[ROOT] Aurora Store Install Methods

[marcdw]

We all (should) know by now that paid programs that do license checking won’t work without the Play Store being present to handle the checks. And of course In-App purchases are a no go.

There’s another minor issue that may crop up. I’ve mentioned in the past that there are some apps, mostly icon packs and themes (paid or free) that won’t run because they detect that they were installed via some means other than the Play Store.
Icon packs for instance (the dashboard actually) will throw up a ‘Thou Shalt Not Pass’ dialog saying the app was not installed from the Play Store and implying piracy. I once installed a free Substratum theme that failed to work with a license check failure. Contacted the dev and he said that was an anti-piracy measure.

This brings us to Aurora Store and FakeStore.
FakeStore is included on all /e/ ROMs. May be included on LineagOS for microG, and is usually included or an option in various microG installers such as NanoDroid and MinMicroG. FakeStore has the package name of com.android.vending, the same as Play Store. Its sole purpose is to sit there for apps that look for the presence of Play Store before they’ll run. I’ve never seen an app fail for that reason so it probably applied to old apps from back in the day.

However, after having to redo my Pi/e/ setup clean I installed an icon pack locally (I seem to archive everything). When run it complained as per the previous paragraphs. Went into Aurora Store, uninstalled and reinstalled. Dashboard still wouldn’t run. Normally it doesn’t matter as the icons are fully usable if you have a launcher with a capable and searchable icon picker (like Lawnchair, Librechair, etc.). Then I remembered something.

If you check the App Info of any installed app, at the bottom it will show you how an app was installed. Package Installer, Aurora Services, F-Droid Privileged Extension, etc.
Aurora Store offers three installation methods: Native (Package Installer), Root, and Aurora Services.

The key to getting some apps to work is to use the Root method. When using the Root method the installation source becomes FakeStore (com.android.vending). In essence, Play Store.
Any item that refused to run when installed via Native or Aurora Services methods ran just fine with the Root method. Installation source is considered Play Store and good to go.

tl;dr
Use Root method in Aurora Store if you want/need apps to believe they were installed via the Play Store.
Obviously a rooted ROM is required.

Information only. Not interested in pushing root or no-root. Do as you need. Do as you want. Do as you like.

[e.follower]

Saved to my notes, thank you!

[sugit]

I am trying to get an app to work. App was bought in the app store and I either installed it from Aurora Store or I installed it from the package (Vogels van Europa_nl.uva.eti.vogels_EU.apk).

Both methods did not work on my /e/OS Nougat, on the S7 bought from /e/Store. I guess that is not “rooted”, right?

I am not technical enough. Can I try another way to install this app? How do I proceed?
Thanks!

[marcdw]

Interesting. Vogels van Europa is not available from /e/ Apps store so you must’ve used Aurora or straight apk.

I installed and ran it on my /e/ Nougat (Axon 7) via Aurora (root method). Battery was low so I tried it on Pi/e/ (Essential PH-1) using all three installation methods.

First off, I set Aurora to download apps first then install. Also chose not to delete apks after install. This way I can archive them.

Root method: Vogels installs and runs fine.
Native method: Installs but app crashed the first time. On a later attempt it installed and ran fine.
Aurora Services: After downloading and tapping INSTALL button it would never finish for some reason.
Exit out of Aurora and manually install the downloaded apk (by default in /data/media/0/Aurora). App installs and runs fine.
EDIT: Hah, for some reason i forgot to set Storage permission for Aurora Services. That’s why the install didn’t finish.

So for me the app installs and runs a-ok. It doesn’t need Google Play Services so it is microG, /e/OS friendly. Not sure why it doesn’t work on your S7.

[sugit]

Thanks marcdw. My un-technical question is: what exactly is the Root method, what is the recipe to do it?

My phone is not “rooted” (I guess), it’s pre-installed /e/Nougat from the e-Store.
In the Aurora store, looking at the app, I see Install - and in the three-dot menu I see another option: Manual Download. That last option explains that “The Google Play Store considers this app incompatible with your device. This means the version code has not been returned by the GPS server”.

(Btw, with buying I meant that I bought it back in my Google days on the Playstore, then extracted the APK from that.)

[sugit]

Ah, now I try again to install Vogels van Europa (from Aurora store) and now it installs! Strange.But happy.

[e.follower]

What do you think: does it make any additional sense to use Aurora Services instead of Root in the light of this? (I used them only to automate updates in the background, but I don’t actually know if Root method allows to achieve the same goal.)

[marcdw]

I could be wrong but I do believe root method behaves same way as the services with regard to updating. Since I never autoupdate anything I can’t say 100%.

[Sidney]

Unfortunately this does not work. At least for me it didn’t. I set Aurora Store to use the root method of installation and while I could download and install an app I paid for, when I opened it, it complained that it was pirated. I assume that it could not validate that I had purchased it.

[marcdw]

That’s a license check which is not the same as checking if it was installed from the Play Store.

In-App Purchases / License Checking requires the actual Play Store. So far there is no way around that.

The shots below is from an icon pack that passes the Play Store check but then fails when doing a license check.

[smu44]

If it can help, how to install a package as Google Play Store (with multi-apk option) : Hi from Japan. Lots of help needed - #11 by smu44