[APP] Daily Free App @ Amazon Notifier (European Amazon Stores SUPPORTED)

Introduction
Amazon Android Appstore offers a paid app for free every day.

Users in the US can check the Amazon Appstore for Android to see the Free app of the Day, and be able to install it remotely via the website. Few Android developers wrote apps to check that website and remind and notify the users of the free app.

While users outside the US (Europe & Japan) recently got the Amazon Android Appstore service, but it is only supported on the device itself, and the only way to check the Free App of the day and install it is to open the official Amazon Appstore app on the device. There was no way to have this information if not with the official Amazon app, well, not until now... this app DOES SUPPORT all Amazon Appstores, including all those in Europe and Japan, as far as I know this is the First app that does this !!!





Details

This app will show you the daily free app in all the supported countries (listed below), you do not even need to have the Amazon Appstore installed on the device to be able to check and receive the notification (in case you get notified on a device, and want to install on another).

When you start the App, it will fetch the name of the Free app of the day in the selected country (From the settings menu), and it provides a button to Open the Amazon Appstore (if it is installed), or to open the Amazon page for that app.

I wrote this app mainly to be able to check the European Amazon Appstore (Italian Store), but during development I found that I can add support for all official Amazon stores supported by the Amazon Appstore itself, which are:

• USA
• Canada
• Italy
• France
• Germany
• Spain
• United Kingdom
• Japan
• China

Help needed
Currently the app UI is available in English, Italian, German and French (French is experimental), I need help translating the app in at least the main languages of the different stores (French, Spanish, Japanese, Chinese), if there are any volunteers, please contact me.


Download
I attached the apk of the app, give it a try, and report bugs
You can also install it from the Google Play Store



Change log
v1.5 (2014-04-26)
- New: Notification filter for Apps, Games or both.
- New: Expandable notifications on Android 4.1+.
- New: Share the app name and link with friends.
- New: new China store.
- Fixed Unicode issues with some languages.
- Other optimizations and fixes.

v1.0 (2013-06-02)
- New Interface: now shows description and screenshot
- Added ability to search Google Play for the app
- Added new country (Canada)
- Added German translations
- Added a DashClock widget
- Vibrate on notification

v0.7.2 (2013-03-09)
- Changed app icon to comply with Amazon trademarks, who says using a Smile in the logo can confuse users

v0.7 (2013-02-10)
- Enhanced Notifications (App logo in the notification, dismiss on click)
- Integrated browser in the app for the information.

v0.6 (2013-02-05)
- Automatic country detection
- Better user interface
- Added French language

v0.5 (2013-02-03)
- first release

y0yerrj0sh said:

nice idea, considering i forget to check most of the time.

Click to expand...

Click to collapse

The ides has been around for sometime now (Play Store has some apps like this), but NONE works with the European Amazon App store, this is the first, as far as i know.

Just released v0.6, attached on the first thread is the apk, or in a couple of hours it will be on Google Play.

Changes are:
- Automatic country detection upon a clean install
- Better user interface with landscape support
- Added French language (done partly by my scholastic french and Google Translate)

v0.7

Just released v0.7, will be on the Play Store within a couple of hours:
- Enhanced Notifications (App logo in the notification, dismiss on click)
- Integrated browser in the app for the information.


Volunteers Wanted, ALIVE.....

Anybody in France/Germany/Spain/Japan using this app willing to help translate the App/Play Store listing in that language? please contact me.

Thanks in advance

Gia90 said:

Thank you for this useful app!

I've just found this thread and I would like to suggest some new feature (hopefully you will implement them).

First off all, I would really like to have more time/event options to check for the free daily app.
For example: check on boot, check on internet connection available, check at different times of the day, etc.
It is useful if an internet connection is not always available.

Another improvement would be to add a link to the app into the Google play store, useful to read a better description.

Other features, but less important, would be to add more info in the notification (original prize) and make them customizable (choose which info to show), and maybe make a better icon, I really liked the old one!

Hoping you will appreciate my suggestion, I want to thank you again for your work

Click to expand...

Click to collapse

Thanks YOU for using my app.

I will add your tips to the Todo list, currently I cannot be making new versions, soon maybe I can release an updated version with new feature.

I also liked the old icon, but unfortunately I was contacted by the an Amazon Trademark paralegal asking me not to use the Smile symbol or Smile in the logo, as consumers might get confused of the source of the products and services available under the Amazon mark. And as I don't want to get into legal issues with Amazon, I changed the logo.

