Distributing the apps

Getting the apps onto phones without the app stores — and telling everyone where the store versions are.

Sidebar → Get the Apps, and the download icon in the top bar.

Why this exists

Store review takes days and, for a white-label build, every client needs their own listing. This gives you a way to hand out apps immediately:

• During a pilot, before anything is published
• For a single client who does not want a public listing
• For the Windows agent, which no app store carries
• While you wait for review

What you can distribute

Item	File type	Where it can also link
Parent App	.apk	Play Store · App Store
Staff App	.apk	Play Store · App Store
Driver App	.apk	Play Store
ZK Sync Agent (Windows)	.exe or .msi	—

For each you can upload a file, add store links, or both. Add the store links as soon as you publish, so people install the store version and get updates automatically.

The ZK Sync Agent is why biometric works on shared hosting

This is the Windows program a school installs on a PC in their office. It reads the attendance machine on their own network and sends records up to your server — which is why biometric attendance needs no VPS.

There is no store for it, so this screen is the only sensible way to hand it out. See which hosting do I need.

Who sees what

Each item has an audience, so the right people see the right downloads:

Item	Shown to
Parent App	School admins, staff, and parents
Staff App	School admins and staff
Driver App	School admins and staff
ZK Sync Agent	School admins only

A parent never sees the Windows agent, and a driver's app is handed out by the school rather than advertised to parents.

Handing an app to someone

The download panel shows a QR code. A school admin holding a phone scans it and the download starts — no typing a URL, no emailing an APK, no "which file do I need".

That is the fastest way to get a bus driver set up while standing next to them.

Android warns about apps installed outside the Play Store

Installing an .apk directly makes Android ask the user to allow installation from that source. This is normal, and it worries people.

Tell schools to expect it. Once you are on the Play Store, use the store link instead and the warning disappears.

Shipping an update

When you release a new version:

1. Build the new file — see building the apps
2. Raise the version number so the apps know an update exists
3. Upload it here, replacing the old one
4. Update store listings separately if you publish there

The apps check with your server and can prompt users that a newer version is available. That prompt only works if the version number went up — a rebuilt file with the same version looks identical to the app.

Keep store and direct downloads on the same version

If your Play Store build is 3.1 and the file here is 3.0, half your schools are on each. Bug reports then depend on where someone happened to install from, which is a miserable way to support anything.