Distributing White Label Apps

[Eric_Chan_Tai_K]

Hi, I want to distribute some apps as White Label apps to participants in a study. I do not want participants to download the AppSheets app but be able to just download the Native White Label app. Is there any way to do this WITHOUT publishing the app in the Google Play and Android store? For example, is there some way I can create a link and that link will allow them to install the native white label app without going through the stores or downloading the AppSheets app?

[LeventK]

@Eric_Chan_Tai_Kong
When you start the white-labelling process for your app, AppSheet compiles an APK file for you to upload to the Google Play Store. You can freely distribute that APK to your students and they can install that app directly from the APK.

However, may be remind you that, to install an app directly from an APK file, you students should explicitly turn on Developer Options from the device settings first and then give permission to install unknown apps from different resources (i.e. gmail, chrome etc.) from Settings > Biometrics & Security. This last step may change between android OS builds. I refer to the latest OS build which is ver9.

[Eric_Chan_Tai_K]

Thanks Levent, your response was very helpful. Is it also possible for iOS device users to install the app using the APK file? If not, is there any other way for iOS users to install the app without having the app on the Apple store (I confirmed with Apple that I would not be able to post the app there unfortunately).

[LeventK]

@Eric_Chan_Tai_Kong
To the best of my knowledge, Apple does not allow native apps to be installed other than Apple Store because of security concerns. And I don’t know if there’s a way to install an apk file to an iOS device, my idea is NO but who knows? There might be some emulators to run Android apps within iOS but so far haven’t heard or not to my knowledge as well.

[Eric_Chan_Tai_K]

Okay, thanks again Levent. That was very helpful!

[LeventK]

You’re welcome