yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Android Apps and Games] blackdroid52@gmail.com:
Thanks for such a lovely app. I'm encountering problem with version code. As per ur instruction I have selected apk proxy instead of play store but now its coming back no update info found in most of the app that were showing varies with device earlier when play store was the source.
[Android Apps and Games] Primokorn:
Thanks [MENTION=6419498]JusticeRage[/MENTION] for the improvements.

Sort by status doesn't work on my end.

Could you force the app to use the system language? I have a foreign language for some lines.
[Android Apps and Games] JusticeRage:
[MENTION=4958579]Primokorn[/MENTION]: Can you provide additional information regarding how and when the sort by status option fails? I cannot reproduce the issue on my device.

As for the error message in... Dutch? It is copied directly from the Play Store and is not generated by ApkTrack. I'm assuming you're making queries from a place where the Play Store identifies this as your language based on your IP and I can't do much about it on my end!
[Android Apps and Games] Klicky:
Hi, May I know why do you dislike use google play to track which app has new version?
[Android Apps and Games] Primokorn:
After restarting the app the sort is almost perfect (see screenshot).

Checking all user apps (171) requires 5 min. Do you use Apkmirror API to get faster checks?

Could you detect/exclude Substratum overlays? There's no need to check them as they are managed by a separate app.

EDIT: why some apps are not checked? I used the general icon to check all apps but it didn't work everywhere as you can see in the screenshot.
[Android Apps and Games] demonoidmaster:
Some if they don't get found you can just longpress and select a source
[Android Apps and Games] Ultramanoid:
- Some people cannot install Play in their devices.

- Some people do not want to install it because of privacy concerns, or technical issues, such as battery life, etc.

- Some people use applications that are not being tracked by Play, but they are present in F-Droid, or APK Mirror, etc.

There are many reasons why this application can be very useful.
[Android Apps and Games] demonoidmaster:
Swipe stuff you don't want to have them be ignored.

---------- Post added at 06:31 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:29 PM ----------

Also the fact that some apps have even more newer versions of them but the play store does not , that and some apps just aren't in the play store
[Android Apps and Games] JusticeRage:
Hey people!

I've just been granted access to APKMirror's API, and the proxy will start using that for update checks. On the long term, this may finally allow me to provide the right APK depending on the device's architecture and API level. At the moment, only armeabi-v7 APKs are served.

In the meantime, I've just updated the proxy so let me know if anything weird is going on as this is still work in progress. Recently, a few invalid packages (with a size of 0 bytes) have been served. This is mainly caused by the fact that the server's hard drive tends to get full quite fast. Even though APKs are cleaned on a regular basis, I usually end up caching 20 Gb of files, on a VPS which has 25 Gb of total space. Things seem to be getting worse, so I'll be keeping an eye on this and may need to upgrade to a bigger machine in the future.
[Android Apps and Games] Primokorn:
Things are not working well on my device. Here are below some things I noticed the last time I used ApkTrack:

1/ Apps are not sorted by status. I have to restart the app to get it sorted properly.

2/ Why ApkTrack can't detect the version number of some apps? VPN/Sentry is available on Google Play.

3/ Wrong detection. ApkTrack says that I have to update my Gallery app for instance while it's already up to date as shown in the package installer.
[Android Apps and Games] Devang mehta:
Final Fantasy XV apk

Hey, I am huge fan of this game but not working on my Android Device
[Android Apps and Games] JusticeRage:
Hey! Thanks for your reports.

1/ This issue has been reported a few times, but I've never been able to reproduce it. A bug I sometimes encounter when I switch the sorting method is that some lines are not updated, and I need to scroll down then up to refresh them. Is that what you're encountering?

2/ As far as I can tell, the play store page for this app does not contain any version information, so there is no way ApkTrack can locate it. Even for the Play Store, it's still web scraping.

3/ Is there a chance that you're using Greenify or any other app that could put ApkTrack to sleep, make it inactive, kill it or otherwise make it unable to receive system intents? The last one could also be caused by your particular ROM or any security-related(?) root app you might have.
[Android Apps and Games] demonoidmaster:
@ #3 that's a bug, reinstall the apk update (make sure apktrack isn't killed in the background)
[Android Apps and Games] Primokorn:
1/ Nope. Scrolling down doesn't help. Today 2 apps (that seems to not be up to date) are mixed up with other apps that seems to be up to date.

