Sell the app without keeping the data from the costumer

[caiocmcad]

Hello all,

I developed a sales app to a small business and now I would like to sell it.

My problem then is that the database that I used is a Google spreadsheet from my account, so whenever someone registers a sale, I will have access to their private data.

It would be really helpfull to me if there is a way of transferring the app, including the database Google spreadsheet to the end user, but without give him/her access to the appsheet so they would not be able to copy the app and sell it to someone else.

[WillowMobileSys]

You can.  You would transfer the app from your account to their account.  NOTE: if you intend to retain the original app for yourself, then make a COPY of the app and then transfer that copy to the buyer.  You can get details on how to do this in this article:

Transfer app between user accounts 

[AleksiAlkio]

When transferring the app to customer's account, the customer have the possibility to copy or modify the app. They will then own the app.

[peterson]

NO!!! this is not possible. 
If you transfer the app you have to transfer the database and he will own the app and be able to modify the app. My recommendations are:

1. Do not transfer the app, and keep the data and do not show it to anyone and do not access it. Just leave it there, it doesn't matter to you. Don't take advantage of the information, be professional. This way you can have total access to the app and update and fix every bug it might have in the future.
2. Transfer the App and be one App editor and Admin, this way you'll be able to fix most of the bugs, just don't explain to much about appsheet and tell him not to open the app editor because it may cause a problem in the app.

I personally prefer to own the app because if I only the app editor as a owner and never login in one device I am not a user so they will not pay for me. 
PS: In this situation my client will pay for appsheet plan

[AleksiAlkio]

3. Option - If using Google Sheet, when the app is finished, copy the spreadsheet to your customer's account and ask to share it. Add that file to your drive with "Add shortcut to my Drive". Then you can reassign that spreadsheet as a data source in the editor. This means you own the app, but the customer owns the data source.

[WillowMobileSys]

@AleksiAlkio 

Can't you achieve this same thing by simply setting the Access Mode of the desired tables to "as app user"?

I'm currently working on building an app this way.  It does require a separate sheet for each "as app user" table but it seems to work quite well at creating private sheets for each user.

[AleksiAlkio]

Access mode doesn't change the data source, just the way the access is granted.. like is it coming from the spreadsheet's share permission or granted by the app creator. If you talk about the "Private table", then it's a different story. When using "Private table" functionality, even the app creator is not able to see the data. The cons is.. you as an app creator are not able to do anything for the data source. Though if the customer gives access to that file, you can modify it if needed. The other cons is.. if the app has more than one user from the customer side, it will generate another spreadsheet again and again. So.. I believe it's not a good idea in this case.

[WillowMobileSys]

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@AleksiAlkio wrote:

The other cons is.. if the app has more than one user from the customer side, it will generate another spreadsheet again and again. So.. I believe it's not a good idea in this case.

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Yes, this is the limiting factor for a business with several users who need to share data amongst each other.  The App I referred to, each user requires their own data seen by only themselves.

[ujdeep]

I am still not clear from the above discussions how can I share app with customer along with data base so that  I do not have access to data base but I own the app. Because customer may question why you would keep our data?