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Open letter from an Android developer to the Google Play team

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Re: Open letter from an Android developer to the Google Play team

#131

Post by onion2k »

space_invaders wrote: post #95
chx wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's the danger of building your entire business on someone else's platform. This is so often repeated but by this logic noone should write mobile apps.

> but by this logic noone should write mobile apps But they shouldn't. 99% of apps out there could just be a PWA, specially in the Android ecosystem that favours them.

The technology is largely irrelevant here. If you wrote your app as PWA and then got banned from the Google App store you'd still be losing access to that market and ecosystem, and the mechanism for delivering an app to users. That's the real problem here.

PWAs offer something similar but not really the same, especially if you're charging for the app itself or doing IAPs.

Re: Open letter from an Android developer to the Google Play team

#132

Post by topmonk »

sieabahlpark wrote: post #122
dmitrybrant wrote: post #65

I'm the developer of a relatively popular app (50M+ on the Play Store) and have had very disappointing experiences with the Play Store, but in a rather opposite way from the OP: Once an app reaches a certain level of popularity, you begin to see "knock-off" apps, which are apps with a curiously similar name and icon (and screenshots and description), but which in fact don't do anything except blast the user with full…

Google wins when users see ads, that's their whole reason to exist. They're not on your side in this battle as those ad impressions are cash in the bank.

But this behavior is like killing the Golden goose to get at the golden eggs inside. It's extremely shortsighted.

Re: Open letter from an Android developer to the Google Play team

#133

Post by sandGorgon »

cameronbrown wrote: post #53
sandGorgon wrote: post #51

My developer account has been getting mails about "apps that are not compliant with permission requirements". The problem is that these are 3 year old, UNPUBLISHED apps. Turns out, you cannot delete old apps . You can only unpublish them. Google will still keep the app up if even one phone has the app installed. I wrote back saying that this is a years-old app that I no longer even have the source code to. The reply…

Can you just publish an empty APK (after creating the project) up to all of them? Or is that not how this works?

no. this is another violation. Its called the "minimum functionality rule" https://play.google.com/about/spam-min-functionality/min-fun...

Re: Open letter from an Android developer to the Google Play team

#135

Post by Illniyar »

sjwright wrote: post #105

I keep hearing stories like this and I remain utterly bemused that the median narrative about Android vs iOS has barely changed in response. There's a lot to love about Android, but I think more people in the tech sector need to realise that their mental model of the phone marketplace has more to do with historical perception of Android being "hacker friendly" than the current realities. Android is open source! Oh wa…

All those things don't really matter, the only thing that matters is that you cannot sideload apps in iOS. As long as you can sideload apps in android, it will always have a better reputation than somewhere you cannot.

But even those things you mention, they are all part of a scale, even if android becomes more closed-source it's still miles more open-source than iOS, even if it delays new app submissions it's still doesn't require a mac to develop for, has a choice of IDEs and a dozen other development friendly features that we often take for granted outside iOS development.

And it is ludicrous to suggest that android has the same hardware choice as iPhones just because apple now has mid-range level priced phones. Hardware choice means that some models have replaceable battery, physical keyboard, bendable screens, childproof, waterproof and many more options.

Re: Open letter from an Android developer to the Google Play team

#136

Post by mav3rick »

nominated1 wrote: post #124
mav3rick wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes everyone should be rich enough to buy a 1000 dollar Apple phone. Also, you get to decide if I want more than one camera app or not ? Stop imposing your world view on others. Android made smartphones accessible to many people across the globe. You won't mention that would you ? Won't fit your narrative.

> Yes everyone should be rich enough to buy a 1000 dollar Apple phone. I bought an iPhone 7 from Net10 about 5 months ago for $220 shipped. It requires a minimum $20 a month plan for 12 months before I can unlock it. About 2 years ago I got my mom an iPhone SE for $140 with similar plan/unlock. Both brand new. They’re not everyday prices and not the newest model but it is possible to go iOS without breaking the bank.

