Orphaned Apps

[lexluthor]

If there any way to know when an application that you have installed becomes orphaned?

What I mean is that the app no longer is in the market.

For example, I had a Fox News app on my phone and it had been working fine. Someone else downloaded a Fox News app much more recently and when I saw it, it was a totally different app.

Fox must have orphaned the original app and reissued it under a different app store name.

I would have never known that I was using an app that was no longer supported.

Same thing could happen with the new Go Launcher and Go Launcher EX. They took Go Launcher out of the market and replaced it with Go Launcher EX. If I didn't follow their threads here, I'd just go on using the Go Launcher, not knowing it was no longer supported.

I guess what I'd like to see is something that would look at the apps on my phone and let me know if they were are still in the market.

Even better, there should be something built into the google market app to let you know the app is no longer in the market.

I'm surprised this doesn't come up more.

 

[lexluthor]

Anyone? No one has had something similar happen?

 

[UncleMike]

I'm sure this has happened to other people, but by the nature of the problem, most of the "victims" probably don't know it has happened. Another example of this problem is Car Dock V2. The upgrade path is Car Dock Home V3 - a different app according to the Market. My guess is that many users of Car Dock V2 have no idea that an "upgrade" is even available.

A far worse problem though is when a user factory resets their phone, only to find that an app they were previously using is no longer available for download.

I don't see how a third party app could address this, as the only thing it could really detect without additional information from each developer, is the fact that an app you have installed is no longer available in the Market. As long as the app is available in the Market, there's no way to tell if it has been "orphaned" or if there is an update forthcoming, or if the "update" is actually a different app in the Market.

 

[lexluthor]

I don't see how a third party app could address this, as the only thing it could really detect without additional information from each developer, is the fact that an app you have installed is no longer available in the Market. As long as the app is available in the Market, there's no way to tell if it has been "orphaned" or if there is an update forthcoming, or if the "update" is actually a different app in the Market.

Well, yes, if the dev stops development (i.e. bTunes), there's no way an app could know that.

But I think an app like appbrain could easily cross reference the apps installed with the market link and let you know if it's no longer in the market.

I think that would be valuable information.

It's not that uncommon to have an app that's been replaced with another app in the market, but with a different market link, for whatever reason. Your original app would not be getting updates anymore and you'd never know it.