[Divisi]

Hey there,

I've just discovered Amazon Underground and I'm wondering if it carries different versions of apps, because I've downloaded Camera Zoom FX and I can't find a few of the options, such as composition lines and a bunch of the filters and such. Despite it being part of the premium. The weird part is it seems other parts of the premium are there.
Sorry I don't seem to be allowed to link stuff yet, or I'd be linking to Amazon.

I'm also just generally wondering how they can give some apps for free. It seemed a little weird to me at first, but I accepted it when I downloaded it from Amazon's site.

Thanks

[B. Diddy]

Welcome back! I believe they're the same apps--but one of the main disadvantages of apps from Amazon is that official app updates are typically much more delayed compared with the same app on Google Play. So it may be that the Camera Zoom FX version on Amazon is way behind the current one on Google Play (and hence doesn't have all of the latest features).

Amazon's been doing the free app thing for a long time. They used to have a "Free App of the Day" in the older Amazon Appstore, but they've abandoned that in favor of the current Amazon Underground, where they rotate free apps from time to time. Amazon's a huge company with lots of capital, so they can afford to make some apps free, in hopes of getting people to purchase other apps. Also keep in mind that a lot of the "free" apps have lots of in-app purchases, which is where most of the money is made these days for app developers.

EDIT: I now realize that I was mistaken about a lot of this--please see below for further discussion. Thanks to DanPLC for the corrections!

[DanPLC]

Welcome back! I believe they're the same apps--but one of the main disadvantages of apps from Amazon is that official app updates are typically much more delayed compared with the same app on Google Play. So it may be that the Camera Zoom FX version on Amazon is way behind the current one on Google Play (and hence doesn't have all of the latest features).

Amazon's been doing the free app thing for a long time. They used to have a "Free App of the Day" in the older Amazon Appstore, but they've abandoned that in favor of the current Amazon Underground, where they rotate free apps from time to time. Amazon's a huge company with lots of capital, so they can afford to make some apps free, in hopes of getting people to purchase other apps. Also keep in mind that a lot of the "free" apps have lots of in-app purchases, which is where most of the money is made these days for app developers.

Not all of this is 100% accurate:

1) Amazon doesn't rotate apps with the new Amazon Underground program. It's up to developers to submit their apps for Underground. It's completely in the hands of the developers which apps they make free in the program.

2) With Amazon Underground, there are no IAPs. Specifically, all IAPs are made 100% free. So the apps are truly free.

3) While it's true that a lot of developers have been bad about keeping their apps updated in the Amazon app store, it's not Amazon's fault. When I submit updates to Amazon for my app, they're approved and go live within hours. It's much quicker than it uses to be (it used to take several days). So any difference between app versions from the Google Play store and the Amazon app store is the developer's fault.

[B. Diddy]

Apologies for my inaccuracies--thanks! I thought they were being rotated, because I noticed that the apps that were offered in some of the categories differed after a week or two. The labeling of the In-App Purchases was also a little confusing for me--I thought it meant that although the app was free, the IAP was not, but now that you clarify it, I can see how it was meant to be read.

It's very enlightening as well to know that updates are dependent on the developer actually submitting them to Amazon, rather than Amazon dragging their feet. I'm curious, though--why would developers not want to submit updates to both Google Play and Amazon at the same time? Is it an extra cost to them to use Amazon?

[Divisi]

Not all of this is 100% accurate:

1) Amazon doesn't rotate apps with the new Amazon Underground program. It's up to developers to submit their apps for Underground. It's completely in the hands of the developers which apps they make free in the program.

2) With Amazon Underground, there are no IAPs. Specifically, all IAPs are made 100% free. So the apps are truly free.

3) While it's true that a lot of developers have been bad about keeping their apps updated in the Amazon app store, it's not Amazon's fault. When I submit updates to Amazon for my app, they're approved and go live within hours. It's much quicker than it uses to be (it used to take several days). So any difference between app versions from the Google Play store and the Amazon app store is the developer's fault.

Thanks for the info! I feel much better about using the service now that I know developers submit their own apps to it.

So, most likely, the issue with the camera app is the developers just haven't updated the Amazon version. That kinda sucks.

[DanPLC]

Apologies for my inaccuracies--thanks! I thought they were being rotated, because I noticed that the apps that were offered in some of the categories differed after a week or two. The labeling of the In-App Purchases was also a little confusing for me--I thought it meant that although the app was free, the IAP was not, but now that you clarify it, I can see how it was meant to be read.

Yeah IAPs are definitely free. I've downloaded 2 apps for my daughter (Heads Up and Akinator) and all IAPs in the app are free. The only annoyance is that sometimes a full-screen banner appears when you load the app advertising Amazon Underground.

It's very enlightening as well to know that updates are dependent on the developer actually submitting them to Amazon, rather than Amazon dragging their feet. I'm curious, though--why would developers not want to submit updates to both Google Play and Amazon at the same time? Is it an extra cost to them to use Amazon?

There's no extra cost for app updates in the Amazon store. It's just laziness. For my app, there is some minimal extra work I have to do to build the app for Amazon, so I can't use the same built APK I submit for the Google Play store. The reason is that Amazon doesn't allow any links to other stores in their app. In my app I have a link on the Help page to allow users to review the app. So what I have to do is change that link to Amazon's store when I build the APK for them. But it literally takes me 5 extra minutes