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All to often I encounter apps that the Google Play Store claims are incompatible with one or multiple of my devices, but isn't very helpful as of "why". How can I figure this out?

While this question goes into this direction, it doesn't answer my question (unless it is somehow possible to legally obtain an apps androidmanifest.xml file, but even then it is not exactly simple to deduce the problem).

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  • From what I can see the Play Store seems to ONLY allow devices specified by the dev. Rather than blacklisting devices that aren't compatible it seems to only allow ones they specifiy as being compatible. Eg Plants Vs Zombies 2 won't install on a GT-I9505G but fine on the non Google Play edition (GT-I9505), despite the same hardware etc. It is sometimes down to the screen type (e.g. tablet only), sometimes down to specific devices/models/manufacturers and other times only certain versions of Android can install the app etc. There are apps that allow you to change these factors if rooted.
    – RossC
    Jan 15, 2015 at 11:25
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    @RossC Even worse, some apps have nonsensical regional locks depending on your SIM-Operator or GPS-location etc. My phone is rooted, but I'm not eager to risk Google's wraith by attempting to circumvent their check, even though I consider it annoying...
    – Tobias Kienzler
    Jan 15, 2015 at 11:28
  • I've been using market enabler, changing dpi etc to get apps (hotspot too) for several years with no issue. However, I do this only for free apps, and I wouldn't do it if there seemed to be any legal issue around it. Generally it's down to some silly restriction that doesn't actually make sense (an old example was Surgeon Simulator needing a tablet to play, nonsense).
    – RossC
    Jan 15, 2015 at 11:30
  • @RossC That depends on your finger-thickness though, mine are rather clumsy :D Hm, it's worth considering, though figuring out the "wrong" restriction in order to encourage the developer to alleviate it would probably be better... Anyway, thanks for your input; please feel free to propose market enabler as answer, I'd accept that for now
    – Tobias Kienzler
    Jan 15, 2015 at 11:37
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    Why are some apps on the market incompatible with my device? The short answer is that there's no way to know just from the Play Store listing, you'd have to contact the developer or extract the manifest from a copy of the .apk.
    – eldarerathis
    Jan 15, 2015 at 15:11

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