While a step in the right direction, Google’s LVL (Licenser Verification Library) is limited in its effectiveness. Firstly, LVL has already been hacked. The activation code licensing scheme provided by AndroidLicenser ensures that the licensing server grants only one license for each verified purchase of the application.

Secondly, Google’s LVL only works for applications which are purchased through the Android Market. If you want to distribute and sell your paid applications through other channels, LVL will not provide any security. AndroidLicenser, on the other hand, locks down your application no matter where it is, so you can distribute your application’s .apk file without worrying that it will be freely pirated.

We securely and safely store your Google Checkout merchant credentials. We require your merchant credentials for 2 reasons. Firstly, we use your merchant credentials to setup a store front from where you can sell your applications. Any purchases made through your store front is deposited directly into your Checkout merchant account. Secondly, we need to be able to determine who makes a purchase of your application so we can generate and send an activation code to the customer.

If you still feel wary about handing out your Google Checkout merchant credentials, you can setup a second Google Checkout merchant account to be used solely with AndroidLicenser. That way, we won’t have access to any of your other information.

Yes. Once a purchase of your application has been made, a link is generated and given to the customer to download your application's .apk file. This is a non-public link that expires after a short amount of time, so there aren't any long-lived urls where someone can download your application.

Even if someone were to get a hold of your .apk file without paying for the application, it wouldn’t be of much use if you've integrated our licensing client library into your application (see the next question for more details on why).

Not to worry! Due to our licensing system, someone who installs your application without making a purchase will not be able to run the application, because he/she does not have an activation code (which is mailed to the customer upon purchase). Anyone using an unlicensed copy of your application will be prompted to purchase the application.

You provide your Google Checkout merchant credentials to us. Any revenue you make from selling your app goes directly into your Google Checkout account. The funds are never passed through us.

Absolutely. While we recommend that you use our Android client library to stop application piracy, it is not required. If you just want to sell your application directly to your users worldwide and you don’t worry too much about piracy, integrating the Android client library into your application is not required.

No. The activation code that the customer enters for an application is forever tied to the phones unique device id. That is, if the customer buys a new phone and tries to activate the application using the same code, it will not work. If you want to allow the customer to activate the application on his/her new phone, you will have to generate a new activation code for the customer through your dashboard.

Absolutely. If you want, we can also generate and email an activation code to your users who purchase your application through the Android Market. Just remember that the licenser client library needs to be integrated in the .apk file that is on the Android Market.

You can see a couple sample store fronts here and here. Feel free to make a purchase on these stores you can see how simple it will be for your users to do the same on your own store front.

Sure! Search for "Hello Licenser" on the Android Market to see a sample application that uses the licensing client library.

There are 3 things you should double-check:

1. Under the Settings->Integration section of your Google Checkout merchant account, please make sure that you are using Google Checkout API version 2.5.
   
2. Under the Edit page of your application on the AndroidLicenser dashboard, make sure "Email user an activation code upon purchase of the application through the Android Market" is checked.
3. The name of your application on the Android Market must exactly match the name of the application on AndroidLicenser. That is, if the name of your Android Market application is "Hello World", the name on your AndroidLicenser dashboard must also be "Hello World".