2/ I have the same issue with Stitchcraft Free. That's pretty weird that the dev doesn't mention any version number... VPN/Sentry is a brand new app so I think it's normal that nothing is available on the Play Store.

3/ I use BackgroundRestrictor app but ApkTrack was allowed. I only use ApkTrack with manual checks BTW.

I have this issue with more than 15 apps.

My custom ROM is an unofficial Resurrection Remix based on Android 7.1.2_r29 with October security patches.
[Android Apps and Games] demonoidmaster:
Set to run at startup too?
[Android Apps and Games] Primokorn:
Yep.

As said above, I run manual checks so I guess ApkTrack can do all its checks when I want to.
[Android Apps and Games] Klicky:
Thank you for your explanation. : )
[Android Apps and Games] demonoidmaster:
If you have battery / ram saving apps (Power Clean, All-in-one Toolbox, Clean Master, etc) that clean out your ram and whatever make sure to whitelist it in it
[Android Apps and Games] Primokorn:
I do not use such useless apps. I let Android managing the memory.
[Android Apps and Games] demonoidmaster:
Well then i guess you either have two choices, redownload the apks of those 15 apps apktrack didn't postinstall update track properly and install the apks once again to fix it

Or delete apktracks app data and restart from fresh
[Android Apps and Games] jerryn70:
Download link not working . Iam getting 404 error
[Android Apps and Games] JusticeRage:
Hi! Sorry, I didn't see that last message before. This should be fixed. In doubt, the latest release version of the app can always be obtained from F-Droid.

I have been doing some work on ApkTrack recently, particularly on that issue where app updates can be missed by ApkTrack. Now that I have an Oreo device, it's easier for me to investigate these reports. It turns out that in the latest android versions, many restrictions were imposed on background processing. This directly interferes with what ApkTrack does and has very likely caused issues for any users using Oreo.

I have developed workarounds for now, and also added a button in the settings which will trigger a redetection manually in case ApkTrack still misses stuff. I would love it if any Oreo users could give me some feedback on the feature. The beta APK can be obtained here. Here is the changelog since the latest release:

2.1.3:
------
* Features
- A button was added in the settings to redetect installed apps and their
version. This should solve issues for situations where Apktrack is
unable to start at boot time and/or receive intents, or otherwise made
to hibernate.
* Translations
- Malaysian translation contributed by antuketot76. Thanks!
* Update source
- Added the official Signal website as an update source for the
application of the same name (contributed by Keith Z-G - thanks!).
* Bugfix
- Oreo's new application icons are now rendered properly.
- Detection of updated apps should now work way better on Oreo.
- Fixed a crash on 4.4.2 devices caused by posting a notification with an
SVG icon.

If no one experiences bugs, I will make a new release shortly.
[Android Apps and Games] demonoidmaster:
[MENTION=6419498]JusticeRage[/MENTION]

So like for a while now I've noticed any apps that are updated still say they aren't if they're beta versions (example VLC 2.5.8)

Says 2.5.8 is installed version and next to it is written "(Current: 2.5.8 beta)"

Dunno why it does that but just letting you know
[Android Apps and Games] JusticeRage:
Thanks for reporting this. I have been thinking about this for a while actually. I may filter out any version containing "beta" from results coming from the ApkTrack Proxy in the future to prevent this.
[Android Apps and Games] mathorv:
New release works as it should. Thank you for development and fixes.

About the beta. Many app does not have beta word in version, so 1.2.77 beta is not equal 1.2.77. Yet is often the same - CCleaner is example.

Beta or stable from apktrack proxy could be Channel choice if you ask me.

Have you looked at yalp store, these two apps are supplementary and may some day be merged or incorporated.
[Android Apps and Games] Ultramanoid:
Looks like the changes made recently in the Play Store blocking 'uncertified' devices have broken the functionality of ApkTrack. It still works when fetching version information from other sources, like F-Droid.

