devices like the Amazon Fire series. Those devices do not ship with the Play Store or Play Services.

auto download everything required

You have no way of downloading Play Services on a device that lacks it, short of software piracy.

If that is not the case, any suggestions on the best way to handle such an issue would be appreciated.

Either:

• Do not use Play Services and instead use alternatives that work everywhere (e.g., OpenStreetMap), or

• Have multiple flavors of your project, where you use different solutions based on distribution channel (e.g., Maps V2 for Google Play devices, OpenStreetMap for others), or

• Only distribute through the Play Store, in which case your exception handling should be sufficient for the handful of people who try using some pirated copy of your app

IOW, your product needs to match your distribution channel, where you are depending on things that in turn depend upon the distribution channel.

Answer 2

Google Play, for Android phones, does come with most of them standard. The "standard" ones come from stores like Verizon, and usually contain the device's Android version changed a little bit by the company they are being sold by.

That being said, if you're publishing your app on the Play Store, then you really shouldn't worry about them having Google Play (Services) or not.

Answer 3

TBH if you distribute your app via Play Store, I don't see much chance that the device has no Google Play (services) installed during runtime.

On other hand if the user has no Play Store I don't think you can auto-install anything, let alone official Google app, to someone's device without prompting them for permission.

Off topic: You develop mobile apps without having at least few test devices? O.o Just be careful, if it runs smoothly in emulator, it does not guarantee a smooth run on an actual device.