/documentation/android_access/market.html
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1<!-- Copyright 2010 Google Inc. 2 Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); 3 you may not use this file except in compliance with the License. 4 You may obtain a copy of the License at 5 6 http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0 7 8 Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software 9 distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, 10 WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. 11 See the License for the specific language governing permissions and 12 limitations under the License. --> 13 14<html> 15<head> 16<title>The Android Market - Android Accessibility</title> 17<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="style.css"> 18</head> 19 20<body> 21<div id="main_body"> 22 23<h1>The Android Market</h1> 24 25<div class="nav"> 26<div class="nav_back"><a href="services.html">Prev: Accessibility 27Services</a></div> 28<div class="nav_up"><a href="index.html">Up: Android Accessibility</a></div> 29<div class="nav_next"><a href="customizing.html">Next: Customizing 30Your Experience</a></div> 31</div> 32 33<p>The Android Market is a preinstalled app which gives you access to a 34collection of more than 70,000 free and paid apps. On Android, software 35installation is almost always done using the phone directly, rather than via a 36computer. The Market is the easiest way to install apps, but there are other 37options. See the bottom of this page for information on non-Market apps.</p> 38<p>While there are of parts of the Android Market that are not yet 39completely accessible, it is completely usable once you learn how it works. 40</p> 41 42<h2>Walkthrough</h2> 43 44<p>To begin, open the app called Market via the application launcher.</p> 45 46<h2>Initial access - terms of service</h2> 47 48<p>The first time the Market opens, the initial screen is a terms of service 49agreement that you must agree to. You will hear "Android Market Terms of 50Service". The screen contains a long terms of service agreement that is in an 51inaccessible web view. To agree to the terms, press Down until you reach the 52bottom of the agreement, where you will find Accept and Reject buttons. Find 53Accept and click.</p> 54 55<div class="note">If you would like to read the Android market terms of 56service so you know what you're agreeing to on your phone, you can find them 57here: <a href="http://www.google.com/mobile/android/market-tos.html">Android 58Market Terms of Service</a>.</div> 59 60<h3>Finding apps</h3> 61 62<p>When you open the Market, you'll be on a browse screen with one or more 63categories across the top, like <strong>Games</strong>, and a vertical list of 64apps below. You can navigate around this screen to find highly rated apps in the 65provided categories.</p> 66 67<p>To search for a particular app, select Search from the menu or press the 68Search key on your phone. Type the name of an app or a keyword in the search 69field. Be sure to type complete words, not just the first few letters of a word. 70Press Enter to begin your search.</p> 71<p>After your search, press Down to explore the results. Click a result to 72learn additional details reagrding the app. Clicking from this screen will not 73start the download.</p> 74<p>If doing a search appears to take you to a blank page, that just means 75there were no search results. Go back and try a different search term.</p> 76<p>After clicking on a result, you'll be on the Details page for a 77particular app. There are two tabs across the top of this screen, About and 78Comments. The Comments tab lets you read what other users say about this 79particular app. In the About tab, you'll find more information about the app, 80and at the bottom, an Install button. Click the Install button to continue.</p> 81 82<h3>Installing apps</h3> 83<p>From the details page of an app, click the Install button as described 84above.</p> 85<div class="note">Important note: on some apps, you might not be able to 86reach the Install button by pressing Down, due to a bug. There are two 87workarounds: 88<ol> 89 <li>Press the touch screen - the Install button is always at the bottom 90 of the screen. It's in the bottom-center if you're installing an app for the 91 first time, and at the bottom-left if you're installing an update. With 92 practice you can easily press in the required location.</li> 93 <li>When you first open the page, press Alt+Down. This skips past the 94 part of the page where the cursor gets stuck.</li> 95</ol> 96</div> 97<p>Clicking the install button will take you to a confirmation screen. It 98shows you what features of your phone this app will be able to access. Press the 99OK button at the bottom of this screen to begin the download and automatic 100install.</p> 101<p>Apps you download are installed automatically in the background while you 102continue to use your phone. When you hear TalkBack announce that it has returned 103to the search results page, you know your app is downloading. You will get a 104notification when the app is installed. After you hear the notification, you can 105go to the Notifications screen (in the Home screen menu, or by swiping down from 106the top of the screen) and click on the message that tells you the application 107installed to open the app.</p> 108 109<h3>Updating and uninstalling apps</h3> 110<p>Select "Downloads" from the Market menu. This will take you to a list of 111installed apps. Apps that have updates available will appear at the top of the 112list.</p> 113<p>Select an app. A button at the bottom right of the screen will allow you 114to uninstall the app.</p> 115<p>If the app has updates available, the button on the buttom left will 116allow you to update. Otherwise, it will open the app.</p> 117 118<h2>Paid apps</h2> 119 120<p>The Market supports Google Checkout for paid apps. If you wish to 121purchase apps with a credit card, you should first set up Google Checkout from 122your desktop computer by visiting 123<a href="http://google.com/checkout">http://google.com/checkout</a>. 124Alternatively, some mobile phone carriers will let you purchase apps and charge 125them to your monthly phone bill. This service may not be available on all 126carriers or in all regions.</p> 127<p>The process for purchasing a paid app is almost exactly the same as a 128free app. On the details screen, instead of Install, you'll see a link that says 129Buy. Clicking Buy will take you to the Purchase Application page. There's a 130control where you can select the payment method, and then a button at the bottom 131that says <strong>Buy Now</strong> along with a confirmation of the final 132purchase price.</p> 133<p>Android Market apps can be returned for a full refund within 24 hours. 134Uninstall the app as described above to get a refund.</p> 135 136<h2>Installing apps from sources other than the Market</h2> 137 138<p>The Android Market is a great way to find apps and quickly install them. 139While the Market is open to just about anyone to publish any app, it is managed 140by Google and does not allow malicious or dangerous apps. However, you are not 141limited to using the Market to download apps and there are often good reasons to 142install apps from a source other than the Market. For example, sometimes 143developers post new or experimental versions of their software on their websites 144before they release them on the Market. <strong>Spiel</strong>, one of the 145accessibility services available for Android, is not currently available on the 146Market.</p> 147<p>To install a non-Market app, you will need to enable installing 148non-Market apps in the Settings. Open Settings, select the Applications item, 149and check the checkbox titled "Unknown sources".</p> 150<p>After you enabling unknown sources, visit the URL of the app you wish to 151download. If you know the exact url, you can type it into the search box on the 152home screen or directly into the address bar of the Browser. Even though the 153Browser is not accessible, you can use it to access direct URLs.</p> 154<p>An Android app is a file ending in the extension APK. After your APK file 155has finished downloading, you will get a notification. Click on the notification 156and you'll be prompted to install the app, just like a Market app.</p> 157<p>The Android Market will automatically notify you about Market apps that 158need to be updated, but apps you install from a different source will need to be 159updated to new versions manually.</p> 160 161<div class="nav"> 162<div class="nav_back"><a href="services.html">Prev: Accessibility 163Services</a></div> 164<div class="nav_up"><a href="index.html">Up: Android Accessibility</a></div> 165<div class="nav_next"><a href="customizing.html">Next: Customizing 166Your Experience</a></div> 167</div> 168 169</div> 170</body> 171</html>