Apps purchased from iTunes

[Weej]

Hi everyone,

I'm new to Android and the Adam will be my first Android device. I'm aware that many apps have versions for both Android and Apple devices. I have an iPhone and was wondering if there is a way of not paying twice for the same app if want it on both devices, since I have a few paid apps on the iPhone that I'll want to also download on the Adam. After all, if you have multiple Apple devices you can share your purchases across those, so why not across platforms?

Has anyone come across this situation?

Thanks

[rwniel]

Weej,

It's a similar situation to migrating from say the Windows platform to the Mac OSX OS. Such 'sidegrades' are generally considered to be separate platforms (with their own separate development) so they would need to be paid for again. It would otherwise be up to individual developers to perhaps offer preferential deals as sometimes occurs in the PC-Mac world. But I am not aware of any that apply to iOS-Android, mostly because of the generally low cost of individual apps. So the complexity and logistics of trying to figure out if a device was a genuine migration or a new user would probably not make it worthwhile. It certainly wouldn't do any harm to ask a specific developer if you have a favourite app, they can only say no after all.

The analogy of using the same Ios app on multiple devices is not really comparable because the 'sharing' is done through the same iTunes account. So applications can be synced in that way with relative ease. Likewise in Android apps are shared through the same Gmail account so can be synced within the same platform. But not across platforms as there is no absolute connection between the two.

There are a few instances where you won't need to pay again though - for example Angry Birds is a paid for app on iOS but the full ad supported version is free on Android. We might see more apps go the ad supported route, since the Angry Birds example does show it can be extremely profitable.

Robert

[Weej]

Thanks Robert.

Not sure how it would work if any developers do agree to free or discounted 'sidegrades'. Guess I'll probably have to pay again for those I really want, or try and find free alternatives.

[ownad]

Hi, Weej! Robert's explanation is good and thorough. It would be up to developers if they wish to allow downloading the Android version of an iOS app to Adam. As stated, since the platforms are different, there are additional development costs involved for developers to create an Android version, and for that reason, it is likely you might have to purchase the same app again on Android.

[Weej]

Yeah that makes sense. Thanks for your response.