Google and all its services are really a PITA, honestly.
[Android Apps and Games] demonoidmaster:
atleast theres ways to spoof your device so it shows as certified by using magisk and a module
[Android Apps and Games] markdave247:
Does it only check updates of apps downloaded directly from Google Play? What if I have an app which I downloaded from other app store?
[Android Apps and Games] demonoidmaster:
It doesn't matter where you got it from, if the app is on the play store it'll find it's version, if not it'll check with apkproxy
[Android Apps and Games] demonoidmaster:
Guess it's affecting me too now, sad..

**** google
[Android Apps and Games] Ultramanoid:
Indeed. I haven't been able to certify any of my devices in any way. Google actually registers them as certified, but the Play Store simply refuses to download anything in the device itself.

I only used the Play Store on a sandboxed isolated default system, copied the apks and moved them to my actual working setup, which is completely adware-analytics-datamining-and-Google-free.

I guess they don't want me to buy any more applications from Google, since there is no way for me anymore to update them. Well then, good riddance, will only pay developers directly from now on.

I doubt ApkTrack or similar applications will be of much use at this point. Pity.
[Android Apps and Games] demonoidmaster:
I have a Nexus 7 2013, i can use the play store and everything no problem, my device should be certified yet Substratum says otherwise (Rootless: Uncertified)

Apktrack can't find updates all of a sudden, but i have no issues with the play store
[Android Apps and Games] JusticeRage:
Hi everyone! I'm sorry to hear that people are having issues with the Play Store.

I never use it myself since it's not present on my ROM, and as I mostly use the Proxy / F-Droid update sources in ApkTrack I hadn't noticed the issues.

I'll look into this issue sometime this week. Until then, switching the update source to the ApkTrack Proxy should allow users to directly download at least some APKs without having to go through the Play Store. I hope it helps at least a bit.
[Android Apps and Games] demonoidmaster:
I'd use apktrack proxy as default search on each app but sadly sometimes some apps i either gotta long press and use play store if it doesn't find anything with apktrack proxy option or i use play store because some apps show a newer version than if apktrack proxy is used
[Android Apps and Games] Livingod:
My biggest problem with this app is that it compares version numbers alphabetically, not numerically.

E.g. this means that according to the app, '10.10' is less that '10.9' because 1 is less that 9. Also, if there is a discrepancy between the official version number and how APKtrack lists it (like the word 'beta') then the app thinks it's a different version.

I understand that the 'version number' is not always a number; e.g. Substratum uses words, and a lot of apps include letters. But I think a possible solution would be to compare revision numbers instead. Those can be compared numerically.

Attached are screenshots of the two problems. All except Yelp claim that there is an update, when it's just the same version number written differently. Meanwhile Yelp actually has an update, but APKtrack thinks it's a lower version number.

EDIT: Would also love a dark/black theme. Thanks!
[Android Apps and Games] demonoidmaster:
Edit nvm

But you have 10.9 installed which is fine, but it says 10.10 beta was found, but even if theres no download option check apkmirror to see if yelp got updated, updates you can download from apkproxy aren't always available so best bet is patience and wait till it does
[Android Apps and Games] JusticeRage:
Thank you for your feedback. You can find out more about how ApkTrack compares version numbers on this GitHub issue. The short story is that comparing "A.B.C" and "X.Y.Z-beta" is not trivial.

I will do my best to exclude beta versions from what is reported by the proxy in the future.
[Android Apps and Games] Livingod:
How about comparing revision numbers instead? That is standard for all APKs, and it is what PackageInstaller compares when determining which APK is newer--and thus whether or not the installation is a downgrade.

E.g. Microsoft Excel https://www.apkmirror.com/apk/micro...xcel-16-0-10228-20049-3-android-apk-download/

Version: 16.0.10228.20049 (2001496883)

"16.0.10228.20049" is the version number you currently compare--which can be a pain in the ass.