Again why should consumers not buy a newer phone for cheaper. Who are you to tell them what's right for them ? In India $220 dollars is a luxury many people can't afford.

Re: Open letter from an Android developer to the Google Play team

#137

Post by bad_user »

nominated1 wrote: post #124
mav3rick wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes everyone should be rich enough to buy a 1000 dollar Apple phone. Also, you get to decide if I want more than one camera app or not ? Stop imposing your world view on others. Android made smartphones accessible to many people across the globe. You won't mention that would you ? Won't fit your narrative.

> Yes everyone should be rich enough to buy a 1000 dollar Apple phone. I bought an iPhone 7 from Net10 about 5 months ago for $220 shipped. It requires a minimum $20 a month plan for 12 months before I can unlock it. About 2 years ago I got my mom an iPhone SE for $140 with similar plan/unlock. Both brand new. They’re not everyday prices and not the newest model but it is possible to go iOS without breaking the bank.

So your iPhone 7 actually costs $220 + $20 * 12 = $460

Is that correct?

Not sure what the situation is over there, but in my country I've got a $5 prepaid plan with unlimited minutes, 10 GB monthly bandwidth and I can stop paying at any time.

So I hope you don't go around pretending that the $20 you're paying per month isn't for that phone ;-)

Re: Open letter from an Android developer to the Google Play team

#138

Post by yuvalr1 »

zenbai wrote: post #111
dmitrybrant wrote: post #65

I'm the developer of a relatively popular app (50M+ on the Play Store) and have had very disappointing experiences with the Play Store, but in a rather opposite way from the OP: Once an app reaches a certain level of popularity, you begin to see "knock-off" apps, which are apps with a curiously similar name and icon (and screenshots and description), but which in fact don't do anything except blast the user with full…

This is the worst thing about this whole issue. If they were actually good at removing crapware from the store, then a bit of collateral damage would be understandable. Instead, it is still filled with crapware and even when reported they do nothing. And instead, they go for honest developers. At this point Google is practically almost hostile to honest developers. Also, it is strange that they value the revenue from…

> If they were actually good at removing crapware from the store, then a bit of collateral damage would be understandable

I don't agree. Honest developers should never be suspended such arbitrarily, not even as "collateral damage". Please remember that for an Android studio, being suspended from the Play Store means not only the end of the business, but also the end of the developer's career as an Android dev.

Re: Open letter from an Android developer to the Google Play team

#139

Post by TeMPOraL »

topmonk wrote: post #132
sieabahlpark wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google wins when users see ads, that's their whole reason to exist. They're not on your side in this battle as those ad impressions are cash in the bank.

But this behavior is like killing the Golden goose to get at the golden eggs inside. It's extremely shortsighted.

Not really. As long as they control the app market on Android, users are captive audience. Golden goose is immortal.

Re: Open letter from an Android developer to the Google Play team

#140

Post by bad_user »

sjwright wrote: post #105

I keep hearing stories like this and I remain utterly bemused that the median narrative about Android vs iOS has barely changed in response. There's a lot to love about Android, but I think more people in the tech sector need to realise that their mental model of the phone marketplace has more to do with historical perception of Android being "hacker friendly" than the current realities. Android is open source! Oh wa…

I'm an iPhone user currently, have been for some time.

However all of the points you mentioned are still true.

There is no open source in iOS and the entire platform has an anti open source culture. Android has a lot of open source apps available, including an app store meant just for open source (https://www.f-droid.org/).

If you don't like Google Play, at the very least you can distribute your app independently without jailbreaking the phone. It might take the users fiddling with their settings, but at least the option is legit.

Also on Android you can have actual Firefox (not allowed on iOS), with ads-blocking extensions and everything, as the default browser. And apps don't necessarily insist on opening up their own freaking web view, or if they do, most of the time there's an option for opting out.

And yes, you can find really good Android phones for cheap. Like the ones from Huawei. Which I stay away from, but for other reasons.

Apple's phones age well and I like to be environmental friendly, so I'll keep this iPhone 8+ I have until it breaks.

But my next phone is not going to be an iPhone, sorry.

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