[APP] AppShare(+) – Share Apps Between Users without Separate Google Accounts

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Psych0Chimp

Senior Member
Aug 7, 2010
104
13
I've recently released an app that uses Google's new multi-user accounts feature to share apps between the different users on your device (without each of them requiring a separate Google account).

It's called AppShare(+) and you can get it here (requires root):
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.spectrl.appshare

You can download apps on your main user account as usual, and then use AppShare to simply select which users you want to have access to the app.
This also works for "unsharing" (disabling) apps for users. For example, you could disable the Gmail, or Play Store apps for a 'Guest' user account.
As a bonus, you can also use the app to disable (but not uninstall) system or user apps on your main account, freeing up resources and potentially speeding up your device.

It was designed and optimised for tablets (tested on a Nexus 7), however it will also work on phones that have multi-user support enabled through a custom ROM.

Even though I am using the same method that the Android system uses to enable/disable apps, some system apps react in a weird way to being disabled and sometimes re-appear.
I have found that disabling certain system apps works best on a "fresh" account – i.e. A new user which hasn't had a Google account previously set up on it.
There are a couple more limitations, but I would suggest that you read the Play Store description for the full run down...

I have tested it as thoroughly as I can, but please let me know if you run into any problems.
I'd love to hear what you think and get some feedback.

Thanks!
 

Psych0Chimp

Senior Member
Aug 7, 2010
104
13

Psych0Chimp

Senior Member
Aug 7, 2010
104
13
I've been getting a fair amount of crash reports lately and it looks like the cause is a missing file related to Google's multi-user implementation which I assumed would be on everyone's device, in the same place.

It appears that it is not there on some devices, causing my app to crash, so I would really appreciate it if I could get a few people to check and confirm that they have the file /data/system/users/userlist.xml on their device?
You can check using any file explorer with root, or using the adb shell terminal if you know how!

Thanks for your help in making the app better.
 

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    I've recently released an app that uses Google's new multi-user accounts feature to share apps between the different users on your device (without each of them requiring a separate Google account).

    It's called AppShare(+) and you can get it here (requires root):
    https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.spectrl.appshare

    You can download apps on your main user account as usual, and then use AppShare to simply select which users you want to have access to the app.
    This also works for "unsharing" (disabling) apps for users. For example, you could disable the Gmail, or Play Store apps for a 'Guest' user account.
    As a bonus, you can also use the app to disable (but not uninstall) system or user apps on your main account, freeing up resources and potentially speeding up your device.

    It was designed and optimised for tablets (tested on a Nexus 7), however it will also work on phones that have multi-user support enabled through a custom ROM.

    Even though I am using the same method that the Android system uses to enable/disable apps, some system apps react in a weird way to being disabled and sometimes re-appear.
    I have found that disabling certain system apps works best on a "fresh" account – i.e. A new user which hasn't had a Google account previously set up on it.
    There are a couple more limitations, but I would suggest that you read the Play Store description for the full run down...

    I have tested it as thoroughly as I can, but please let me know if you run into any problems.
    I'd love to hear what you think and get some feedback.

    Thanks!
    1
    It is there on my device... I am running PUB aokp... I don't know if that makes a difference