"2001496883" is the revision number, which is always a single integer that must increase with each version.
[Android Apps and Games] JusticeRage:
[EDIT: rephrased]

The problem with revision numbers is that beyond ApkMirror, no website displays them. Switching that logic would mean that most update sources would disappear, which is probably a bad idea.
[Android Apps and Games] Psyscope:
APK mirror probably one of the best sources tbh. You can always go with revision numbers, but give people an option in settings to add more sources.
[Android Apps and Games] JusticeRage:
Adding more sources can be done by way of GitHub pull requests.

I don't think it would be a good idea at all to expect people to enter sources through the settings, as regular expressions would need to be typed in.

Aside from that, ApkTrack currently has compatibility issues with Android Pie, which I'm looking into. The app works, but is unable to connect to the proxy due to a certificate problem.
[Android Apps and Games] Psyscope:
Nvm
[Android Apps and Games] Chamelleon:
Everytime I hit this search button or refreshing app list app FC-ing.
[Android Apps and Games] PunchUp:
Would be helpful if you upload a crash log
[Android Apps and Games] Chamelleon:
Log made with https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.nolanlawson.logcat
[Android Apps and Games] Chamelleon:
It's not so important cause I'm almost sure to change phone in a few days but just wanna report if on other devices same bug appears.
[Android Apps and Games] TWEAKiMP:
Really useful. Will you ever add the function to update the apps?
[Android Apps and Games] famewolf:
Try reading back about 8 to 10 posts.
[Android Apps and Games] okangnyy:
Teşekkür ederim

SM-N9005 cihazımdan Tapatalk kullanılarak gönderildi
[Android Apps and Games] JusticeRage:
The application has been updated!

Many thanks to the users who submitted an icon for the application and a French translation! Thanks to Chamelleon as well for the bug report. I believe it should be fixed.

I have implemented support for Xposed modules. Right now, only stable versions are taken into account... All my apologies to beta users. More on this problem further down.

I'm not sure I'll post ApkTrack to the Play Store... It would defeat the point, wouldn't it? Maybe I'm wrong about this, since I don't use the Play Store. Let me know how this can be useful!

This is something that can be implemented in future releases, yeah. I added an issue on GitHub about this, because there is some groundwork to do first before this and other ideas can happen.

ApkTrack is a bit dumb in the sense that it checks for versions mismatches, not version increases. If web sources say the latest version is "1.0" and you have "2.0", it will notify you that the application can be updated.

Detecting version number increases generically is actually a difficult problem because of the diversity. For instance, look at Google Music's version string: 5.8.1810R.1720607. It's a mix of numbers, letters, and points.

I will run tests to see if an alphabetical comparison (5.8.1810R.1720607 < 5.8.1810R.17208XX) is reliable in this context. Ideally, the user would be able to specify a webpage where the latest version of the beta channel is displayed.

Based on all your feedback, I have planned the following modifications to the application:

Lower the minimum API level, so older Android versions can run the application.

Perform an on-demand web search for updated APKs. The user would be able to specify his favourite search engine, so a "Preferences" screen has to be written.

Hide applications for which no update source was found (the "Not a Play Store application" message).

Allow users to specify which web page should be scraped during the version check. That's a big one, code-wise but I really want this to happen.

Again, thank you so much to everyone for your interest!
[Android Apps and Games] Chamelleon:
Nice. :)
[Android Apps and Games] exodius48:
How to translate? I want to translate this app to Indonesian.
[Android Apps and Games] JusticeRage:
Fork the repository on GitHub.

Create the res/values-in folder ("in" for Indonesia)

Copy res/values/strings.xml to res/values-in

Edit the contents of res/values-in/strings.xml, replacing the English text with your translation.

Commit your changes on github and send me a pull request!

Alternately, you can download the file to edit here and sent it to me directly, if you don't use GitHub.
[Android Apps and Games] famewolf:
Well one use case scenario is users using Racoon [Thanks to the user to mentioned this earlier in the thread] (google play desktop client, java based) where it downloads apk's directly to the pc for sideloading...this allows adb sideloading to multiple devices etc....it would be nice to have apktrack notify of updates to itself which placing in the store would allow...another option is to include apktrack updates yourself. f-droid.org might also be a better location to consider.