Gia90 said:

Hi mcbyte_it,
Until you release a new version with my hoped features, I'm trying to get what I want through tasker.

For now I use tasker to detect the internet connection and, as soon it is available, checks the time, add a minute to the current time and write it into your app shared_preferences.xml.
But to make the settings change effective, I need to open your app and then close it, quite annoying...

So I'm thinking about sending an alarm intent with tasker to your app broadcast receiver, to make your app notification show.
But I couldn't forge a working intent to send...

Maybe it is not possible, or maybe I didn't understand well how your alarm (and android intent system) works, but maybe you can help me
Thank you again!

EDIT: I think that your app is checking for android.intent.action.TIME_TICK intent and not an app specific one, so It should not be possible to achieve what I was looking for.

Click to expand...

Click to collapse

I see your problem, but what is the reason for you not having internet at the check time?
I have my device set to turn on wifi in the morning before I get up, sync mail, sync podcasts, then turn it off, and I set my app to launch in that period, and it works just fine.

I use normal Android alarms that are set after the BOOT_COMPLETED broadcast action has been received, it reads the time from the prefs file and setting the alarm. I don't know tasker in details, but does it support simulating a BOOT_COMPLETED intent? maybe with "am" commands?

Hirishiolo said:

very nice app However, how can I have notifications for both USA and Italy? I can install both free apps of the day...

Click to expand...

Click to collapse

Currently it is not possible to follow different stores, only 1 at a time.
as an alternative, you can watch the feeds via Twitter, I have a twitter feed for the Italian Amazon over here: https://twitter.com/FreeAppAmazonIT
while the US Amazon has an official twitter feed at: https://twitter.com/AmazonAppStore

And just for the information, today I just released a new version of the App, v1.0 with a new interface.

rkuijpers said:

Hi,

Would it be possible for you to add the Dutch Amazon appstore as well? It had been released in the Netherlands as well a little while ago. Thanks! :beer:

Click to expand...

Click to collapse

Until recently, Amazon AppStore was available in only selected countries (Those mentioned in the first post), but nearly a couple of weeks ago Amazon opened the AppStore to 200 countries world wide. Officially Amazon operates in these countries: USA, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, United Kingdom.

From what I understood from their announcement, most of the world countries will use the US store as a selling point, and most European countries will use a European store as a selling point.

The Netherlands does not have an official Amazon website and store, so I cannot add an option for it, you need to check another country store where you can download apps from within the Netherlands. I would also be glad if you give feedback on how/what country were you able to select to download apps. I am from Italy were an official AppStore is already available since around a year, so I can't do experiments.

Hirishiolo said:

Thanks for the response, do you think the multiple following of stores will be available in the future? thanks...

Click to expand...

Click to collapse

I don't have plans to add multiple stores in the near future, as I have already have plans and features that I want to add, maybe later I can think about it.
This is also because most users will not have multiple accounts, because clicking on the Amazon Store button to go to the download page will not switch the Amazon Store for you. it still need to be done manually each time.

rkuijpers said:

In the Netherlands I can download the free app from USA and all European stores.

Click to expand...

Click to collapse

Hirishiolo said:

I don't have multiple accounts, but I can install italian and usa apps of the day with my unique account... I think others can to...

Click to expand...

Click to collapse

Since the changes Amazon did 2 weeks ago, things changed, now you can download the free app in another country.

I will put the multi store feature on my todo list...

rkuijpers said:

Would you consider to add the toggle/ option to have your app only check when on wifi connection?

I ask this because I only have a small data plan with my cellphone, and forgot your app checks for a new free app of the day automatically, every day. Of course I was out of wifi range at the time the check took place :banghead:

Considering it used 1 mb of data per day for checking, that would be about 30 mb per month.

I know this doesn't sound like much to people with a large data plan, but in my monthly plan 30 mb equals 30 minutes of call time, or 30 sms. As I have a small monthly data plan, this is rather a good chunk out of it.

I'm in wifi range most of the day, so I'd love it if your app would be able to do the check automatically when in wifi range, and exclude the used of the mobile data connection? I guess more people would love that feature.

Great work on your app by the way, I get notified daily by it, it never fails! :beer:

Click to expand...

Click to collapse

This feature is at the top of my to do list, I just need to find a few hours to implement it in the next version, maybe in the next weekend, stay tuned.