Google’s Play Store gives a worse age rating to Fleksy, a Gboard rival • Hacker News Board

Re: Google’s Play Store gives a worse age rating to Fleksy, a Gboard rival

#21

Post by osrec » Wed, Oct 23, 2019, 4:32 PM UTC

djsumdog wrote: post #19

levosmetalo wrote: post #5

Didn't install the app, but one look at the screenshot of the Fleksy in Playstore shows "earn coins as you type" feature. It also offers in app purchases, but didn't bother to install to check which. I know many apps use coin system, but in many cases it's just a children manipulation.

I mean, it would be one thing if Google stated that as a reason. I really hate this in-app purchase model, and now being applied to something as stupid as a keyboard, something that can literally monitor all your data and send back your most common words to advertisers ... ugh. I pre-ordered a Purism 5 from the next batch in anger a few weeks ago. I want off this Android/eyeProduct bullshit. I want full control of my…

How would your ideal open-source smartphone ecosystem be structured?

Genuinely interested as I'm looking to explore this as a potential project myself with my team.

Re: Google’s Play Store gives a worse age rating to Fleksy, a Gboard rival

#22

Post by julienfr112 » Wed, Oct 23, 2019, 4:35 PM UTC

techwizrd wrote: post #6

magashna wrote: post #2

Seems malicious on Google's part since middle finger is official unicode

I'm guessing it is more that the different teams do not talk to each other, and Google must not have a good, standard review process. "Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity."

Stupidity does not play well in front of a judge, in particular if you are Google being sued by the European Comission.

Re: Google’s Play Store gives a worse age rating to Fleksy, a Gboard rival

#23

Post by NKosmatos » Wed, Oct 23, 2019, 4:43 PM UTC

jhall1468 wrote: post #15

scohesc wrote: post #4

So Google is selectively oppressing certain app developers by using the "Rules for thee, not for me" ideology. Well, they've been doing it for years and that's why there's people in the US Government talking about anti-trust investigations... Hopefully something comes of it.

Gboard doesn't have in app purchases, the other one does. The rules are different because the apps are different.

Well in the article it clearly states that the age rating discrepancy between Gboard and Fleksy is due to the middle finger emoji.

Re: Google’s Play Store gives a worse age rating to Fleksy, a Gboard rival

#24

Post by Fnoord » Wed, Oct 23, 2019, 4:45 PM UTC

parliament32 wrote: post #13

On a related note, does anyone have recommendations for a Gboard alternative? I've disabled all the "pipe everything I type directly to HQ for analysis" things in Gboard but I'd prefer a non-Google alternative.

If you don't mind having source or phoning home, SwiftKey.

If you're a CLI poweruser Hacker's Keyboard (FOSS) [1]. There is also Simple Keyboard (FOSS) [2] and there's a bunch of others available on F-Droid.

I do wonder what we should switch to from Qwerty, on mobile specifically. There is, for example, Keybee [3].

[1] https://f-droid.org/en/packages/org.pocketworkstation.pckeyb...

[2] https://f-droid.org/en/packages/rkr.simplekeyboard.inputmeth...

[3] http://keybee.it/

Re: Google’s Play Store gives a worse age rating to Fleksy, a Gboard rival

#25

Post by NKosmatos » Wed, Oct 23, 2019, 4:45 PM UTC

I understand it’s a difficult choice to leave the play store, but you’re playing by their rules, their game and in their own field. They can do whatever they want because they’re google.

Re: Google’s Play Store gives a worse age rating to Fleksy, a Gboard rival

#26

Post by bjt2n3904 » Wed, Oct 23, 2019, 4:47 PM UTC

A question: why does a keyboard need a PEGI rating?

Should python 3.5 have a PEGI rating? How about vim?

Re: Google’s Play Store gives a worse age rating to Fleksy, a Gboard rival

#27

Post by Semaphor » Wed, Oct 23, 2019, 4:51 PM UTC

fawak wrote: post #18

parliament32 wrote: post #13

On a related note, does anyone have recommendations for a Gboard alternative? I've disabled all the "pipe everything I type directly to HQ for analysis" things in Gboard but I'd prefer a non-Google alternative.

SwiftKey has been working wonders for me for years now.

I switched to the AOSP keyboard because SwiftKey kept getting worse the more it learned (it always became usable again after deleting everything).

Re: Google’s Play Store gives a worse age rating to Fleksy, a Gboard rival

#28

Post by heavyset_go » Wed, Oct 23, 2019, 4:51 PM UTC

techwizrd wrote: post #6

magashna wrote: post #2

Seems malicious on Google's part since middle finger is official unicode

I'm guessing it is more that the different teams do not talk to each other, and Google must not have a good, standard review process. "Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity."

Never attribute stupidity to that which is adequately explained by self-interest.

It's extremely convenient that Google had an oopsie that's entirely aligned with their own interests.

Re: Google’s Play Store gives a worse age rating to Fleksy, a Gboard rival

#29

Post by skybrian » Wed, Oct 23, 2019, 4:53 PM UTC

This is a tangent, but is there a good keyboard app for Android that doesn't have emoji? I'm tired of hitting the emoji button accidentally and having emoji show up in autocomplete.

Re: Google’s Play Store gives a worse age rating to Fleksy, a Gboard rival

#30

Post by TazeTSchnitzel » Wed, Oct 23, 2019, 4:55 PM UTC

Does Slack have the same rating? It has its own emoji system, including the standard middle-finger.