As is the user can get app updates for everything except the app doing the check for app updates. ;)
[Android Apps and Games] PunchUp:
I think that's quite redundant. If you use F-Droid updating this app shouldn't be a problem
[Android Apps and Games] exodius48:
Indonesian translation done. :highfive:
[Android Apps and Games] Chamelleon:
So quick polish translation from me. Hope I didn't messed up anything cause I'm still not able to use all functions on my phone.
[Android Apps and Games] gregferns:
Yes, same happens to me also... But i figured it out...

Its working on my HTC ONE E8, rooted but stock...

It shows me the updates but pressing the circle etc will not get you anywhere as the app is designed to show you that there is A NEW VERSION OF THE APP, but you have to manually go to the play store and get it updated.... Again another issue here is THERE MAY BE AN UPDATE TO THE APP BUT IT MAY NOT BE IN YOUR REGION... Like for me it showed Google Now update but in playstore my app is showing only my version which i have installed,,,, there is no update.... But i know Google Now is having latest version for some other countries,,,,....

greg
[Android Apps and Games] famewolf:
You can use Raccoon (Google Play Desktop Client written in java) to download apk's from any region.....so you could download and sideload newer version if you wanted. http://www.onyxbits.de/raccoon
[Android Apps and Games] DangeloGH:
pt-br translate

ty.
[Android Apps and Games] JusticeRage:
Hi everyone!

My apologies for not giving any news during the last few days. I've been doing some work on ApkTrack, mainly refactoring. I had never expected the application to generate any interest, so I had posted it "as is". Seeing all the feature requests though, it became clear to me that I had to clean up the code base. As I said in the first post, I am not an Android developer by trade, so I did some reading (CommonsWare's Busy Coder's Guide to Android Development in particular) to become more familiar with this platform's specifics.

All I can say right now is that work is underway to replace all the hackish anti-patterns and code duplication, so I can improve the application in a much more maintainable fashion in the future.

Thank you to all those who submitted translations ([MENTION=2581648]Chamelleon[/MENTION], [MENTION=3530398]DangeloGH[/MENTION]). I have merged them into my local repository, and they will be available with the next update, hopefully sometime next week!
[Android Apps and Games] SWADED:
thanks
[Android Apps and Games] Psyscope:
Also notice in this screenshot only one of the apps needs updating. The rest are beta's. Also click on Amazon link takes me apkmirror but no app page shows up.
[Android Apps and Games] blackdroid52@gmail.com:
Is development still alive ?? Not working on pie device Samsung A50. Must have app for me.
[Android Apps and Games] Psyscope:
Check out APK Grabber
[Android Apps and Games] demonoidmaster:
I'm currently using ApkUpdater since Apktrack is broken on Android 9, works similarly but also has the option to filter out beta / alpha versions, can check for updates from multiple sources
[Android Apps and Games] Psyscope:
ApkGrabber is the replacement for APKUpdater
[Android Apps and Games] demonoidmaster:
Ah ok
[Android Apps and Games] Zeuszoos:
FYI, I just installed it today (Oct 5, 2020) and it just keeps saying; "Connectivity Error". I believe it's limited to Google Play Store checks.

Thanks
[Android Apps and Games] JusticeRage:
I have posted a new version of ApkTrack, (1.0a). It doesn't add any new features, and does exactly the same as before... which is good, because there have been a lot of changes in the code. Also, the Android version requirement has been lowered to 4.2 (API level 17).

This version lacks testing and it is very possible that you'll encounter bugs : just because it works on my device with my set of installed applications doesn't mean that it will work for yours. Please upgrade if you want to help me test ApkTrack, and post stacktraces should anything unfortunate happen.

On a side note, I have noticed some slight changes when scraping AppBrain. Requests performed with my Nexus 4's user-agent get redirected to a JS check, probably to prevent automated scraping. I have implemented a way around that in this new version, but I hope AppBrain isn't actively trying to prevent what I'm doing.

Finally, I am now tracking my ApkTrack releases more seriously. Deploying APKs was easy at first, but it turned out to be difficult after a while to figure out which commit corresponded to which release, and this made bug tracking difficult. Git tags should solve this problem from now on.

And in the near future, ApkTrack will be able to version-track itself!
[Android Apps and Games] PunchUp:
You're doing great. Keep up the good work