How are purchased apps linked to user

[shankomatic]

How are purchased apps linked to a user? When I purchase a new phone, will I still get my purchased apps?

Are they tied to your Gmail account, phone number, or are they tied to a hardware ID of the physical phone?

[tcrews]

Purchased apps from the Market are tied to your Gmail account, not device or phone number.

Amazon App Store purchases are based on the email account associated with Amazon.com.

[shankomatic]

Thanks

[SuperSmooth]

It depends on the policy that the developer has implemented and the licensing verification method they use. Most will use the android Licensing Verification Library, which goes through google. But some use their own method of verifying licenses, where the license is locked to a particular device by the IMIE for example. Applications that give you a KEY instead of downloading a full paid version will be using their own licensing check and will probably be locked to a device.

Some light reading:
Application Licensing | Android Developers

[tcrews]

This may be true with a few apps, though so far everything I've bought (either direct from the Market or via a Paypal for a key file), everything has worked just by putting it on my other device (using same credentials)....even when I actively use the same apps on all the devices (active phone, deactivated phone on WiFi and Tablet on WiFi).

It depends on the policy that the developer has implemented and the licensing verification method they use. Most will use the android Licensing Verification Library, which goes through google. But some use their own method of verifying licenses, where the license is locked to a particular device by the IMIE for example. Applications that give you a KEY instead of downloading a full paid version will be using their own licensing check and will probably be locked to a device.

Some light reading:
Application Licensing | Android Developers

[takeshi]

Few or not, it's universal. Not all apps are handled via the Market.

[tcrews]

Though I would personally refrain from buying apps that lock it to my device. Who knows when you will decide to upgrade to a new(er) phone or require changing carriers (and device) because of relocating, preference and all that.

I don't allow a developer to decide if I have the ability to upgrade to a new device or not....