XPost: comp.mobile.android, alt.comp.os.windows-10   
   From: mariasophia@comprehension.com   
      
   Siard wrote:   
   > Maria Sophia wrote:   
   >> It slipped my mind that people PAY for apps (but I'm sure that they do!).   
   >> So I apologize openly and publicly and profusely for that PSA omission!   
   >   
   > Why, no need to worry. My words were not meant as criticism. I was just   
   > wondering if there is a way to get a paid app without a Google account.   
   >   
   > I have one app where this is possible: the CalenGoo calendar app.   
   > See 'Alternative Store' in this page:   
   > https://android.calengoo.com/pagestore/styled/pagebuy.html   
   >   
   > However, I now understand that the general answer is 'no'.   
      
   You are correct.   
    i. You can only get FREE apps using the PC version of Aurora store.   
    ii. But some apps (like CalenGoo) have official download sites   
    iii. Which you can access from the PC & then install from the PC   
      
   I again apologize for forgetting the payware aspect, as I wrote this PSA   
   hastily given I had somewhere to be and this started from a DIFFERENT   
   thread on Android where Vanguard and I were trying to help Qihe find an   
   alternative app for usb-otg scanners & printers that used to show up for   
   him but no longer does so I was offering the Aurora spoofing capability.   
      
   In that research to assist Qihe in alternative ways to make apps visible, I   
   ran into the PC version of the Aurora Google Play Store replacement client.   
      
   And so I hastily wrote up the PSA off the cuff, focusing on the PC-related   
   aspects of the Aurora ability to access the Google Play repository w/o the   
   user needing to create a Google Account.   
      
   Looking up CalenGoo's pagebuy.html, it seems to be the developer's direct   
   purchase page helpfully provided to users as an alternative purchase page   
   to Google Play for people who do not want to use a Google account.   
      
   Keeping in technical bounds of the way Android licensing work but focusing   
   on how it works within the PC environment, apparently that pageby page...   
    1. Lets you buy the app directly from the developer from any platform   
    2. Provides a download link for the APK after purchase on that platform   
    3. Then you copy it from Windows to the Android system to install it   
    4. It uses the developer's own licensing system   
      
   This is a BETTER way to play because instead of 30% (or 15% for small   
   developers) going to Google, the entire payment goes to the developer.   
      
   Important: The CalenGoo developer's direct-purchase version does not use   
   Google Play Billing. If it did, you would not be able to download or   
   install it from a PC without a Google account or the Google Play Store.   
      
   Most paid apps do not do this. Most developers rely on Google Play   
   Licensing (LVL) or Google Play Billing, which requires:   
    a. Google Play Store installed (which requires an account on the phone)   
    b. Google Play Services active (which is hard to avoid non-rooted)   
    c. A signed-in Google account (which destroys privacy in an instant)   
      
   Because of that, the general rule is that you cannot get most paid apps   
   without a Google account. You can only do it when the developer provides   
   an alternative purchase channel, like CalenGoo does, or like a few other   
   apps such as Tasker, OsmAnd, or Skyica.   
      
   In summary,   
    A. Free apps: Aurora Store PC can download them directly from Google.   
    B. Paid apps: Aurora cannot download them from the PC   
    C: In your case, you get it from the developer from the PC   
   --   
   Just one person paying it forward by helping others who later help me.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)