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I have been thinking a lot about this, and came to a point that since the silent install requires the user to give his google id, it might fix a notification against that google id, to let the device associated with that id know that an application installation has to be done, and it has to start download of a particular app from the market. So that, when the device syncs the google id, it knows that it has to do some installation.

Since the device keeps polling the server for sync quite frequently, thus it knows about the installation almost instantly. In other words, the delays are negligible.

On the other note, I also thought that C2DM might have been used to do this, but since my personal device uses 2.1 and C2DM is available to devices having 2.2+, the possibility of use of C2DM is quite less.

Can anyone explain how it is being done? Am I correct with my thoughts?

Update

I disabled Syncs in my phone and tried to install using Silent Install, and nothing happened. this way, I am coming closer to realise that my first opinion is correct.

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  • @Aman this may be a Wiki question as it requires discussion
    – Paresh Mayani
    Feb 17, 2011 at 9:25
  • Oops.. I tried doing so by editing the question, but it didn't happen.
    – Aman Alam
    Feb 17, 2011 at 10:07
  • I'm not so sure this should have been migrated. What is it exactly you're after?
    – ale
    Feb 17, 2011 at 15:18
  • I really dont think it falls under programming, since he just asked "how" it works, not how to do it.
    – Ryan Conrad
    Feb 17, 2011 at 15:47

2 Answers 2

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On the other note, I also thought that C2DM might have been used to do this, but since my personal device uses 2.1 and C2DM is available to devices having 2.2+, the possibility of use of C2DM is quite less.

It is actually quite plausible for 2.1 Market to use C2DM. GTalk, Gmail, and many other Google apps have always used C2DM internally (even before it's named C2DM). In 2.1, C2DM exist as GTalk Service. In 2.2, Google opened the C2DM API for external developers since they realized that 1) most app developers does not have the resources to create a reliable Push notification service, 2) a unified Push service would save battery, 3) Reliable instant Push service is a good selling point for Android.

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  • That's correct -- the new market uses GTalk to push new apps to your phone; if you are signed off from GTalk, your app install won't start until you do. This has been recommended as a troubleshoot measure when the Web market first appeared, the push install didn't work.
    – Martin Tapankov
    Feb 18, 2011 at 13:52
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I would think that the market has its "own" push notifications implemented. When i installed a couple apps from the page, they installed almost immediately. This isn't the phone asking if there are installs pending, this is the market site pushing the info directly to the device.

If you disable sync, it will stop push notifications too.

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    That's because C2DM actually exists in 2.1 (and previous versions) under the guise of GTalk Service.
    – Lie Ryan
    Feb 17, 2011 at 16:18

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