Confused about apps for phones & apps for tablets!

[Dayvidpriddy]

Hi,

I'm coming from the iOS world so forgive me lol...

I bought a Nexus 7 tablet and I'm confused about knowing which apps are for phones and which are for tablets? In iOS they have seperate sections for phone/tablets regarding apps and if you search for a particular app, it shows whether it comes in phone and tablet versions or just one or the other. That doesn't seem to be the case with Android, while I see a "best picks" area for tablet apps, when doing general searches for apps or browsing catatories, nothing is specified if the app is for phones or tablets.

Can anyone explain to me how this works? I don't want to download apps to my tablet if they were meant for phone use only, etc...

Thanks!

 

[Diknak]

The play store is rather smart about it. All apps for phones will work, but it is just a matter of if it looks like it is designed for a tablet interface. If not, it will just look a little blown up or out of place.

However, with most apps, when you install an app from the play store, it knows what device you are on and it will send you the appropriate apk file (install file). The basic concept is: don't worry about it. Install any app that you want and let the Play store do the rest for you.

 

[MJKearney]

Diknak has a good response. I would add that the reputation of Android is that it lags behind iOS in terms of tablet optimized apps. However, I think it's catching up, and I also think that sometimes people nitpick when it comes to how a non-optimized app looks on a tablet. Most of the almost 300 apps I have on my N7 look just fine, though some obviously look better and use the available screen space more effectively than others. In the end, if an app is really visually and functionally unappealing to you on the N7, simply delete and try a different one.

 

[Dayvidpriddy]

Oh great to hear, I forgot about how the play store knows what device you are trying to download too, thanks for the info!

 

[asus_usa]

Google Play knows which device you are downloading from so it'll always download the right one for you. Also, I always read the reviews and user comment sections to see what others say about it.

 

[anon(847090)]

Oh great to hear, I forgot about how the play store knows what device you are trying to download too, thanks for the info!

like said above but many don't realize that there is a tablet section in the playstore now(added recently, have it on my N10 but not sure about N7).

I dont have my tablet with me to tell you the exact wording to switch to tablet apps view.

if you touch apps on playstore front page, you will go to a page with button for games,editors choice tablet 101 etc.

right below that there is a drop down to see tablet optimized apps.

 

[MJKearney]

like said above but many don't realize that there is a tablet section in the playstore now(added recently, have it on my N10 but not sure about N7).
I dont have my tablet with me to tell you the exact wording to switch to tablet apps view.
if you touch apps on playstore front page, you will go to a page with button for games,editors choice tablet 101 etc.
right below that there is a drop down to see tablet optimized apps.

Thanks Still. I'll expand further on what you started.

On the N7 and probably most tablets, within the Play Store app and under the Apps section, there isn't a tablet-only category (this doesn't exist in Android, the way it does in iOS), but there are multiple pages that show "tablet optimized" apps.

1. Once in the Apps section of the Play Store, if you swipe to the right to view the app categories, you'll see the Tablet Spotlight button at the top. This shows you about 16 apps that supposedly work well on a tablet. I assume that the list is updated occasionally, similar to an editor's choice list.

2. If you swipe to the Home page of the Apps section (the default view when you choose to view apps in the Play Store), you'll see that one of the headings at the top is labeled Tablet 101. Tapping on this will show you about 20 apps that are designed with tablets in mind. This page looks similar to the one described above, but does indeed contain different apps.

3. If you scroll down the Home page of the Apps section, you'll come to a section called Tablet Highlights. Tapping on the More button will bring you to a page that currently contains about 70 good-for-tablets apps, but in a faster to view, grid layout.

So far we have the Tablet Spotlight, Tablet 101, and Tablet Highlights sections. Those are all just marketing buzzwords intended to make us tablet owners feel wanted, of course. But there's more!

4. From the Apps Home page, swipe left to see the various "top apps" sections, such as Top Paid, Top Free, Top Grossing, etc. At the top of each of these sections is a drop down menu that defaults to the All Apps category. Tapping on this menu will reveal the Designed for Tablets option that Still was alluding to. Choosing this option will then show you apps that are, uh... designed for tablets! Each section contains a few hundred such designated apps.

Personally, I think there is a fair amount of subjectivity when it comes to declaring an app as tablet optimized. However, there is likely code within such apps that specifies an optimized layout for different sizes of larger screens, and that is what probably qualifies the app for such a designation. Whether or not such an app actually looks good on a larger screen is still subjective, though. And just because it's designated as tablet optimized doesn't mean it won't also work well on a phone.

I'm also not sure of the validity of some comments made in this thread that state that a different apk file is downloaded to your device, depending on whether it's a tablet or a phone. Maybe this is true, but I think there is only one apk file, and that file may or may not have code in it that adjusts the layout based on screen size. But as Diknak said above, "don't worry about it". Just download the app that you want, and if it satisfies your needs, that's all that matters.

 

[mlmeloy]

Check out Tablified Market HD. It's designed to show you what apps work best for tablets and let's you purchase and download them through the play store.

https://forums.androidcentral.com/e...=tablifiedapps.tablifiedmarket&token=rxiBHKo2

 

[Ntchwaidumela]

One of the advantages of checking out Play Store apps on your computer is that it will show a notification under the app name if it's compatible with all devices or some devices. If you click on the install box, it will show you just what devices are compatible with that app. If there is a version that is geared to tablets, it will install it automatically. On your device, it will give you a "not compatible with this device" message. Just remember, compatibility doesn't necessarily mean it's optimized for that device. It does, however, mean that it should work without problems.