Android application is not visible when searched from tab, but visible when searched from mobile device on Google Play Store

Question

Please read the question before tagging it as duplicate.
I am trying to publish an update of my app, with tablet support added. The number of supported deives for my apk have increased in the apk details on the google play console. But my app is not searchable from the Android Tablets.

The following are the contents of my manifest file.

<!-- for accessing the server -->
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.CALL_PHONE" />
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.INTERNET" />
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.ACCESS_NETWORK_STATE" />
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.SEND_SMS" />
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.ACCESS_WIFI_STATE" />

<!-- for accessing images from SD card -->
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.CAMERA" />
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE" />
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.WRITE_SETTINGS" />
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.READ_CONTACTS" />
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.READ_PHONE_STATE" />

<!-- supports the all the following types of screens -->
<supports-screens
    android:largeScreens="true"
    android:normalScreens="true"
    android:smallScreens="true"
    android:xlargeScreens="true" />

<!-- features used in the app -->
<uses-feature
    android:name="android.hardware.camera"
    android:required="false" />

<uses-feature
    android:name="android.hardware.camera.autofocus"
    android:required="false" />

<uses-feature
    android:name="android.hardware.camera.flash"
    android:required="false" />

<uses-feature
    android:name="android.hardware.camera.front"
    android:required="false" />

<uses-feature
    android:name="android.hardware.telephony"
    android:required="false" />

<uses-feature
    android:name="android.hardware.wifi"
    android:required="false" />

<uses-feature
    android:name="android.software.webview"
    android:required="false" />

Please help me, If i have missed out on a tag. The tabs that i am searching for do not have calling ability.

The only tag I have not added is the uses sdk tag, but according to the Android Developers documentation, if I do not provide that information, it assumes that the app will run across all the android versions.

Answer 1

possible solution 1:

For xxhdpi devices you can use 480 as an int value

 <screen android:screenSize="normal" android:screenDensity="480" />
 <screen android:screenSize="large" android:screenDensity="480" />
 <screen android:screenSize="xlarge" android:screenDensity="480" />

possible solution 2:

I belive the key is in your permissions. By saying that your app uses RECEIVE_SMS and READ_PHONE_STATE Google Play uses that to filter out devices that can't do those things (tablets) because it thinks that your app needs to use those permissions in order to work. According to the android developer site:

"To prevent those apps from being made available unintentionally, Google Play assumes that certain hardware-related permissions indicate that the underlying hardware features are required by default. For instance, applications that use Bluetooth must request the BLUETOOTH permission in a element — for legacy apps, Google Play assumes that the permission declaration means that the underlying android.hardware.bluetooth feature is required by the application and sets up filtering based on that feature."

Also, look at this:

Telephony CALL_PHONE android.hardware.telephony CALL_PRIVILEGED android.hardware.telephony MODIFY_PHONE_STATE android.hardware.telephony PROCESS_OUTGOING_CALLS android.hardware.telephony READ_SMS android.hardware.telephony RECEIVE_SMS android.hardware.telephony RECEIVE_MMS android.hardware.telephony RECEIVE_WAP_PUSH android.hardware.telephony SEND_SMS android.hardware.telephony WRITE_APN_SETTINGS android.hardware.telephony WRITE_SMS android.hardware.telephony

You have RECEIVE_SMS and READ_PHONE_STATE so you automatically have android.hardware.telephony. You can fix this by doing

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Answer 2

I finally solved the problem. The problem was, I had an apk in the PRODUCTION which did not support Tablets, and I had a apk in the alpha testing that supported the Tablets. Hence Google Play was not showing the app to be compatible.

I deactivated the build in the PRODUCTION and moved the build in the ALPHA to PRODUCTION and the problem was solved.