Acknowledged
CIQQA-3722

Installing beta apps is almost impossible now

Now that you cannot install apps from the Web site, it is almost impossible to install beta apps. 

There is no developer dashboard in the IQ app, and beta apps do not show up when you select all your own apps. 

As a result, it's always been hard to install beta apps using the IQ app. The way I found to do this was to get the app URL from the Web site, and then open it on my phone. This would open the app in the IQ store to allow installation. But now apps.garmin.com has effectively gone, this route is even harder.

You now access beta apps from the new developer dashboard at apps-developer.garmin.com, but opening a link to an app using this site does not open the app in the IQ app as the IQ app manifest only includes the domains apps.garmin.com apps-test.garmin.com apps.garmin.cn  Therefore, you have to use the old apps.garmin.com URL which is the same as the apps-developer.garmin.com with the alternate domain. Note, that when you do this, there is no marker to indicate it's a beta app.

The best solution here is to have some kind of developer dashboard in the IQ app. Next best would be to have your beta apps show up when you select all apps for yourself. And lastly, apps-developer.garmin.com should be added to the IQ app manifest assetlinks.json so the store can open these new links.

Unless there is a better way I don't know of!

Hope this helps people in the short term. 

gasteropod
Parents
  • in reply to flowstate

    While the old URL still works, yes, you can avoid the jiggery pokery of having to edit the URL, but this does not workaround the issue of it being really hard to get to a beta app in the IQ store in order to install it which is the main issue which needs addressing. And given we have been encouraged to move to the new dashboard as the new destination, I would expect the old to go eventually, so a re-direct by Garmin is unlikely to be anything other than a temporary workaround.

    > Another lame workaround would be to edit apps-developer.garmin.com app URLs by hand (replace apps-developer.garmin.com with apps.garmin.com).

    This is what I suggested, although not spelled out so clearly.

    >  I think having this alternate home page redirect to the old dashboard would be a great compromise that would solve this problem

    No, this does not solve the main issue of the difficulty of installing beta apps from the IQ store. Depending on your phone setup, the web URL does not always and sometimes never redirects you to the IQ store. For these users even the workaround does not work.Some people have to email the link to themselves for it it to work as somehow pasting in the browser does not, and some people may not even have the option configured for this to work. This is a kludgy workaround at best which does not work for everyone and is not a solution in any way.

    [edit] Maybe you miss the fact that even the old dashboard has been modified so you cannot use it to install apps including beta apps?

Comment
  • in reply to flowstate

    While the old URL still works, yes, you can avoid the jiggery pokery of having to edit the URL, but this does not workaround the issue of it being really hard to get to a beta app in the IQ store in order to install it which is the main issue which needs addressing. And given we have been encouraged to move to the new dashboard as the new destination, I would expect the old to go eventually, so a re-direct by Garmin is unlikely to be anything other than a temporary workaround.

    > Another lame workaround would be to edit apps-developer.garmin.com app URLs by hand (replace apps-developer.garmin.com with apps.garmin.com).

    This is what I suggested, although not spelled out so clearly.

    >  I think having this alternate home page redirect to the old dashboard would be a great compromise that would solve this problem

    No, this does not solve the main issue of the difficulty of installing beta apps from the IQ store. Depending on your phone setup, the web URL does not always and sometimes never redirects you to the IQ store. For these users even the workaround does not work.Some people have to email the link to themselves for it it to work as somehow pasting in the browser does not, and some people may not even have the option configured for this to work. This is a kludgy workaround at best which does not work for everyone and is not a solution in any way.

    [edit] Maybe you miss the fact that even the old dashboard has been modified so you cannot use it to install apps including beta apps?

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