Why are some apps on the market incompatible with my device? I own a Motorola Flipout, Android 2.1 stock ROM. According to the market the app "Handyticket Deutschland" is not compatible with my phone. The required Android version is 1.5 or above. How can I tell why the app will not work for me?



The Flipout has a comparably small screen. Is it possible that the publisher just forgot to mark my phone's display resolution as supported?

Note: Users from outside Germany see a different message. I believe, those country-restriction are unrelated.
The Android Market has various filters which are applied to the apk in order to find out if the App will run on your device. The most obviously one is the Android version you are on (also called the SDK level).

But this is not the only criteria. There are others like:


Screen Size
Software libraries

Google API
OpenGL

Particular hardware features that are required

Bluetooth
(front) camera
Vibration



Unfortunately it is not that easy to find out why an App "isn't compatible" with a particular device, even for the developer. There are some tools that an developer can use to find the current filter criteria for an .apk but this will not tell him why the Android market doesn't show an app on a device explicitly.

In your case, the small screen size seems to be the reason. You should e-mail the developer and ask him to fix this, if it isn't intended.