How to buy/update/reinstall Android apps in China or on devices without Google Play Store?

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hanping
Site Admin
Posts: 470
Joined: 18 Mar 2010, 08:52

How to buy/update/reinstall Android apps in China or on devices without Google Play Store?

Post by hanping »

(UPDATED 2018/06)

IMPORTANT NOTE: Circumstances change frequently, so we cannot guarantee the following will necessarily work, so please proceed at your own risk!

These instructions cover Buying, Updating and Reinstalling Android apps from within China or on devices without Google Play Store installed. In-app purchases are covered in the Buying section.

If your device does not have Google Play Store installed, you will not be able to purchase apps, make in-app purchases or retrieve your purchases made earlier on other devices. Some devices make it possible to install Google apps (e.g. Google Play Store) without rooting your device. Xiaomi devices make this particularly easy. Rather than list device-by-device instructions here (which will quickly become out-of-date) the best thing would be to search how to install Google apps on your particular device. For Amazon Fire tablets, read this. Alternatively, for those comfortable with more technically in-depth solutions, you can try flashing OpenGAPPS (more info here).

If you are thinking of buying an Android device in China, then we generally recommend Xiaomi because those tend to be easiest to update with Google apps. Furthermore, some Xiaomi devices (e.g. Mi 5X, and probably the Mi 6X in future) can be flashed with an Android One ROM.

The rest of this topic assumes you have Google apps (i.e. Play Store, Google Play Services etc) installed on your device and that you are in China. If you are not in China, please read this.

In short, if you are in China then you will need to use a VPN (there are many such free apps for Android) to do just about anything with the Google Play Store. The past advice of swapping your SIM card, is no longer relevant.

Preliminary Notes: Buying
  1. Start your VPN (this is probably all you need to do, but if it's still not working then continue with the steps below)
  2. Clear Data on Play Store app - in App Launcher, long press on Play Store app and drag it to App Info. There you can Clear Data
  3. Run Play Store app to accept Terms & Conditions. Wait a few seconds for the Play Store app to fully load after this
  4. Now you should be able to buy apps and make in-app purchases
Note: If you have already made an in-app purchase and Hanping Pro mistakenly thinks that you haven't, then repeat the above steps before using the Refresh button in the top-right of Hanping's Add-ons screen.

Updating

From Hanping Chinese Dictionary Add-ons screen > Apps tab > click on the app. From here you should be able to view the app in the Play Store app.

Another way is to view our blog from your Android device and then click on the appropriate Google Play link on the right.

When viewing the app in the Play Store app, if there is an update available, then the install button will be labelled "Update".

Reinstalling

Taken from here:

Using your mobile device:
  • Open the Google Play Store Google Play Store app
  • Touch the Google Play Store Play Store icon and select My Apps.
  • Visit the All category.
  • Select an app you’d like to install, then touch the Install button on the app’s detail page.
Using your computer:
  • Visit your My Apps page on Google Play.
  • Select an app to view its detail page.
  • Click the button that says Install or Installed and select the device where you’d like to install the app.
    Note: When an app shows an "Installed" button on its detail page, it means that the app is installed on one of the devices associated with your Google Account.
  • Click Install.

hongsenlin
Posts: 1
Joined: 05 Jul 2012, 01:59

Re: How to buy/update/reinstall Pro version? in China/Taiwan

Post by hongsenlin »

hello, i have managed to install hanping pro on a new device in china,
even with a chinese sim! but i do not manage to install
the abc dicts, i have tried everything - including the combo
wlan/european sim. the application will say:unable to fetch billing data
then something like try to clear data from play app but i do not
find this option, and furthermore i do not find it in the play shop
anyway. what to do? kind regards hakon

hanping
Site Admin
Posts: 470
Joined: 18 Mar 2010, 08:52

Re: How to buy/update/reinstall Pro version? in China/Taiwan

Post by hanping »

Hi Hakon - please try the steps mentioned here.

Does this work for you? If not, please send me a message and I'll see what I can do.

EDIT: Thanks very much for your help Hakon. I have updated the post to give your solution (which does not require a sim swap!) to the "Unable to fetch billing details" problem.

coloraday
Posts: 3
Joined: 23 Sep 2012, 19:36

Re: How to buy/update/reinstall paid app? in China/Taiwan?

Post by coloraday »

Hello,

Thank you for the great app!

I bought the paid version from Amazon's Appstore for Android. After the installation, every time I tried to open the app, I'd get the option menu "Complete action using" to select either my Internet browser or Amazon's Appstore, both of which would lead to the app's screen on Amazon.

I previously had the cracked version of the app installed on my phone using Lucky Patcher; when I decided to buy the app (regardless of the hassle I had to go through to do so from where I live), I uninstalled the cracked app (but not Lucky Patcher) so as to install the new one.

What could be the problem? What should I do, please?
Last edited by coloraday on 27 Sep 2012, 10:46, edited 1 time in total.

hanping
Site Admin
Posts: 470
Joined: 18 Mar 2010, 08:52

Re: How to buy/update/reinstall paid app? in China/Taiwan?

Post by hanping »

Hi and thanks for your message. I sent you an email yesterday, did you receive it?

coloraday
Posts: 3
Joined: 23 Sep 2012, 19:36

Re: How to buy/update/reinstall paid app? in China/Taiwan?

Post by coloraday »

embermitre wrote:Hi and thanks for your message. I sent you an email yesterday, did you receive it?
Hi. No, I didn't receive your email.

hanping
Site Admin
Posts: 470
Joined: 18 Mar 2010, 08:52

Re: How to buy/update/reinstall paid app? in China/Taiwan?

Post by hanping »

Please can you send me the logs using:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/deta ... gcat&hl=en

or

https://github.com/nolanlawson/Catlog/downloads

Please also make sure you have no other Hanping apps installed.

coloraday
Posts: 3
Joined: 23 Sep 2012, 19:36

Re: How to buy/update/reinstall paid app? in China/Taiwan?

Post by coloraday »

embermitre wrote:Please can you send me the logs using:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/deta ... gcat&hl=en

or

https://github.com/nolanlawson/Catlog/downloads

Please also make sure you have no other Hanping apps installed.
Done! :)

hanping
Site Admin
Posts: 470
Joined: 18 Mar 2010, 08:52

Re: How to buy/update/reinstall paid app? in China/Taiwan?

Post by hanping »

Thanks!

sulliwane
Posts: 1
Joined: 02 Jun 2013, 01:02

Re: How to buy/update/reinstall paid apps? in China?

Post by sulliwane »

Hi,

living in China, I recently ask hanping to refresh billing details by mistake. Then, I couldn't see ABC dictionnary entries anymore.

So I followed your advices =>
  • force close hanping app ;
    ariplane mode/wifi/VPN ;
    then deleted app data from android settings ;
    then deleted embermitre pref file ;
    opened hanping app ; waited 10 secs
and bingo : Successfully fetched billing details !!!

Happy to use ABC dictionnary again ! Thank you for the explanations. ;)

ps : I also tried with foreign sim card, opened the app, ABC was enabled again. But as soon as the chinese sim card was inserted ABC vanished again. (Maybe I should have ask the app to refresh the billing details at the time the foreign card sim was inserted).

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