Next Step my path, delete playstore go to APK
Android "production" + open and closed testing
Apple Test flight, not looking to go further
windows, easy
we are cross platform but this is about android
selling tablets, to get more users, app is subscription base $100>$1000/year
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we are in a weird position, app development is well on the way
Customers are willing to pay, but we need a better path to keep our feet on the ground
started advertising in november(2025), hoping for 10 testers for our app
(commercial bussineses) we are currently at 300 installs , and because most users are apple users and our app works the best on android, we also sold 150 tablets with the app installed
most users never connect the tablet to the internet, the only way i know they are using it because they message me for some simple questions or suggestions
we are a few versions ahead now and we are trying for people to update, 80 did so far still lots left
because Google play only updates when there is a google account added a lot of them never added their own google account after we sold them the tablet, at this point APK through our own website would be so awesome , but we set it up with google signing, going back to our own signing of the app would mess up the 300 users out there
we expect to reach the 600 this year and hopefully 1000 in the years coming
my user base is non tech people, want their data to stay offline, quite the challenge but we are on a great path
so we have 3 options
do nothing different and keep going
run a second version to the side and have that as a APK on the website
retire Google play and switch all to APK (vistit all customers and swap them over)
pro , easy to setup new people who have their own tablet
con, force users to login after we sell the tablet
pro, easy path going forward and flexible
con, maintain multiple versions
pro full control and easy update
con lot of switching, have to turn off autoblocker (samsung)
i would love to hear some experiences of other people