Google Fixes Android Wear Bug Preventing Paid Apps From Being Installed on Wearables

Google has posted an update on its Android Developer blog to help developers ensure their paid apps work on Android Wear-powered smartwatches.

Since developers are still becoming more familiar with wearables, standalone Wear apps aren’t available yet – and because Wear app installation is “very codependent” – paid apps feature App Encryption. Downloaded paid apps are given device-specific keys, so they become more difficult for hackers to break through; however, the encryption keys reportedly didn’t reach the watch.

The entire situation was rather confusing, because malfunctioning paid apps likely shouldn’t have taken place at all – but there are only a small number of paid Wear apps right now, so only impacted a small number.

Before Google scrambled to release a fix, the only way to install to smartwatches was to not charge for paid apps, so the encryption security from the Play Store doesn’t interfere.

The smartwatch market is expected to boom over the next few years, with Google prepared to use its popular Android OS to try to capture immediate dominance.  However, developer support will need to expand rapidly to meet potential interest from third-party app creators trying to cash in.

Thank you to Android Police for providing us with this information

Image courtesy of The Next Web