Question

Are there any default apps on Android? Especially in 4.2?

iOS 6 has Passbook, built-in Facebook/Twitter support, allowing for greater integration into these services.

Is there something similar on Android that can reliably be accessed across all devices running the latest Android OS version?

I know that there are Android apps that can read the Passbook file, but they’re not Google products the way Passbook is an iOS product. Similarly, I know that there are Facebook and Twitter Android apps, but they may or may not be installed and may or may not respond to an Intent that’s possibly structured differently between versions of those apps. Am I just doomed to deal with this fragmented space, building for the past and hoping it won’t break in the future?

Answer 1

Yes, all Android developers are doomed to this fate. Most Android devices come with things like GMail, Google Calendar, and so on, but Android is fully open, which means not all devices have to include these (and in fact, have gotten in trouble for including them in the past).

Here are some things to keep in mind, though (in 99.999%+ of cases):

• The Google Play store will always be installed on the device (assuming that’s where you publish your app).
• Either the browser or some form of it (Chrome, Dolphin, etc.) will be installed on the device.

And some other tips for developing for compatibility:

• I would suggest you read up on intent filters; basically, when someone makes an app like, say, Twitter, they register it for a “share” intent filter. That way, when some app (maybe yours?) requests the user to “share” something, Twitter is shown as an option to share with.
• I hate to make a bullet point entirely out of links, but you should read up on Receiving Content from Other Apps, Sending Content to Other Apps, and Sending the User to Another App. These are all key ideas in core Android that will apply to your situation.

Those aside, I have one final note: Assume nothing. Assume everything will break. Whenever you call an intent, you should be wary and catch any issues (such as ActivityNotFoundExceptions).