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Google has removed Conversations_im from the Play Store

gultsch.social

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Re: Google has removed Conversations_im from the Play Store

#2

Post by bertman »

Developer:

"Google has just removed #Conversations_im from the Play Store because they think we are uploading the user’s contact list. We don’t."

and

"To be clear: They didn’t just reject an update. They outright removed the app entirely. Otherwise my plan B would have been to remove the contacts permission which is used to display the name and profile picture locally if the XMPP address matches an entry in the users address book."

Re: Google has removed Conversations_im from the Play Store

#5

Post by MattJ100 »

This has been happening to a bunch of XMPP apps recently, and as a maintainer of another one (which closely based on Conversations) I'm fearing the worst next time I submit an update.

The worst part is the lack of communication from Google about what they think the problem is. There are plenty of apps that do actually upload contact lists to servers (hi WhatsApp, etc.), and they are still listed on the store.

Many XMPP apps do request the contacts permission, but this is to (on the client side only) allow storing XMPP addresses in your phone's address book and reusing your existing contact pictures, etc. This is explained within the app, and granting the permission is entirely optional.

Re: Google has removed Conversations_im from the Play Store

#6

Post by HeckFeck »

bertman wrote: post #2

Developer: "Google has just removed #Conversations_im from the Play Store because they think we are uploading the user’s contact list. We don’t." and "To be clear: They didn’t just reject an update. They outright removed the app entirely. Otherwise my plan B would have been to remove the contacts permission which is used to display the name and profile picture locally if the XMPP address matches an entry in the users…

Never fear, I'm sure someone from Google support will be only too happy to help.
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