Application install and layout syncing

Abstract

Embodiments described herein relate to synchronizing configuration information between devices associated with a user. The synchronized configuration information can relate to application installations and uninstallations as well as to user modifications to user interfaces for managing and invoking the applications. For example, layouts of application representations provided by respective application launchers on a user's respective devices are kept automatically synchronized when the user modifies any of the layouts. Installations and uninstallations are similarly synchronized between the user's devices. Installations and uninstallations that might stem from synchronization may be circumscribed in various ways, such as by allowing the user to specify whether specific applications are to be installed/uninstalled only on specific devices or globally, by filtering propagation of synchronization updates according to hardware or software features and incompatibilities, or others.

1 . A method performed by a network service, the network service comprising an application repository service, the method comprising:
 maintaining a set of user accounts by a user account service accessible via a network by devices associated with the user accounts, wherein the user accounts are authorized to install applications from the application store service, wherein the user account service maintains device lists for the user accounts, respectively, wherein each device list lists whichever devices are linked to a corresponding user account, and wherein the maintaining comprises adding and removing devices to the device lists;   providing an application store service comprising a database storing application install packages, application identifiers, and associations between the application install packages and the application identifiers, wherein some of the application identifiers each have associations with multiple application install packages that are configured for different and incompatible operating systems, the database further storing, for each user account, each application install list listing, for a respective user account, application identifiers of respective applications that have been installed in association with the respective user account; and   providing a synchronization service that synchronizes application installations according to the device lists and the install lists such that when a device list lists two devices with different and incompatible operating systems, an application identifier in the corresponding install list is applied to the associations to select application installation packages specific to the operating systems of the two devices, respectively, for installation thereto.   
     
     
         2 . A method according to  claim 1 , wherein the synchronizing causes an application that is to be synchronized to devices in a device list to be synchronized by selecting application packages according to the operating systems of the devices in the device list. 
     
     
         3 . A method according to  claim 1 , further comprising updating the device lists to reflect associations and disassociations of devices with user accounts, wherein when a device becomes associated with a user account, the applications identifiers in the corresponding install list are used to select corresponding application packages according to an operating system of the device. 
     
     
         4 . A method according to  claim 1 , further comprising updating the application install lists to reflect additions and removals of applications associated with the user accounts, wherein when an application is added to an application install list, a corresponding application install package is selected for a device in the corresponding device list based on compatibility with an operating system of the device, wherein application install packages are synchronized to the user devices according to compatibility with the operating systems of the user devices. 
     
     
         5 . A method according to  claim 1 , wherein when the synchronization service determines that an application of a corresponding application identifier is not installed on a user device and a corresponding application list indicates that the application is to be installed to the user device, an application install package is selected based on an association thereof with the application identifier and based on a determination that the application install package matches an operating system of the user device. 
     
     
         6 . A method according to  claim 5 , wherein the synchronization service responds to removal of an application identifier from an application list by signaling user devices in the corresponding user device list to uninstall the application, wherein the signaled user devices have different and incompatible operating systems. 
     
     
         7 . A method according to  claim 6 , wherein the signaled user devices remove different respective install packages of the application that are respectively for the different and incompatible operating systems. 
     
     
         8 . A method of synchronizing software installations between devices, the method comprising:
 providing application packages of applications from an application installation service, each application associated with one or more application packages, wherein some applications each have associated therewith application packages for different and incompatible operating systems, the application installation service comprising a network-based service that: stores the application packages for installation to user devices, tracks which applications are associated with which user identities, and accesses user identities and user device associations indicating which user devices are associated with which user identities;   accessing groups of synchronization settings, the groups associated with the user identities, respectively, wherein each group of a corresponding user identity comprises synchronization settings for respective applications associated with the corresponding user identity, each synchronization setting indicating whether a corresponding application is to be synchronized among the devices associated with the corresponding user identity, and wherein the groups are updated to reflect installations of applications to the user devices via the application installation service; and   using the synchronization settings to automatically control installations of the application packages to the user devices, the using including:
 whenever any synchronization setting is modified to indicate that a corresponding application is to be installed on all user devices of the corresponding user identity: 
 automatically determining that two user devices associated with the corresponding user identity do not have an application package of the application installed and signaling for installation of one or more application packages of the application to the determined user devices, 
 selecting the application packages for installation to the determined user devices by identifying operating systems of the respective determined user devices and selecting the application packages accordingly, wherein the selected application packages are for the different and incompatible operating systems of the respective determined user devices, and 
 automatically initiating installation of the selected application packages to the respectively corresponding determined user devices. 
   
     
     
         9 . A method according to  claim 8 , further comprising maintaining associations between applications and application install packages and storing operating system identifiers that identify which operating systems the application install packages are for. 
     
     
         10 . A method according to  claim 9 , wherein application packages for a same application are selected for installation based operating systems of corresponding user devices that are associated with a same user identity. 
     
     
         11 . A method according to  claim 8 , wherein synchronization of application installs between devices linked to a same user identity are performed based on the identifying the operating systems. 
     
     
         12 . A method according to  claim 8 , wherein when multiple applications are to be installed on the user device according to the global application synchronization information, the user device prioritizes an order of installing the multiple applications. 
     
     
         13 . A method according to  claim 8 , wherein when an application is uninstalled at a first user device linked to a user identity user device, uninstall of the application is synchronized to a second user device linked to the user identity, wherein the first user device comprises an operating system that is incompatible, for applications, with an operating system of the second user device. 
     
     
         14 . A method according to  claim 8 , wherein the method is performed by a management service that comprises the application installation service, a user account service, and a synchronization service, the synchronization service automatically providing application installation and uninstallation synchronization service between user devices that are associated with a same user identity. 
     
     
         15 . A method according to  claim 14 , wherein the application installation service tracks associations between operating system types and application packages. 
     
     
         16 . A method according to  claim 8 , further comprising accessing user settings of the user identities, respectively, each user setting indicating which user devices of an associated user identity are or are not subjected to automatic application installation synchronization.