Databases
StackOverflow2013
Postsdbo
PO
 

Note that there are some explanatory texts on larger screens.

plurals
  1. PO
    primarykey
    data
    text
    <p>Your question is about apps having the same name, but your actual concern is about the theft of your application. These are two separate issues.</p> <p>If someone did a straight copy of your APK and attempted to post it to Google Play, then they would be unable to do so if you had already posted that same APK to Google Play yourself. The reason they would be prevented from posting it, however, would be due to its package name being the same as an existing app, not because of its name.</p> <p>A more sophisticated thief might be able to change your package name, and if they could do that, then they could also probably (even more easily) change your app's name. In that case, they might be able to post the resulting app to Google Play. You then would might decide to complain about this to Google and ask that the infringing app be taken down. There is a form for this kind of complaint here:</p> <p><a href="http://support.google.com/googleplay/bin/request.py?contact_type=takedown" rel="nofollow">http://support.google.com/googleplay/bin/request.py?contact_type=takedown</a></p> <p>I don't know what kind of results you might obtain from such a complaint, but Google has recently become much more focused on preventing infringing apps of this kind, so you might get a good response.</p> <p>If you're talking about other app stores, <em>outside</em> of Google Play, then you have to look at the policies of those stores. But certainly there is nothing preventing an app that has been posted on Google Play from being posted on these other stores, provided that it meets the policies of the other store. Developers do this themselves (post on multiple app stores) all the time. And of course it can have the same name and the same package.</p> <p>Regarding the more general question of whether two apps on Google Play can have the same name:</p> <p>In the past it has been the case that two apps could have the same name on Google Play.</p> <p>However, in August, 2012 (since you posted your question) Google announced new Developer Program Policies that state that</p> <p>"Apps must not have names or icons that appear confusingly similar to existing products, or to apps supplied with the device (such as Camera, Gallery or Messaging)."</p> <p>The full policies can be found here:</p> <p><a href="http://play.google.com/about/developer-content-policy.html" rel="nofollow">http://play.google.com/about/developer-content-policy.html</a></p> <p>It may still be possible to post an app that has the same name as an existing app, but if someone did that, there is at least some chance that Google's (somewhat inscrutable by design) automated detection process will flag that app for the above reason. This could lead to a letter from Google and, if the app's name were not changed, an eventual takedown.</p> <p>These policies are relatively new, and probably nobody, even Google, knows <em>exactly</em> how they are going to play out. How, for example, will Google resolve apps that are already similarly named? Will it go with the first app to use the name, or will it go with the most popular app having the name, or will it ask app owners to negotiate a settlement, or will it just allow the ambiguous names to be grandfathered in? I certainly do not know the answer, but for new apps, for sure, honest developers will avoid naming their apps in a manner that is similar to your app, and malfeasants who use the same name are likely to hear from Google.</p>
    singulars
    1. This table or related slice is empty.
    1. POAndroid App naming convention - does it really matter?
      singulars
      1. PTQuestion
    1. PTAnswer
    1. USCarl
    1. USCarl
    plurals
    1. This table or related slice is empty.
    1. This table or related slice is empty.
    1. This table or related slice is empty.
    1. This table or related slice is empty.
    1. VO
      singulars
      1. PO
      1. This table or related slice is empty.
      1. VTUndeletion
    1. This table or related slice is empty.
 

Querying!

 
Guidance
A row detail

Detail views are divided into sections. All the information in the data section comes from columns in the selected row. The other sections display data from other, related rows.

Related data can be related in a to-one or a to-many fashion. Captions of data related in a to-many fashion link to a list view showing a filtered view of the table.

Try moving around until you find a non-empty to-many entry and click on the label to get to one. You can move back to the root by clicking on the database name in the header.

SQuiL has stopped working due to an internal error.

If you are curious you may find further information in the browser console, which is accessible through the devtools (F12).

Reload